Fortune 500 Companies That Haven’t Paid Federal Taxes Recently

Corporate taxation has always been something of a controversial topic. While many feel that corporations should pay higher taxes, companies have both a duty to generate profits for their shareholders and a legal right to reduce their tax burdens to the full extent of the law. Still, it can be startling to discover that many of the most famous companies in America not only haven’t paid taxes in recent years but have actually received multimillion-dollar refunds.

Find Out: What Are the World’s Best Tax Havens?

To determine the extent to which there are companies that haven’t paid taxes recently, GOBankingRates used the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy’s piece “Corporate Tax Avoidance in the First Year of the Trump Tax Law” to identify 84 Fortune 500 companies that didn’t pay income tax in 2018, which is the year with the most recent data available.

Read: Here Are the Most and Least Tax-Friendly Countries

What stands out most about the data is not that there are 84 Fortune 500 companies that paid no tax, but that 82 of them actually received sizable refunds. Of course, as with all data and statistics, these numbers must be taken in context. Receiving a refund of $100 million or more doesn’t mean that a company has skirted tax laws. In many cases, big refunds are the result of large business losses or the receipt of tax credits for various qualifying business activities. Nevertheless, some of the numbers are eye-opening, so take a closer look at 20 of the biggest names on the list and see the rest at the end.

Alaska Air Group

• Taxes Paid: -$5 million
• Tax Rate: -0.9%
• Profit: $576 million

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Ally Financial

• Taxes Paid: -$12 million
• Tax Rate: -0.8%
• Profit: $1.587 billion

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MGM Resorts International

• Taxes Paid: -$12 million
• Tax Rate: -1.8%
• Profit: $648 million

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Netflix

• Taxes Paid: -$22 million
• Tax Rate: -2.5%
• Profit: $899 million

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Goodyear Rubber & Tire

• Taxes Paid: -$23 million
• Tax Rate: -5.2%
• Profit: $440 million

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Molson Coors

• Taxes Paid: -$23 million
• Tax Rate: -1.7%
• Profit: $1.325 billion

Read: What Are the 2020-2021 Federal Tax Brackets and Tax Rates?

