PayPal Holdings Inc.
02/03/2026 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 02/03/2026 16:05
Annual Report for Fiscal Year Ending December 31, 2025 (Form 10-K)
MANAGEMENT'S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS
You should read the following "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations" in conjunction with the audited consolidated financial statements and the related notes that appear in this report. Unless otherwise expressly stated or the context otherwise requires, references to "we," "our," "us," "the Company," and "PayPal" refer to PayPal Holdings, Inc. and its consolidated subsidiaries.
This Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations focuses on a discussion of 2025 results as compared to 2024 results. For a discussion of 2024 results as compared to 2023 results, see "Item 7. Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations" within our Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2024 filed with the SEC on February 4, 2025.
BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT
THE COMPANY
At PayPal, our mission is to revolutionize commerce globally. Our products are designed to enable digital payments and simplify commerce experiences for consumers and merchants to make selling, shopping, and sending and receiving money simple, personalized, and secure, whether online or in-person. Our two-sided platform serves millions of consumers and merchants worldwide.
Regulatory environment
We operate globally and in a rapidly evolving regulatory environment characterized by a heightened focus by regulators globally on all aspects of the payments industry, including anti-money laundering, countering terrorist financing, privacy, cybersecurity, and consumer protection. The laws and regulations applicable to us, including those enacted prior to the advent of digital payments, continue to evolve through legislative and regulatory action and judicial interpretation. New or changing laws and regulations, including changes to their interpretation and implementation, as well as increased penalties and enforcement actions related to non-compliance, could have a material adverse impact on our business, results of operations, and financial condition. We monitor these areas closely and are focused on designing compliant solutions for our customers.
Cybersecurity and information security
Cybersecurity and information security risks for global payments and technology companies like us have increased significantly in recent years. Although we have developed systems and processes designed to protect the data we manage, prevent data loss and other security incidents, and enable us to effectively respond to known and potential risks, and expect to continue to expend significant resources to bolster these protections, we have experienced and expect to continue to experience cybersecurity incidents and remain subject to these risks. There can be no assurance that our security measures will provide sufficient protection or security to prevent breaches or attacks. For additional information regarding our cybersecurity and information security risks, see "Item 1A. Risk Factors-Cyberattacks and security vulnerabilities could result in serious harm to our reputation, business, and financial condition" and "Item 1C. Cybersecurity."
MACROECONOMIC ENVIRONMENT
A deterioration in macroeconomic conditions resulting from uncertainties and effects from tariffs, inflation, international conflicts, and interest rates could continue to increase the risk of lower consumer spending, merchant and consumer bankruptcy, insolvency, business failure, higher credit losses, foreign exchange fluctuations, or other business interruption, which may adversely impact our business. We are unable to reasonably estimate the total potential impact on our financial results that may ultimately result from such changes in the macroeconomic environment.
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FY 2025 FORM 10-K
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OVERVIEW OF RESULTS OF OPERATIONS
The following table provides a summary of our consolidated financial results for the years ended December 31, 2025, 2024, and 2023:
| Year Ended December 31, | Percent Increase/(Decrease) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2025 | 2024 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| (In millions, except percentages and per share amounts) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Net revenues | $ | 33,172 | $ | 31,797 | $ | 29,771 | 4 | % | 7 | % | |||||||||||||||||||
| Operating expenses | 27,107 | 26,472 | 24,743 | 2 | % | 7 | % | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Operating income | 6,065 | 5,325 | 5,028 | 14 | % | 6 | % | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Operating margin | 18 | % | 17 | % | 17 | % | ** | ** | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Other income (expense), net | 227 | 4 | 383 | ** | (99) | % | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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Income tax expense
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1,059 | 1,182 | 1,165 | (10) | % | 1 | % | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Effective tax rate | 17 | % | 22 | % | 22 | % | ** | ** | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Net income (loss) | $ | 5,233 | $ | 4,147 | $ | 4,246 | 26 | % | (2) | % | |||||||||||||||||||
| Net income (loss) per diluted share | $ | 5.41 | $ | 3.99 | $ | 3.84 | 35 | % | 4 | % | |||||||||||||||||||
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Net cash provided by operating activities
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$ | 6,416 | $ | 7,450 | $ | 4,843 | (14) | % | 54 | % | |||||||||||||||||||
All amounts in tables are rounded to the nearest million, except as otherwise noted. As a result, certain amounts may not recalculate using the rounded amounts provided.
** Not meaningful.
Net revenues increased $1.4 billion, or 4%, in 2025 compared to 2024 driven primarily by growth in total payment volume ("TPV", as defined below under "Key Metrics") of 7% and an increase in interest and fee revenue earned on our loans receivable portfolio, partially offset by the unfavorable impact of hedging activities.
Total operating expenses increased $635 million, or 2%, in 2025 compared to 2024 due primarily to an increase in transaction expense, sales and marketing expense, and transaction and credit losses, partially offset by a decline in general and administrative expense, and restructuring and other expenses.
