Facebook gets a $429M tax refund for 2012, despite record profits

Facebook made $1.1 billion in pre-tax profits in 2012, which means wealth for shareholders, revenue for the government, everyone wins and, yay, capitalism! Right? Wrong. The company will get a $429 million tax REFUND from the Internal Revenue Service, because of how stock options and awards are treated by the tax code. This has tax advocacy groups hopping mad. Citizens for Tax Justice called the fact that Facebook "did not pay even a dime in federal and state income taxes … an amazing admission." And for those folks, there's more outrage coming: Facebook can reduce future tax bills by reserving an additional $2.1 billion in stock-option tax breaks to write off against its liabilities. So far, the company has declined to comment. [Source]

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