ExxonMobil reported $44 billion in total taxes and duties for 2024, exceeding its $33.7 billion in net income by roughly $10 billion. About $13 billion of that was corporate income tax on profits. The other $30 billion covered royalties, excise taxes on fuel, production and severance taxes, import duties, property taxes, and payroll taxes paid across dozens of countries. When people ask what ExxonMobil pays in taxes, the honest answer depends on which of those buckets you mean.
What the $44 Billion Actually Includes
The headline figure lumps together payments that work very differently. Only one slice is a tax on company profits.
Corporate income taxes of roughly $13 billion went to the U.S. federal government, states, and foreign countries. That is the number most people have in mind when they ask about corporate taxes.
The remaining $30 billion is a catch-all. It includes excise taxes on gasoline and diesel, sales taxes on refined products, production and severance taxes, royalties, import and export duties, property taxes on refineries and pipelines, and payroll taxes for the global workforce. A large share of that money is collected from consumers at the pump and remitted to federal and state highway trust funds. ExxonMobil acts as a collection agent for those fuel taxes, which inflates the total but does not come out of company profits.
The prior year was heavier. In 2023 the total reached $49 billion, with more than $16 billion in income taxes, reflecting stronger commodity prices.{1Exxon Mobil. ExxonMobil 2023 Form SD} The single biggest variable in any given year is the price of oil, not a change in tax law.
Why the Effective Income Tax Rate Is 33 Percent
The U.S. federal corporate income tax rate is a flat 21 percent. ExxonMobil’s worldwide effective tax rate in 2024 was 33 percent.{2U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. ExxonMobil Form 10-K (2024)} The 12-point gap is driven by geography.
The company operates in countries where corporate tax rates on oil and gas income are well above 21 percent. Blend those higher foreign rates with the U.S. rate across the consolidated company and the worldwide average lands around 33 percent. State income taxes push the U.S. domestic portion above the 21 percent federal floor too. States with significant oil and gas activity typically add somewhere from about 2 to 11.5 percent on top of the federal rate.
Current vs. Deferred Taxes
The reported $13 billion in income tax expense is not entirely a cash payment made in 2024.{3U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. ExxonMobil 2024 Form SD} Income tax expense under accounting rules includes both current taxes owed and deferred taxes. Deferred tax liabilities arise from timing gaps between financial-statement income and tax-code income. Accelerated depreciation is the most common driver in the oil industry: equipment gets written off faster for tax purposes than for book purposes, pushing some tax payment into later years. Total tax paid over the life of the asset is the same. Only the timing shifts.
Where the Money Goes: U.S. vs. Foreign Governments
ExxonMobil pays far more to foreign governments than to the United States. In 2023, total U.S. tax and duty expense was more than $10 billion, meaning roughly $39 billion of the $49 billion total went abroad.{1Exxon Mobil. ExxonMobil 2023 Form SD} Most of the company’s crude oil is extracted overseas, and producing countries tax the resource at the wellhead before it ever becomes profit. A barrel pulled from a Nigerian field may incur royalties, production taxes, and corporate income taxes in Nigeria before any profit flows back to the U.S. parent.
Foreign Tax Credits
The U.S. tax system prevents the same income from being fully taxed by both a foreign country and the United States. When ExxonMobil pays income taxes to a foreign government, it can use those payments to offset the U.S. tax it would otherwise owe on that same foreign income.{4Internal Revenue Service. Topic No. 856 – Foreign Tax Credit} For income taxed at 30 percent abroad, the credit offsets the 21 percent U.S. liability on that income. The combined rate ends up being the higher of the two, not both stacked.
Royalties and Severance Taxes Come Off the Top
Before ExxonMobil calculates its corporate income tax, it has already paid billions in royalties and production-related taxes that reduce its taxable income. These are treated as costs of doing business, not taxes on profit, and they hit whether the company earns a dime that year or not.