Operating income increased $740 million, or 14%, in 2025 compared to 2024 due to the increase in net revenues, partially offset by the increase in operating expenses. Our operating margin was 18% and 17% for 2025 and 2024, respectively, reflecting the positive impact of a lower transaction expense growth rate.
Net income increased $1.1 billion, or 26%, in 2025 compared to 2024 due to the previously discussed increase in operating income of $740 million, an increase of $223 million in other income (expense), net, and a decline in income tax expense of $123 million driven primarily by discrete tax adjustments including tax effects of stock-based compensation and a non-recurring internal legal entity restructuring, partially offset by Pillar Two minimum tax expense.
IMPACT OF FOREIGN EXCHANGE RATES
We have significant international operations that are denominated in foreign currencies, primarily the British pound, Euro, Australian dollar, Canadian dollar, and Indian rupee, subjecting us to foreign exchange risk which may adversely impact our financial results. The strengthening or weakening of the United States ("U.S.") dollar versus foreign currencies in which we conduct our international operations impacts the translation of our net revenues and expenses generated in these foreign currencies into the U.S. dollar. In 2025 and 2024, we generated approximately 43% of our net revenues from customers domiciled outside of the U.S. compared to 42% in 2023. Because we generate substantial net revenues internationally, we are subject to the risks of doing business outside of the U.S., including those discussed under "Item 1A. Risk Factors."
We calculate the year-over-year impact of foreign exchange rate movements on our business using prior period foreign exchange rates applied to current period transactional currency amounts. While changes in foreign exchange rates affect our reported results, we have a foreign currency exposure management program in which we use foreign exchange contracts, designated as cash flow hedges, intended to reduce the impact on earnings from foreign exchange rate movements. Gains and losses from these foreign exchange contracts are recognized as a component of transaction revenues or operating expenses (as applicable) in the same period the forecasted transactions impact earnings.
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FY 2025 FORM 10-K
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In the years ended December 31, 2025 and 2024, the year-over-year foreign exchange rate movements relative to the U.S. dollar had the following impact on our reported results:
| Year Ended December 31, | |||||||||||
| 2025 | 2024 | ||||||||||
| (In millions) | |||||||||||
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Favorable (unfavorable) impact to net revenues (exclusive of hedging impact)
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$ | 339 | $ | (18) | |||||||
| Hedging impact | (166) | 48 | |||||||||
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Favorable impact to net revenues
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173 | 30 | |||||||||
| (Unfavorable) favorable impact to operating expense (exclusive of hedging impact) | (162) | 28 | |||||||||
| Hedging impact | (6) | - | |||||||||
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(Unfavorable) favorable impact to operating expense
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(168) | 28 | |||||||||
| Net favorable impact to operating income | $ | 5 | $ | 58 | |||||||
While we enter into foreign exchange contracts to help reduce the impact on earnings from foreign exchange rate movements, it is impossible to eliminate the total effects of this exposure.
Prior to 2025, we used foreign exchange contracts, designated as net investment hedges, to reduce the foreign exchange risk related to our investment in certain foreign subsidiaries. Gains and losses associated with these instruments will remain in accumulated other comprehensive income (loss) until the underlying foreign subsidiaries are sold or substantially liquidated.
Given that we also have foreign exchange risk on our assets and liabilities denominated in currencies other than the functional currency of our subsidiaries, we have an additional balance sheet foreign currency exposure management program in which we use foreign exchange contracts to help offset the impact of foreign exchange rate movements on our assets and liabilities. The foreign exchange gains and losses on our assets and liabilities are recorded in other income (expense), net, and are offset by the gains and losses on the foreign exchange contracts. These foreign exchange contracts reduce, but do not entirely eliminate, the impact of foreign exchange rate movements on our assets and liabilities.
Additionally, in connection with transactions occurring in multiple currencies on our payments platform, we generally set our foreign exchange rates daily and may face financial exposure if we incorrectly set our foreign exchange rates or as a result of fluctuations between setting of foreign exchange rates and timing of transactions. While we have processes in place to mitigate these risks, it is impossible to eliminate the total effects of possible exposure associated with setting foreign exchange rates on our payments platform.
KEY METRICS AND FINANCIAL RESULTS
KEY METRICS
TPV, number of payment transactions, active accounts, and number of payment transactions per active account are key non-financial performance metrics ("key metrics") that management uses to measure the scale of our platform and the relevance of our products and services to our customers, and are defined as follows:
•TPVis the value of payments, net of payment reversals, successfully completed on our payments platform or enabled by PayPal via a partner payment solution, not including gateway-exclusive transactions.
•Number of payment transactionsis the total number of payments, net of payment reversals, successfully completed on our payments platform or enabled by PayPal via a partner payment solution, not including gateway-exclusive transactions.
•An active account is an account registered directly with PayPal or a platform access partner that has completed a transaction on our platform, not including gateway-exclusive transactions, within the past 12 months. A platform access partner is a third party whose customers are provided access to PayPal's platform or services through such third-party's login credentials, including individuals and entities that utilize Hyperwallet's payout capabilities. A user may register on our platform to access different products and may register more than one account to access a product. Accordingly, a user may have more than one active account. The number of active accounts provides management with additional perspective on the overall scale of our platform, but may not have a direct relationship to our operating results.