Occidental Petroleum

• Taxes Paid: -$23 million
• Tax Rate: -0.7%
• Profit: $3.379 billion

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Levi Strauss

• Taxes Paid: -$25 million
• Tax Rate: -17.3%
• Profit: $145 million

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Nvidia

• Taxes Paid: -$32 million
• Tax Rate: -1.7%
• Profit: $1.843 billion

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Avis Budget Group

• Taxes Paid: -$37 million
• Tax Rate: -47.4%
• Profit: $78 million

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JetBlue Airways

• Taxes Paid: -$60 million
• Tax Rate:-27.4%
• Profit: $219 million

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Starbucks

• Taxes Paid: -$75 million
• Tax Rate: -1.6%
• Profit: $4.774 billion

Looking Back: Fortune 500 Companies That Added the Most New Jobs in 2020

General Motors

• Taxes Paid: -$104 million
• Tax Rate: -2.4%
• Profit: $4.32 billion

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FedEx

• Taxes Paid: -$107 million
• Tax Rate: –4.6%
• Profit: $2.312 billion

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Amazon.com

• Taxes Paid: -$129 million
• Tax Rate: -1.2%
• Profit: $10.835 billion

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Chevron

• Taxes Paid: -$181 million
• Tax Rate: -4%
• Profit: $4.547 billion

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Delta Air Lines

• Taxes Paid: -$187 million
• Tax Rate: -3.7%
• Profit: $5.073 billion

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Activision Blizzard

• Taxes Paid: -$243 million
• Tax Rate: -54.5%
• Profit: $447 million

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Deere

• Taxes Paid: -$558 million
• Tax Rate: -25.9%
• Profit: $2.152 billion

Did You Know? 14 Famous Companies That Aren’t Profitable

Duke Energy

• Taxes Paid: -$647 million
• Tax Rate: -21.4%
• Profit: $3.029 billion

Helping Out: 30 Major Companies Giving Back During COVID-19

The Rest of the List

Sanmina-SCI: Taxes Paid: $0

ABM Industries: Taxes Paid: $0

Andersons: Taxes Paid: -$1 million

AK Steel Holding: Taxes Paid: -$1 million

Cliffs Natural Resources: Taxes Paid: -$1 million

SpartanNash: Taxes Paid: -$2 million

Builders FirstSource: Taxes Paid: -$2 million

UGI: Taxes Paid: -$3 million

Beacon Roofing Supply: Taxes Paid: -$4 million

SPX: Taxes Paid: -$4 million

Westrock: Taxes Paid: -$4 million

Owens Corning: Taxes Paid: -$5 million

Tenet Healthcare: Taxes Paid: -$6 million

Mohawk Industries: Taxes Paid: -$6 million

DXC Technology: Taxes Paid: -$6 million

Darden Restaurants: Taxes Paid: -$7 million

INTL FCStone: Taxes Paid: -$10 million

Murphy Oil: Taxes Paid: -$10 million

Atmos Energy: Taxes Paid: -$10 million

Ameren: Taxes Paid: -$10 million

McKesson: Taxes Paid: -$10 million

Gannett: Taxes Paid: -$11 million

Realogy: Taxes Paid: -$13 million

Penske Automotive Group: Taxes Paid: -$13 million

Devon Energy: Taxes Paid: -$14 million

MDU Resources: Taxes Paid: -$16 million

FirstEnergy: Taxes Paid: -$16 million

Air Products & Chemicals: Taxes Paid: -$17 million

DTE Energy: Taxes Paid: -$17 million

Hartford Financial Services: Taxes Paid: -$18 million

Trinity Industries: Taxes Paid: -$19 million

Halliburton: Taxes Paid: -$19 million

PPL: Taxes Paid: -$19 million

Kinder Morgan: Taxes Paid: -$22 million

Tapestry: Taxes Paid: $-24 million

Pitney Bowes: Taxes Paid: -$26 million

Phillips-Van Heusen: Taxes Paid: -$31 million

American Electric Power: Taxes Paid: -$32 million

Xcel Energy: Taxes Paid: -$34 million

United States Steel: Taxes Paid: -$40 million

Rockwell Collins: Taxes Paid: -$40 million

PulteGroup: Taxes Paid: -$44 million

Dominion Resources: Taxes Paid: -$44 million

Ryder System: Taxes Paid: -$47 million

Aramark: Taxes Paid: -$48 million

Eli Lilly: Taxes Paid: -$54 million

Principal Financial: Taxes Paid: -$55 million

Edison International: Taxes Paid: -$55 million

CMS Energy: Taxes Paid: -$67 million

Honeywell International: Taxes Paid: -$71 million

Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold: Taxes Paid: -$75 million

Williams: Taxes Paid: -$83 million

Public Service Enterprise Group: Taxes Paid: -$97 million

Whirlpool: Taxes Paid: -$110 million

DowDuPont: Taxes Paid: -$119 million

First Data: Taxes Paid: -$121 million

Celanese: Taxes Paid: -$142 million

Brighthouse Financial: Taxes Paid: -$166 million

AECOM Technology: Taxes Paid: -$186 million

Prudential Financial: Taxes Paid: -$210 million

WEC Energy Group: Taxes Paid; -$218 million

EOG Resources: Taxes Paid: -$304 million

International Business Machines: Taxes Paid: -$342 million

CenturyLink: Taxes Paid: -$576 million

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Methodology: GOBankingRates used the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy’s “Corporate Tax Avoidance in the First Year of the Trump Tax Law” to find 84 Fortune 500 companies that paid $0 in income taxes in 2018 (most recent data available). GOBankingRates found (1) 2018 profit; (2) taxes paid in 2018; and (3) tax rate for each company. All data was collected on and up to date as of Jan. 4, 2021.

About the Author

John Csiszar

After earning a B.A. in English with a Specialization in Business from UCLA, John Csiszar worked in the financial services industry as a registered representative for 18 years. Along the way, Csiszar earned both Certified Financial Planner and Registered Investment Adviser designations, in addition to being licensed as a life agent, while working for both a major Wall Street wirehouse and for his own investment advisory firm. During his time as an advisor, Csiszar managed over $100 million in client assets while providing individualized investment plans for hundreds of clients.

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