Tech company Palantir has become widely known for the dystopian values espoused by its founders and their stated support for Israel throughout the genocide in Gaza. A new report now indicates the company may also be engaged in extensive tax dodging, allowing it to avoid contributing to the public services it profits from.

Launched on August 5 by the European Federation of Public Service Unions (EPSU) and the Center for International Corporate Tax Accountability and Research (CICTAR), the report identifies “an estimated €12 million (approximately USD 13.8 million) ‘tax gap’ between what Palantir pays in Europe and what they would have paid if they didn’t shift profits to the United States.”

“Governments are contracting Palantir to strengthen national security – yet Palantir is undermining public services, including national economic security, by avoiding tax,” said EPSU General Secretary Jan Willem Goudriaan. “Meanwhile a public services emergency is sweeping across Europe, due to lack of investment. Few greater hypocrisies exist in Europe.”

The US: Big Tech’s haven

According to the report, Palantir is benefiting significantly from protections the second Trump administration has built for US-based Big Tech companies. This has materialized not only in the exemption from the global minimum tax but also in a national framework that allows Palantir to effectively treat the US as a tax haven, CICTAR notes. “The Trump administration has not only been granting record amounts in new contracts to Palantir but is running a global protection racket to help it – along with other larger US tech giants – avoid paying tax both in the US and globally,” the report states.

It also shows that Palantir paid nothing in federal income tax in 2025, even though it would have owed USD 348 million at the standard corporate rate. This situation is unlikely to change soon. The report notes the company has declared over USD 3.5 billion in deferred tax assets – losses incurred in earlier years for which tax authorities give deductions that can be used to balance taxes on future profits. CICTAR estimated that Palantir’s deferred tax assets are so high that it might not have to pay federal taxes for nearly a decade.

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The Trump administration’s policies can also help Big Tech companies minimize tax payments abroad. By analyzing annual reports and financial documentation, CICTAR demonstrated how Palantir relies on stock-based compensation and excessive profit shifting to achieve this.

Palantir makes millions from contracts in countries including the UK, France, and Germany, yet books almost all of its profits in the US, where it pays zero federal tax: over a quarter of the company’s revenue is secured outside the US, yet it books over 96% of profits there. This is quite a notable gap, suggesting it might be a way to avoid paying contributions in Europe.

Some countries are worse off than others. Britain – Palantir’s largest market outside the US, accounting for 10% of global revenue – seems to be in particularly deep trouble. The company holds at least £670 million (approximately USD 782.4 million) in UK government contracts, yet this has not translated into comparable tax payments. The tax gap noted in the report stands at £7.2 million (approximately USD 8.41 million). “This suggests that Palantir may have avoided more tax in the UK – with growing revenue from government contracts – than in any other country besides the US,” CICTAR wrote.

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Other European nations also boast Palantir presence. The report identifies affiliates in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland. In many of these countries, the company has secured government deals – notably in intelligence and “defense” – though it has also provided services to financial authorities and the private sector.

Financial records indicate that many of these contracts were signed with Palantir US, while local affiliates charged for providing services to the parent company – another approach that would help obscure actual profits made in each country and reduce the tax owed.

Contracting with Palantir means supporting an ideology centered on US domination

Recently, several European governments and public institutions have announced plans to phase out cooperation with Palantir, largely due to national security and data sovereignty concerns. Tax action, however, has not figured prominently in these discussions.

France stands out as a rare exception. Following an audit by national tax authorities, Palantir appears to be paying “closer to an appropriate level of tax,” the report notes. Significantly, France is also the only country where a workers’ representative body – a works council – is recognized within the company.

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EPSU and CICTAR have called for decisive measures, including through revisions of the EU Public Procurement Directive to allow blacklisting companies based on tax accountability and transparency failures. The report also recommends more robust global tax reforms and country-level audits of Palantir’s financial records.

“The urgent question now facing governments worldwide is whether any potential benefits of contracting Palantir outweigh the costs,” the report concludes. “Contracting with Palantir means giving support to a disturbing ideology and worldview centered on the notion of US cultural, economic, and military domination openly espoused by Palantir.”

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