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FY 2025 FORM 10-K
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•Number of payment transactions per active account reflects the total number of payment transactions within the previous 12-month period, divided by active accounts at the end of the period. The number of payment transactions per active account provides management with insight into the average number of times an account engages in payments activity on our payments platform in a given period. The number of times a consumer account or a merchant account transacts on our platform may vary significantly from the average number of payment transactions per active account.
As our transaction revenue growth is typically correlated with TPV growth and the number of payment transactions completed on our payments platform, management uses these metrics to gain insights into the scale and strength of our payments platform, the engagement level of our customers, and underlying activity and trends which may be indicators of current and future performance. We present these key metrics to enhance investors' evaluation of the performance of our business and operating results.
Our key metrics are calculated using internal company data based on the activity we measure on our payments platform and compiled from multiple systems, including systems that are internally developed or acquired through business combinations. While the measurement of our key metrics is based on what we believe to be reasonable methodologies and estimates, there are inherent challenges and limitations in measuring our key metrics globally at scale. The methodologies used to calculate our key metrics require significant judgment.
We regularly review our processes for calculating these key metrics, and from time to time we may make adjustments to improve the accuracy or relevance of our metrics. For example, we continuously apply models, processes, and practices designed to detect and prevent fraudulent account creation on our platforms, and work to improve and enhance those capabilities. When we detect a significant volume of illegitimate activity, we generally remove the activity identified from our key metrics. Although such adjustments may impact key metrics reported in prior periods, we generally do not update previously reported key metrics to reflect these subsequent adjustments unless the retrospective impact of process improvements or enhancements is determined by management to be material.
NET REVENUES
Our revenues are classified into the following two categories:
•Transaction revenues: Net transaction fees charged to merchants and consumers on a transaction basis based on the TPV completed on our payments platform. Growth in TPV is directly impacted by the number of payment transactions that we enable on our payments platform. We generate additional revenue from merchants and consumers: on transactions where we perform currency conversion, when we enable cross-border transactions (i.e., transactions where the merchant and consumer are in different countries), when we facilitate the instant transfer of funds for our customers from their PayPal or Venmo account to their bank account or debit card, when we facilitate the purchase and sale of cryptocurrencies, as contractual compensation from sellers that violate our contractual terms (for example, through fraud or counterfeiting), and other miscellaneous fees.
•Revenues from other value added services: Net revenues derived primarily from revenue earned through partnerships, referral fees, subscription fees, gateway fees, and other services we provide to our consumers and merchants. We also earn revenues from interest and fees earned on our portfolio of loans receivable, and interest earned on certain assets underlying customer balances.
Our revenues can be significantly impacted by a number of factors, including the following:
•The mix of merchants, products, and services;
•The mix between domestic and cross-border transactions;
•The geographic region or country in which a transaction occurs; and
•The amount of our loans receivable outstanding with consumers and merchants.
Refer to "Part I, Item 1A, Risk Factors" in this Form 10-K for further discussion on factors that may impact our revenue.
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FY 2025 FORM 10-K
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Net revenue analysis
The components of our net revenues for the years ended December 31, 2025, 2024, and 2023 were as follows (in millions):
Transaction revenues
Transaction revenues grew $956 million, or 3%, in 2025 compared to 2024. The increase in 2025 was driven primarily by an increase of approximately $740 million and $340 million in revenue from PayPal and Venmo products and services, respectively, which was largely driven by growth in TPV and number of payment transactions, and an increase of approximately $150 million in revenue from Braintree products and services, predominantly attributable to growth in TPV despite a decline in the number of payment transactions over the same period. The increase in TPV for Braintree products and services despite a decline in the number of payment transactions is due to our strategic shift as we focus on profitable growth. Transaction revenues in 2025 were also impacted by approximately $210 million of unfavorable impact from hedging activities resulting from losses in 2025 compared to gains in 2024.
As a result of our stronger focus on profitable growth and ongoing negotiations with merchants, we experienced lower volume and transaction revenue from our Braintree offerings in the first half of 2025 followed by revenue and TPV growth in the second half of 2025.
The graphs below present the respective key metrics (in millions) for the years ended December 31, 2025, 2024, and 2023:
*Reflects active accounts at the end of the applicable period.
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FY 2025 FORM 10-K
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The following table provides a summary of related metrics:
| Year Ended December 31, |
Percent Increase/ (Decrease) |
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| 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2025 | 2024 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Number of payment transactions per active account | 57.7 | 60.6 | 58.7 | (5) | % | 3 | % | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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Percent of cross-border TPV(1)
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12 | % | 12 | % | 12 | % | ** | ** | |||||||||||||||||||||
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Percent of TPV generated outside of the U.S.
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37 | % | 37 | % | 36 | % | ** | ** | |||||||||||||||||||||
(1) Cross-border TPV occurs primarily between two PayPal accounts in different countries and includes transactions initiated through our Xoom product.
