A bipartisan group of House lawmakers has asked the Treasury Department to look at how Meta Platforms (META) uses the federal research tax credit, Semafor reported on Thursday, October 15. Reps. Jimmy Panetta, Greg Steube, Mike Thompson and Suzan DelBene led the letter, with about two dozen others signing. Their concern is Meta’s position that money spent building its AI data centers counts as qualified research.
Meta disagrees. Spokesperson Andy Stone told Semafor the new AI data centers need extensive testing and experimentation that can’t be simulated. Nobody has ruled that Meta broke the law. This is scrutiny, not a finding.
Two Letters, Both Chambers, One Week
The House letter isn’t the only one. Seven Senate Democrats led by Ron Wyden wrote to Mark Zuckerberg in a letter dated October 13, reported by Bloomberg on October 14. Citing Meta’s own filings, they said the credit cut Meta’s federal tax bill by $6.6 billion from 2023 through 2025: about $700 million, then $2 billion, then $3.9 billion. They also asked how much of that is tied to AI data centers, and they want answers by October 31.
Both letters make the same argument. The credit exists to reward experimentation, and stretching it to cover construction would turn it into a subsidy for capital spending.
The Credit Grew With the Buildout
Meta’s capital spending rose from $27.05 billion in 2023 to $69.69 billion in 2025. The credit grew faster: it went from about 2.6% of capex in 2023 to about 5.6% in 2025.
That’s why the timing matters. Meta expects 2026 capex of $130 billion to $145 billion. On a basis that includes finance-lease principal payments, total research credits were about 5.4% of capex in 2025. Holding that ratio constant would imply roughly $7 billion to $8 billion in 2026. That’s an illustration, not an estimate of the credits tied to data centers, which Meta hasn’t disclosed.
What Meta Can Afford
The 2025 credit was worth about $1.52 per diluted share. The $6.6 billion is what the credit saved Meta across 2023 through 2025 combined, equal to about 10% of its last-12-month net income of $68.10 billion. It isn’t a pending charge. The letters can’t take any of it back, and they don’t say how much is tied to data centers. The IRS could challenge past claims, and Treasury guidance could narrow future ones.
Meta’s reported 2025 tax rate of 29.6% overstates the real burden. It includes a one-time, non-cash $15.93 billion chargetied to the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. Strip that out and Meta’s tax expense was about 11% of pre-tax profit, well below the 21% corporate rate.
The bigger risk is the rate going forward. Meta already raised its outlook to 15% to 17% for the rest of 2026, with a condition attached: “absent any changes to our tax landscape.” Losing a credit that’s growing this fast would be exactly that kind of change.
Meta’s Next Two Dates
Meta reports third-quarter results on Wednesday, October 21. The tax rate line is where any shift will show up first, along with whatever management says about the letters. The senators’ deadline follows on October 31.
I’d watch the guidance more than the headlines. A congressional letter can’t take the credit away. Treasury guidance or an IRS challenge could, and neither has put a number on what’s at risk. Until one does, the place this shows up for Meta stock is the tax-rate outlook Meta updates on October 21.
You can pull up Meta’s tax rate, capex and net income side by side, the same data behind the charts above, on TIKR for free. Learn more here.
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