Clodagh Kilcoyne/Reuters
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos.
- These massive companies made millions - in some cases, billions - in profits in 2018, but didn't pay a dime in federal income taxes.
- Tax cuts passed by the Trump administration in 2017 have made it much easier for the big corporations like Amazon, IBM, and Netflix avoid paying income taxes.
- Most of the companies on this list earned tax rebates larger than their income tax, effectively seeing a negative tax rate.
- Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.
In theory, the US imposes a 21% tax rate on corporations. In reality, the amount major corporations are paying is far lower.
Amazon, for example, earned over $10 billion in income in 2018. But by taking advantage of tax credits, the company zeroed out its income taxes and earned a rebate of $129 million, according to tax filings published by the Securities and Exchange Commission.
It has become much easier for massive corporations to avoid paying federal income tax in recent years. The 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, one of the most significant legislative achievements by Republicans and President Donald Trump since his election, opens new windows for tax rebates for major corporations.
The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a nonprofit think tank, analyzed SEC filings of Fortune 500 companies and identified 60 major corporations that didn't pay any federal income taxes in 2018. Of those, 11 do business in the tech or
"These tax loopholes allow many profitable corporations to avoid paying a single dime in taxes, but it should also be noted that many other profitable corporations are also using these special breaks to pay far less than the 21 percent statutory federal income tax rate," Matthew Gardner, a lead author of the ITEP report, wrote.
Here are 11 massive tech and transportation companies that didn't pay any federal income taxes last year - negative tax rates indicate that companies got more money back in rebates than they had to pay in taxes.