** Not meaningful.
We had active accounts of 439 million and 434 million as of December 31, 2025 and 2024, respectively, an increase of 1%. Number of payment transactions was 25.4 billion and 26.3 billion for the years ended December 31, 2025 and 2024, respectively, a decrease of 4%. TPV was $1.79 trillion and $1.68 trillion for the years ended December 31, 2025 and 2024, respectively, an increase of 7%.
Transaction revenues growth was lower than the growth in TPV in 2025 due primarily to changes in product mix, merchant mix, and unfavorable impact from foreign exchange hedging activities.
Revenues from other value added services
Revenues from other value added services increased $419 million, or 14%, in 2025 compared to 2024 due primarily to an approximately $350 million increase in interest and fee revenue earned from our loans receivable portfolios as well as an increase of approximately $160 million from revenue earned from an independent chartered financial institution ("partner institution"). Revenue from the partner institution is earned primarily through a revenue share arrangement based on the economic performance of the program related to our U.S. revolving consumer credit product and PayPal and Venmo branded credit cards, when such performance exceeds a minimum return threshold. These factors favorably impacting revenues from other value added services were partially offset by a decline of approximately $110 million from lower revenues from Honey and interest earned on certain assets underlying customer account balances resulting from lower interest rates.
Consumers that have outstanding loans and interest receivable due to our partner institution may experience hardships that result in losses recognized by the partner institution, which may result in a decrease in our revenue share earned in future periods. In the event the overall return on the PayPal branded credit programs funded by the partner institution does not meet a minimum rate of return ("minimum return threshold") in a particular quarter, our revenue share for that period would be zero. Further, in the event the overall return on the PayPal branded credit programs managed by the partner institution does not meet the minimum return threshold as measured over four consecutive quarters and in the following quarter, we would be required to make a payment to the partner institution, subject to certain limitations. Through December 31, 2025, the overall return on the PayPal branded credit programs funded by the partner institution exceeded the minimum return threshold.
Seasonality
The Company does not experience meaningful seasonality with respect to net revenues. No individual quarter in 2025, 2024, or 2023 accounted for more than 30% of annual net revenue.
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FY 2025 FORM 10-K
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OPERATING EXPENSES
The following table summarizes our operating expenses and related metrics we use to assess the trends in each:
| Year Ended December 31, |
Percent Increase/ (Decrease) |
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| 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2025 | 2024 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| (In millions, except percentages) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Transaction expense | $ | 15,987 | $ | 15,697 | $ | 14,385 | 2 | % | 9 | % | |||||||||||||||||||
| Transaction and credit losses | 1,720 | 1,442 | 1,682 | 19 | % | (14) | % | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Customer support and operations | 1,704 | 1,768 | 1,919 | (4) | % | (8) | % | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sales and marketing | 2,283 | 2,001 | 1,809 | 14 | % | 11 | % | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Technology and development | 3,103 | 2,979 | 2,973 | 4 | % | - | % | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| General and administrative | 1,979 | 2,147 | 2,059 | (8) | % | 4 | % | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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Restructuring and other
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331 | 438 | (84) | (24) | % | ** | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Total operating expenses | $ | 27,107 | $ | 26,472 | $ | 24,743 | 2 | % | 7 | % | |||||||||||||||||||
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Transaction expense rate(1)
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0.89 | % | 0.93 | % | 0.94 | % | ** | ** | |||||||||||||||||||||
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Transaction and credit loss rate(2)
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0.10 | % | 0.09 | % | 0.11 | % | ** | ** | |||||||||||||||||||||
(1) Transaction expense rate is calculated by dividing transaction expense by TPV.
(2) Transaction and credit loss rate is calculated by dividing transaction and credit losses by TPV.
** Not meaningful.
Transaction expense
Transaction expense is primarily composed of the costs we incur to accept a customer's funding source of payment. These costs include fees paid to payment processors and other financial institutions when we draw funds from a customer's credit or debit card, bank account, or other funding source they have stored in their digital wallet. We refer to the allocation of funding sources used by our consumers as our "funding mix." The cost of funding a transaction with a credit or debit card is generally higher than the cost of funding a transaction from a bank or through internal sources such as a PayPal or Venmo account balance or our consumer credit products. As we expand the availability and presentation of alternative funding sources to our customers, our funding mix may change, which could increase or decrease our transaction expense rate. The cost of funding a transaction is also impacted by the geographic region or country in which a transaction occurs, as we generally pay lower rates for transactions funded with credit or debit cards outside the U.S. Our transaction expense rate is impacted by changes in product mix, merchant mix, regional mix, funding mix, and fees paid to payment processors and other financial institutions. Macroeconomic environment changes may also result in behavioral shifts in consumer spending patterns affecting the type of funding source they use, which could also impact the funding mix.
Transaction expense increased $290 million, or 2%, in 2025 compared to 2024 due to the increase in TPV of 7%, partially offset by favorable changes in merchant mix to lower cost merchants within our Braintree products and services. The decrease in transaction expense rate in 2025 compared to 2024 was primarily attributable to a lower proportion of TPV from Braintree products and services, which generally have higher expense rates than other products and services, and changes in merchant mix.
