Income Taxes

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2024

Income Tax Disclosure [Abstract]

Income Taxes

Income Taxes

Our tax provision for interim periods is determined using an estimated annual effective tax rate, adjusted for discrete items arising in that quarter, including excess tax benefits or shortfall tax expenses from share-based compensation and changes in unrecognized tax benefits. In each quarter, we update the estimated annual effective tax rate and make a year-to-date adjustment to the provision. The estimated annual effective tax rate is subject to significant volatility due to several factors, including our ability to accurately predict the proportion of our income (loss) before provision for income taxes in multiple jurisdictions, the U.S. tax benefits from foreign derived intangible income, and the effects of tax law changes.

Our gross unrecognized tax benefits were $14.13 billion and $11.67 billion as of September 30, 2024 and December 31, 2023, respectively. These unrecognized tax benefits were primarily accrued for the uncertainties with our research tax credits and transfer pricing with our foreign subsidiaries, which include licensing of intellectual property, providing services and other transactions. If the gross unrecognized tax benefits as of September 30, 2024 were realized in a future period, this would result in a tax benefit of $9.45 billion within our provision for income taxes at such time. The amount of interest and penalties accrued was $2.00 billion and $1.48 billion as of September 30, 2024 and December 31, 2023, respectively. We expect to continue to accrue unrecognized tax benefits for certain recurring tax positions.

In July 2016, we received a Statutory Notice of Deficiency (Notice) from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) related to transfer pricing with our foreign subsidiaries in conjunction with the examination of the 2010 tax year. While the Notice applies only to the 2010 tax year, the IRS stated that it will also apply its position for tax years subsequent to 2010 and has done so in years covered by the second Notice described below. We do not agree with the position of the IRS and have filed a petition in the Tax Court challenging the Notice. On January 15, 2020, the IRS's amendment to answer was filed stating that it planned to assert at trial an adjustment that is higher than the adjustment stated in the Notice. The first session of the trial was completed in March 2020 and the final trial session was completed in August 2022. We expect the Tax Court to issue an opinion in 2024 which will likely provide a transfer pricing value for intellectual property transferred. This value will need to be extrapolated into income adjustments to determine the specific tax liability, which will likely remain in dispute and will not be resolved until the Tax Court enters a decision. If the IRS prevails in its updated position, this could result in an additional federal tax liability of an estimated, aggregate amount of up to approximately $9.0 billion in excess of the amounts in our originally filed U.S. return, plus interest and any penalties asserted. Once the Tax Court decision is entered, the IRS and Meta will each have the option to file an appeal to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

In March 2018, we received a second Notice from the IRS in conjunction with the examination of our 2011 through 2013 tax years. The IRS applied its position from the 2010 tax year to each of these years and also proposed new adjustments related to other transfer pricing with our foreign subsidiaries and certain tax credits that we claimed. If the IRS prevails in its position for these new adjustments, this could result in an additional federal tax liability of up to approximately $680 million in excess of the amounts in our originally filed U.S. returns, plus interest and any penalties asserted. We do not agree with the positions of the IRS in the second Notice and have filed a petition in the Tax Court challenging the second Notice.

We have previously accrued an estimated unrecognized tax benefit consistent with the guidance in Accounting Standards Codification (ASC) 740, Income Taxes, that is lower than the potential additional federal tax liability from the positions taken by the IRS in the two Notices and its Pretrial Memorandum. In addition, if the IRS prevails in its positions related to transfer pricing with our foreign subsidiaries, the additional tax that we would owe would be partially offset by a reduction in the tax that we owe under the mandatory transition tax on accumulated foreign earnings from the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. As of September 30, 2024, we have not resolved these matters and proceedings continue in the Tax Court.