Facebook NZ had “gross amounts from advertising and services” of $172.6m from the year-ago $159.4m, offset by “purchases of advertising inventory” of $166.6m from Meta Platforms Ireland.
Tax Justice Aotearoa member Nick Miller, a former EY senior manager in Britain and senior investigator with Inland Revenue NZ, has questioned if Big Tech firms minimise their tax exposure with service fees to related parties in territories with lower tax rates than NZ or the US.
Ireland has a corporate tax rate of 12.5%, compared to New Zealand’s 28%.
Miller says that if service fees to an offshore parent include a royalty, then withholding tax should be paid (none of the tech multinationals approached by the Herald have offered a detailed breakdown of service fees, all have said they are compliant with all tax laws).
Local bank accounts drained
There was one new feature of this year’s accounts.
Facebook NZ reported $22.46m in cash and equivalents at the end of 2024, which had reduced to $0 in 2025.
In January 2025, an intercompany cash pooling system was introduced (on both sides of the Tasman) which sees surplus cash from subsidiaries moved to a centralised account controlled by a corporate parent.
The Herald understands Meta earlier established an “in-house bank” for its non-US operations for various subsidiaries, with the move pitched as a way to provide more flexibility for funding across the group. New Zealand and Australia started participating last year.
Facebook NZ incurred $87,000 in interest expense on borrowings through the intercompany cash pooling arrangement.
The global picture
Last month, Meta reported record first-quarter global revenue that rose 33% to a record US$56.3b as net income rose 61% to US$26.7b – but also began cutting around 8000 jobs or 10% of its workforce.
Analysts saw the staff cull, in part, as a measure to offset an anticipated US$146b in AI infrastructure spending this year, including its “Hyperion” 11sq km data centre campus in Louisiana.
Meta Australia-New Zealand has around 250 staff, the bulk in Sydney.
Facebook NZ had staff remuneration expenses of $2.4m in 2025, down from $3.2m in 2024 and $3.6m in 2023.
Roads not taken
Tax Justice Aotearoa says tens of millions could be raised from individual multinationals, and hundreds of millions collectively, if Big Tech firms paid withholding tax on their service fees (assuming they were dominated by royalties).
Miller says the measure would outstrip the money that would be raised by a Digital Services Tax – or a flat 3% tax on Big Tech firm’s local revenue. A bill for a DST was introduced by Labour shortly before the 2023 election. It did not have time to pass and was dropped by the incoming National-led Government.
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A 2023 Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT) study said a DST would raise a relatively modest amount of revenue ($222m by FY2027 if implemented on January 1, 2025) – all of which could be lost to “Retaliatory proportionate tariffs imposed by the US”.
Legislation for Facebook and other platforms to pay for news (previously used for links and now expanded for AI summaries) has also been on the agenda, but is currently on an open-ended hold.
Although tax and news reform are sidelined, Facebook NZ faces a possible reduction in customer numbers, and new regulatory costs, with the National-led Government promising to introduce legislation for an under-16 social media ban before the election.
Meta declined an interview and written questions, citing commercial confidentiality.
Chris Keall is an Auckland-based member of the Herald’s business team. He joined the Herald in 2018 and is the technology editor and a senior business writer.