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FY 2025 FORM 10-K
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Transaction and credit losses
Transaction losses include the expense associated with our customer protection programs, fraud, and chargebacks. Credit losses include the current expected credit losses associated with our consumer and merchant loans receivable portfolio. Our transaction and credit losses fluctuate depending on many factors, including TPV, product mix, current and projected macroeconomic conditions such as unemployment rates, retail e-commerce sales and average weekly earnings, merchant insolvency events, changes to and usage of our customer protection programs, the impact of regulatory changes, and the credit quality of loans receivable arising from transactions funded with our credit products for consumers and loans and advances to merchants. Estimating our current expected credit loss allowances for our loans receivable portfolios is an inherently uncertain process and the ultimate losses we incur may vary from the current estimates. We regularly update our allowance estimates as new facts become known and events occur that may impact the ultimate losses incurred. A deterioration in macroeconomic conditions or other factors beyond those considered in our estimates could result in credit losses that exceed our current estimated credit losses and adversely impact our future operating results.
The components of our transaction and credit losses for the years ended December 31, 2025, 2024, and 2023 were as follows (in millions):
Transaction and credit losses increased $278 million, or 19%, in 2025 compared to 2024.
Transaction losses were approximately $1.3 billion and $1.1 billion for 2025 and 2024, respectively, reflecting an increase of $223 million, or 20%. Transaction loss rate (transaction losses divided by TPV) was flat at 0.07% for both the years ended December 31, 2025 and 2024, compared to 0.08% in 2023. The increase in transaction losses in 2025 was primarily due to an increase in losses driven by fraud incidents impacting our PayPal products and services.
Credit losses increased $55 million in 2025 compared to 2024. The components of credit losses for the years ended December 31, 2025, 2024, and 2023 were as follows (in millions):
| Year Ended December 31, | |||||||||||||||||
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2025(3)
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2024
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2023(3)
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Net charge-offs(1)
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$ | 328 | $ | 372 | $ | 549 | |||||||||||
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Reserve build (release)(2)
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55 | (44) | (59) | ||||||||||||||
| Credit losses | $ | 383 | $ | 328 | $ | 490 | |||||||||||
(1) Net charge-offs includes principal charge-offs partially offset by recoveries for consumer and merchant receivables.
(2) Reserve build (release) represents change in allowance for principal receivables excluding foreign currency remeasurement.
(3) Includes changes in the allowance due to the reclassification of certain loans and interest receivable to or from held for sale.
Credit losses in the year ended December 31, 2025 were primarily attributable to loan originations during the period. Credit losses in the year ended December 31, 2024 were primarily attributable to loan originations during the period, partially offset by improvement in the credit quality of loans outstanding.
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FY 2025 FORM 10-K
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Consumer loan portfolio
We have entered into forward flow arrangements with third-party investors to sell certain loans receivable portfolios. As of December 31, 2025 and 2024, loans and interest receivable, held for sale was $1.7 billion and $541 million, respectively.
The consumer loans and interest receivable balance as of December 31, 2025 and 2024 was $5.5 billion and $5.4 billion, respectively, net of participation interest sold, reflecting an increase of 1%. The increase was driven primarily by growth of our revolving credit product in the United Kingdom ("U.K.") of approximately $370 million and our installment credit products in the U.S. and Japan of approximately $190 million and $110 million, respectively, partially offset by the impact of the reclassification of $574 million of U.S. short-term, non-interest bearing installment loans to held for sale in the third quarter of 2025 and associated forward flow arrangement.
The following table provides information regarding the credit quality of our consumer loans and interest receivable balance:
| December 31, | |||||||||||
| 2025 | 2024 | ||||||||||
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Percent of consumer loans and interest receivable current
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96.4 | % | 96.6 | % | |||||||
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Percent of consumer loans and interest receivable > 90 days outstanding(1)
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1.4 | % | 1.6 | % | |||||||
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Net charge-off rate(2)
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4.0 | % | 4.5 | % | |||||||
(1) Represents percentage of balances which are 90 days past the billing date or contractual repayment date, as applicable.
(2)Net charge-off rate is the annualized ratio of net credit losses during the three months ended December 31, 2025, excluding fraud losses, on consumer loans as a percentage of the average daily amount of consumer loans and interest receivable balance during the same period.
In response to changing portfolio performance and macroeconomic environment, we continue to monitor risk and evaluate and modify our acceptable risk parameters. Modifications to the acceptable risk parameters did not have a material impact on our consumer loans for the year ended December 31, 2025.
Merchant loan portfolio
We offer access to merchant finance products for certain small and medium-sized businesses, which we refer to as our merchant finance offerings. Total merchant loans, advances, and fees receivable outstanding, net of participation interest sold, as of December 31, 2025 and 2024 was $1.8 billion and $1.5 billion, respectively, reflecting an increase of 23%. The increase was due primarily to growth of approximately $190 million in our PayPal Business Loans ("PPBL") product in the U.S. and growth in our PayPal Working Capital ("PPWC") product portfolio of approximately $150 million, primarily in Germany, and to a lesser extent, in the U.S. and the U.K.
