At least 88 of the largest U.S. corporations paid no federal income tax in 2025, even though they reported over $105 billion in combined U.S. pretax income.
This information comes from a report released Tuesday by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. The report linked this outcome partly to tax changes made under President Donald Trump in 2017 and again in 2025.
The report indicated that these companies would have owed about $22.1 billion if they had paid the standard 21% federal corporate rate. Instead, ITEP noted that the group collectively received $4.7 billion in tax rebates. This brought their total tax breaks to $26.7 billion when using the current rate. Compared to the pre-2017 corporate rate of 35%, the group reduced its tax liability by about $41 billion in 2025 alone.
Among the companies mentioned were Tesla, which, according to the report, paid no federal income tax on nearly $5.7 billion in U.S. income, and United Airlines, which also paid zero on nearly $4.3 billion. Southwest Airlines, Live Nation Entertainment, and Yum! Brands were also on the list, along with digital payment firms PayPal, Toast, and Block, which ITEP said together paid no federal income tax on $3.2 billion in U.S. income.
Rep. Jayapal: Do you know how many of the largest corporations in America paid absolutely nothing in federal income tax in 2025?
Vought: Not off the top of my head…
Rep. Jayapal: The number of large corporations that paid absolutely zero in federal tax was at least 88,… pic.twitter.com/5eyxboJM6C
— FactPost (@factpostnews) April 15, 2026
“These findings come from ITEP’s analysis of the annual financial reports filed by the largest publicly traded U.S.-based corporations in their most recent fiscal year,” the report stated. It also mentioned that the figures were taken from the income tax notes in those reports.
ITEP clarified that the list is not complete, as many large companies have fiscal years that do not align with the calendar year, some businesses are not part of the S&P 500 and Fortune 500, and privately held corporations do not have to share the same tax details publicly.
The report explained that companies used various tax breaks to lower or eliminate their federal tax bills. The most common break was accelerated depreciation, which helped more than half of the 88 companies reduce their taxes and cut their collective liability by $11.4 billion in 2025.
At least 40 companies also used the federal research and experimentation credit, while more than 30 took advantage of a newer provision that allows immediate write-offs for research and development expenses.
This Tax Day and unfriendly reminder that some of America’s biggest companies paid $0 in federal income tax last year.
Amazon
Citigroup
CVS
Haliburton
Hasbro
Kohl’s
Palantir
PayPal
PG&E
Roku
Southwest Airlines
Tesla
United Airlines
Walt Disney
And dozens of others all avoided…
— More Perfect Union (@MorePerfectUS) April 15, 2026
ITEP also highlighted a tax break for foreign-derived income and noted that some companies lowered taxes through stock-option-related provisions. Because corporate tax returns are not public, the report stated it is not possible to pinpoint the exact share of each company’s tax savings tied to each provision.
Still, it emphasized that the companies’ tax bills in 2025 were lower than they would have been without the two rounds of tax cuts from the Trump administration.
The 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act permanently lowered the top federal corporate income tax rate from 35% to 21% and eliminated the corporate alternative minimum tax, according to the Tax Policy Center.
The IRS reported that the One, Big, Beautiful Bill Act was signed into law on July 4, 2025, and included provisions for businesses allowing 100% first-year deductions for qualifying property placed in service after January 19, 2025. IRS materials also stated that the 2025 law allows taxpayers to deduct domestic research and experimental expenditures for tax years starting after December 31, 2024.
ITEP senior fellow Matt Gardner noted in the group’s release that “large, profitable American corporations have avoided paying full freight for decades,” adding that this trend has been accelerated by the Trump administration’s tax changes in 2017 and 2025.