Federal Royalties
When the company extracts oil or gas from federal land or waters, it owes a royalty to the government as the resource owner. Deepwater offshore leases in the Gulf of Mexico carry an 18.75 percent royalty on production value.{5Bureau of Ocean Energy Management. BOEM Completes Analysis of Royalty Rates for Offshore Oil and Gas Leases} Shallow-water leases have historically carried a lower 12.5 percent rate. For onshore federal leases, the Inflation Reduction Act raised the minimum royalty rate from the longstanding 12.5 percent to 16.67 percent for new competitive leases.{6Bureau of Land Management. Impacts of the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022}
State Severance Taxes
States where extraction occurs impose their own taxes on resource removal. In Texas, where ExxonMobil is headquartered and produces heavily, crude oil is taxed at 4.6 percent of market value and natural gas at 7.5 percent.{7Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts. Crude Oil Production Tax}{8Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts. Natural Gas Production Tax} Other producing states set their own rates. These payments swing with commodity prices in ways that can shift state budgets by billions.
Which Oil and Gas Tax Breaks ExxonMobil Can Use
The U.S. tax code includes provisions that reduce taxable income for oil and gas companies, but the split between “integrated” and “independent” producers matters more here than in almost any other corner of the code. As a major integrated producer, ExxonMobil is eligible for some incentives and shut out of others.
Intangible Drilling Costs
A large share of well-drilling cost goes to items with no salvage value: labor, fuel, site preparation, drilling mud. Independent producers can generally deduct these intangible drilling costs immediately. Integrated companies like ExxonMobil face a limit: only 70 percent of intangible drilling costs can be expensed in the year they are incurred, and the remaining 30 percent must be spread over 60 months.{9Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 291 – Special Rules Relating to Corporate Preference Items}
Percentage Depletion Is Off the Table
Percentage depletion lets independent producers and royalty owners deduct 15 percent of gross income from a property, sometimes exceeding actual investment in the well. ExxonMobil cannot use it. Federal law bars companies that sell through retail outlets or refine more than 75,000 barrels per day from claiming percentage depletion.{10Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 613A – Limitations on Percentage Depletion in Case of Oil and Gas Wells} ExxonMobil clears both thresholds and must use cost depletion, which caps the deduction at its actual investment in the property.
Carbon Capture Credits
The Section 45Q tax credit is a meaningful incentive for the company’s carbon capture and sequestration investments. The base rate is $17 per metric ton of carbon dioxide captured and stored in secure geological formations. Facilities meeting prevailing wage and apprenticeship requirements qualify for a 5x multiplier, bringing the credit to $85 per metric ton. Direct air capture facilities can earn up to $180 per metric ton under the same bonus structure.{11Internal Revenue Service. Credit for Carbon Oxide Sequestration} ExxonMobil has announced multiple CCS projects in Texas and Louisiana that position it to claim substantial credits as facilities come online.
The Global Minimum Tax and the U.S. Carve-Out
More than 145 countries have agreed to a 15 percent global minimum tax on large multinationals with at least €750 million in annual revenue. If ExxonMobil paid an effective rate below 15 percent in any country, another jurisdiction could impose a top-up tax to close the gap. Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, and most EU member states have already enacted Pillar Two legislation.
The practical impact on ExxonMobil is limited. The company’s 33 percent worldwide effective rate already sits well above the 15 percent floor. In January 2026, the U.S. Treasury announced an agreement within the OECD framework to exempt U.S.-headquartered companies from Pillar Two, keeping them subject only to U.S. global minimum tax rules.{12U.S. Department of the Treasury. Treasury Secures Agreement to Exempt US-Headquartered Companies from Pillar Two} The agreement also preserves the value of U.S. tax credits including the R&D credit and the Section 45Q carbon capture credit, which might otherwise have been clawed back under foreign top-up tax calculations. Whether the exemption holds long-term depends on future administrations and congressional action.
Putting the Numbers in Context
ExxonMobil’s $44 billion in total 2024 taxes and duties came in roughly 46 percent above its $33.7 billion in net income.{13Exxon Mobil. ExxonMobil Consolidated Statement of Income} The 33 percent effective income tax rate runs well above the 21 percent U.S. statutory rate, driven primarily by high-tax foreign jurisdictions where the company extracts oil and gas.{2U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. ExxonMobil Form 10-K (2024)} The company benefits from drilling-related deductions but is excluded from some of the most favorable oil and gas tax breaks available to smaller independent producers. When crude prices rise, royalties, severance taxes, fuel excise collections, and corporate income taxes all swell together, pushing the total higher, as they did in 2023’s $49 billion year.