The following table provides information regarding the credit quality of our merchant loans, advances, and fees receivable balance:
| December 31, | |||||||||||
| 2025 | 2024 | ||||||||||
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Percent of merchant loans, advances, and fees receivable current
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89.8 | % | 90.4 | % | |||||||
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Percent of merchant loans, advances, and fees receivable > 90 days outstanding(1)
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3.5 | % | 2.8 | % | |||||||
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Net charge-off rate(2)
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7.3 | % | 5.3 | % | |||||||
(1)Represents percentage of balances which are 90 days past the original expected or contractual repayment period, as applicable.
(2) Net charge-off rate is the annualized ratio of net credit losses during the three months ended December 31, 2025, excluding fraud losses, on merchant loans and advances as a percentage of the average daily amount of merchant loans, advances, and fees receivable balance during the same period.
In response to changing portfolio performance and macroeconomic environment, we continue to monitor risk and evaluate and modify our acceptable risk parameters. Modifications to the acceptable risk parameters did not have a material impact on our merchant loans for the year ended December 31, 2025.
For additional information, see "Note 11-Loans and Interest Receivable" in the notes to the consolidated financial statements, and "Item 1A. Risk Factors-Our credit products expose us to additional risks" included in this Form 10-K.
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FY 2025 FORM 10-K
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Customer support and operations
Customer support and operations includes costs incurred in our global customer operations centers, including costs to provide call support to our customers, costs to support our trust and security programs protecting our consumers and merchants, and other costs incurred related to the delivery of our products, including payment devices, card production, and customer onboarding and compliance costs.
Customer support and operations expenses decreased $64 million, or 4%, in 2025 compared to 2024 due primarily to a decline in employee-related costs of approximately $110 million and software expenses of approximately $40 million, partially offset by an increase of approximately $80 million in other operating charges and contractors and consulting costs.
Sales and marketing
Sales and marketing includes costs incurred for customer acquisition, business development, advertising, marketing programs, and certain incentives paid to users that are not our customers and revenue share paid to partners that are not our customers.
Sales and marketing expenses increased $282 million, or 14%, in 2025 compared to 2024 due primarily to higher spend of approximately $340 million on marketing and brand advertising, including our PayPal Everywhere and Venmo Everything advertising campaigns, partially offset by lower employee-related costs of approximately $50 million.
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FY 2025 FORM 10-K
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Technology and development
Technology and development includes costs incurred in connection with the development of our payments platform, new products, and the improvement of our existing products, including the amortization of software and website development costs incurred in developing our payments platform, which are capitalized. It also includes acquired developed technology and our site operations and other infrastructure costs incurred to support our payments platform.
Technology and development expenses increased $124 million, or 4%, in 2025 compared to 2024 due primarily to increases in contractor and consultants costs of approximately $80 million, costs from cloud computing services utilized in delivering our products and services of approximately $70 million, and software maintenance costs of approximately $60 million, partially offset by a decline in depreciation and amortization expense of approximately $50 million.
General and administrative
General and administrative includes costs incurred to provide support to our business, including legal, human resources, finance, risk and compliance, executive, and other support operations.
General and administrative expenses decreased $168 million, or 8%, in 2025 compared to 2024 due primarily to a decline in employee-related costs of approximately $120 million as well as a decline of approximately $80 million in indirect tax expense and contingency reserves.
Restructuring and other
Restructuring and other primarily consist of restructuring expenses, asset impairment charges, gain on sale of divested business, and losses on loans and interest receivable, held for sale.
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FY 2025 FORM 10-K
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Restructuring and other decreased $107 million in 2025 compared to 2024 due primarily to a decrease in restructuring charges of approximately $170 million, partially offset by an increase in net loss of approximately $60 million from fair value adjustments to measure loans and interest receivable, held for sale, at the lower of cost or fair value, and loss on sale of loans and interest receivable previously held for sale.
During the second quarter of 2025, management undertook a large-scale initiative (the "2Q 2025 Plan") to reengineer our existing technology infrastructure to improve scalability, reduce network latency, decrease operational costs, and optimize our workforce. The 2Q 2025 Plan is a transformative unified program designed to streamline operations and includes exiting certain data centers to migrate to more efficient cloud-based solutions. The 2Q 2025 Plan is expected to be executed over a period of 18 to 42 months with the workforce component to be substantially completed in 2027 and the technology infrastructure component to be substantially completed in 2028. The associated restructuring charges during the year ended December 31, 2025 were $102 million, consisting of $96 million in employee severance and benefits costs and $6 million in other restructuring costs.
