Facebook to Get $429 Million Tax Refund Despite $1.1 Billion in U.S. Profits

Citizens for Tax Justice, Facebook's Multi-Billion Dollar Tax Break: Executive-Pay Tax Break Slashes Income Taxes on Facebook-- and Other Fortune 500 Companies:

Earlier this month, the Facebook Inc. released its first “10-K” annual financial report since going public last year. Hidden in the report’s footnotes is an amazing admission: despite $1.1 billion in U.S. profits in 2012, Facebook did not pay even a dime in federal and state income taxes.

Instead, Facebook says it will receive net tax refunds totaling $429 million. Facebook’s income tax refunds stem from the company’s use of a single tax break, the tax deductibility of executive stock options. That tax break reduced Facebook’s federal and state income taxes by $1,033 million in 2012, including refunds of earlier years’ taxes of $451 million.

• Bloomberg, Facebook Gets a Multibillion-Dollar Tax Break
• Board Advisory, Facebook’s Multi-Billion Dollar Tax Break
• Business Insider, Here's Why Facebook Is Getting A Refund On Its Income-Tax Bills
• Daily Mail, Facebook to Pay NO Tax For 2012 and Will Even Get Tax Refund of $429m Despite $1BN Profits
• Forbes, How The Tax Code Grew To 70,000 Pages: Dems Seek To Limit 'Facebook' Deduction for Stock Based Compensation
• Fox News, Facebook Paid No Taxes Despite Record Profits
• Huffington Post, Facebook Paid No Income Taxes In 2012

(Hat Tip: John Stanley.)