House lawmakers press Treasury over Meta data-center research credits

A bipartisan group of House lawmakers asked Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to scrutinize reports that Meta is claiming federal research tax credits for expenses tied to its data-center buildout. Their Oct. 14 letter asks Treasury to examine the matter. It is not a Treasury or IRS determination that Meta’s expenses are ineligible.

Democratic Reps. Jimmy Panetta, Mike Thompson and Suzan DelBene and Republican Rep. Greg Steube led the effort, joined by about two dozen other House lawmakers. They argue that treating data-center development and construction as qualified research would stretch the credit beyond its intended purpose, turning an experimentation incentive into support for ordinary capital expenses.

The available evidence does not establish how much, if any, of Meta’s research credit is tied to data-center construction. It also does not identify which costs the company claimed.

The IRS instructions for Form 6765 say qualified research generally must pass four tests. The expenditures must qualify as domestic research or experimental expenses; the research must seek technological information; the information must help develop a new or improved business component; and substantially all of the activities must involve experimentation related to function, performance, reliability or quality. The test applies separately to each business component. Research after commercial production and duplication are among the excluded activities.

Meta spokesperson Andy Stone said the company’s new AI-optimized data centers require extensive testing and experimentation that cannot be simulated to get their design and construction right. He said the work represents the type of domestic investment Congress intended the incentives to encourage.

Meta’s 2025 annual filing discloses uncertain tax positions involving whether its documentation sufficiently supports activities behind research and development tax credits. The filing does not identify data-center construction as the source of that uncertainty.