In connection with this restructuring, we expect to incur employee severance and benefits costs of approximately $90 million to $100 million, asset impairment and accelerated depreciation charges of approximately $40 million to $60 million, and other restructuring costs of approximately $110 million to $140 million over the term of the 2Q 2025 Plan. Other restructuring costs relate to process re-engineering and one-time migration to cloud solutions and consist of contractor costs, consulting fees, and prepaid software and maintenance costs without future economic benefit. We expect annualized cost savings of approximately $280 million associated with the impacted workforce and operational costs for our technology infrastructure. We expect that we will begin to realize these cost savings upon the completion of the components of the 2Q 2025 Plan, and also expect to reinvest a portion of the reduction in annual costs to drive business priorities. The timing of activities, cost, and savings estimates continue to be developed and are subject to change.
During the first quarter of 2025, management initiated a workforce reduction to ensure compliance with a new regulation impacting operations in an international market. The associated restructuring charges during the year ended December 31, 2025 were $36 million and included employee severance and benefits costs, which were completed in the third quarter of 2025. We do not anticipate cost savings in conjunction with this reduction.
For information on restructuring plans completed prior to 2025 as well as the restructuring liabilities associated with the 2Q 2025 Plan, see "Note 17-Restructuring and Other" in the notes to the consolidated financial statements included in this Form 10-K.
Other income (expense), net
Other income (expense), net increased $223 million compared to 2024. This increase in other income (expense), net was due primarily to net gains on strategic investments in the current period compared to net losses and impairments in the prior period, which contributed an increase of approximately $450 million, partially offset by declines in interest income of approximately $150 million resulting from lower average cash and investment balances, and an increase in interest expense of approximately $60 million due to incremental expense from the March 2025 and May 2024 debt issuances.
Income tax expense
Our effective income tax rate was 17% and 22% in 2025 and 2024, respectively. The decrease in our effective income tax rate in 2025 compared to 2024 was due primarily to discrete tax adjustments including tax effects of stock-based compensation and a non-recurring internal legal entity restructuring, partially offset by Pillar Two minimum tax expense. See "Note 16-Income Taxes" to the consolidated financial statements included in this Form 10-K for more information on our effective tax rate.
LIQUIDITY AND CAPITAL RESOURCES
We require liquidity and access to capital to fund our global operations, including our customer protection programs, credit products, capital expenditures, investments in our business, potential acquisitions and strategic investments, stock repurchases and dividend payments, working capital, and other cash needs. We believe that our existing cash, cash equivalents, and investments, cash expected to be generated from operations, and our expected access to capital markets, together with potential external funding through third-party sources, will be sufficient to meet our cash requirements within the next 12 months and beyond.
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FY 2025 FORM 10-K
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SOURCES OF LIQUIDITY
Cash, cash equivalents, and investments
The following table summarizes our cash, cash equivalents, and investments as of December 31, 2025 and 2024:
| Year Ended December 31, | |||||||||||
| 2025 | 2024 | ||||||||||
| (In millions) | |||||||||||
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Cash, cash equivalents, and investments(1)(2)
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$ | 12,848 | $ | 13,947 | |||||||
(1) Excludes assets related to funds receivable and customer accounts of $38.2 billion and $37.7 billion as of December 31, 2025 and 2024, respectively.
(2) Excludes total restricted cash of nil and $1 million at December 31, 2025 and 2024, respectively, and strategic investments of $1.9 billion and $1.6 billion at December 31, 2025 and 2024, respectively.
Cash, cash equivalents, and investments held by our foreign subsidiaries were $7.5 billion at December 31, 2025 and $8.5 billion at December 31, 2024, or 58% and 61%, of our total cash, cash equivalents, and investments as of those respective dates. At December 31, 2025, all of our cash, cash equivalents, and investments held by foreign subsidiaries were subject to U.S. taxation under Subpart F, Net Controlled Foreign Corporation Tested Income ("NTCI") formally known as Global Intangible Low Taxed Income (GILTI), or the one-time transition tax under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017. Subsequent repatriations to the U.S. will not be taxable from a U.S. federal tax perspective except for any tax on foreign exchange gains and losses; however, they may be subject to state income or foreign withholding tax.
A significant aspect of our global cash management activities involves meeting our customers' requirements to access their cash while simultaneously meeting our regulatory financial ratio commitments in various jurisdictions. Our global cash balances are required not only to provide operational liquidity to our businesses, but also to support our global regulatory requirements across our regulated subsidiaries. Accordingly, not all of our cash is available for general corporate purposes.
Cash flows
The following table summarizes our consolidated statements of cash flows:
| Year Ended December 31, | |||||||||||||||||
| 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | |||||||||||||||
| (In millions) | |||||||||||||||||
| Net cash provided by (used in): | |||||||||||||||||
|
Operating activities
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$ | 6,416 | $ | 7,450 | $ | 4,843 | |||||||||||
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Investing activities
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797 | 1,689 | 752 | ||||||||||||||
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Financing activities
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(5,958) | (8,276) | (2,993) | ||||||||||||||
| Effect of exchange rates on cash, cash equivalents, and restricted cash | 273 | (207) | 76 | ||||||||||||||
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Net change in cash, cash equivalents, and restricted cash
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$ | 1,528 | $ | 656 | $ | 2,678 | |||||||||||
Operating activities
Cash flows from operating activities includes net income adjusted for certain non-cash expenses, timing differences between expenses recognized for provision for transaction and credit losses and actual cash transaction losses incurred, originations and proceeds from repayments and sales of loans and interest receivable originally classified as held for sale, and changes in other assets and liabilities. Significant non-cash expenses for the period include depreciation and amortization and stock-based compensation. The cash impact from actual transaction losses incurred during a period is reflected as changes in other assets and liabilities. The expenses recognized during the period for provision for credit losses are estimates of current expected credit losses on our consumer and merchant credit products. Actual charge-offs of receivables related to our consumer and merchant credit products have no impact on cash from operating activities.
Net cash provided by operating activities declined $1.0 billion in 2025 compared to 2024 due primarily to an increase of approximately $1.2 billion in originations of loans receivable held for sale, net of sales and repayments, an impact of approximately $450 million from net gains on strategic investments, and an impact of approximately $230 million from stock-based compensation, partially offset by an increase of approximately $280 million in transaction and credit losses, and a decrease of $250 million in the accretion of discounts on investments, net of amortization premiums.
Cash paid for income taxes, net in 2025, 2024, and 2023 was $1.1 billion, $1.0 billion, and $2.1 billion, respectively.
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FY 2025 FORM 10-K
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Investing activities
Cash flows from investing activities includes purchases, maturities and sales of investments; cash paid for acquisitions and strategic investments; purchases and sales of property and equipment; purchases, originations, sales, and principal repayment of loans receivable, originally classified as held for investment; changes in funds receivable; changes in collateral posted related to derivative instruments, net; and purchases and maturities of reverse repurchase agreements.
Net cash provided by investing activities decreased $892 million in 2025 compared to 2024 due primarily to changes in funds receivable of approximately $3.2 billion, an increase of approximately $220 million in collateral posted related to derivative instruments, and an increase in purchases of property and equipment of approximately $170 million, partially offset by a decrease of approximately $1.8 billion in purchases of investments, net of maturities and sales, and a decrease of approximately $1.0 billion in purchases and originations of loans receivable, net of principal repayments.
Financing activities
Cash flows from financing activities includes proceeds from issuance of common stock, purchases of treasury stock, tax withholdings related to net share settlements of equity awards, borrowings and repayments under financing arrangements, changes in funds payable and amounts due to customers, changes in collateral received related to derivative instruments, net, borrowings and repayments under repurchase agreements, and dividend payments.
Net cash used in financing activities decreased $2.3 billion in 2025 compared to 2024 due primarily to changes related to funds payable and amounts due to customers of approximately $2.1 billion, and an increase of approximately $600 million in borrowings under financing arrangements, net of repayments, partially offset by a decline of approximately $320 million in collateral received related to derivative instruments.
Effect of exchange rate changes on cash, cash equivalents, and restricted cash
Foreign exchange rates had a positive impact of $273 million and negative impact of $207 million on cash, cash equivalents, and restricted cash during 2025 and 2024, respectively. The positive impact in 2025 was due primarily to favorable fluctuations in the exchange rate of the U.S. dollar to the British pound and, to a lesser extent, the Australian dollar and Euro. The negative impact in 2024 was primarily due to unfavorable fluctuations in the exchange rate of the U.S. dollar to the Australian dollar and, to a lesser extent, the British pound and Euro.
Available credit and debt
In June 2023, we entered into a credit agreement (the "Credit Agreement") that provides for an unsecured $5.0 billion, five-year revolving credit facility. The Credit Agreement includes a $150 million letter of credit sub-facility and a $600 million swingline sub-facility, with available borrowings under the revolving credit facility reduced by the amount of any letters of credit and swingline borrowings outstanding from time to time. As of December 31, 2025, no borrowings were outstanding under the Credit Agreement and as such, $5.0 billion of borrowing capacity was available for the purposes permitted by the Credit Agreement, subject to customary conditions to borrowing.
In February 2022, we entered into a credit agreement (the "Paidy Credit Agreement") with Paidy as co-borrower, which provided for an unsecured revolving credit facility of ¥60.0 billion, which was modified in September 2022 to increase the borrowing capacity by ¥30.0 billion for a total borrowing capacity of ¥90.0 billion (approximately $575 million as of December 31, 2025). As of December 31, 2025, ¥90.0 billion (approximately $575 million) was drawn down under the Paidy Credit Agreement. Accordingly, at December 31, 2025, no borrowing capacity was available under the Paidy Credit Agreement.
We maintain uncommitted credit facilities in various regions throughout the world with a borrowing capacity of approximately $80 million in the aggregate, where we can withdraw and utilize the funds at our discretion for general corporate purposes. As of December 31, 2025, substantially all of the borrowing capacity under these credit facilities was available, subject to customary conditions to borrowing.
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FY 2025 FORM 10-K
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In November 2025, we established a commercial paper program that allows us to issue up to $5.0 billion of unsecured commercial paper notes ("Commercial Paper Notes") through private placement using third-party broker-dealers (the "Commercial Paper Program"). Borrowings under the Commercial Paper Program are supported by the Credit Agreement. The Company intends to maintain availability under the Credit Agreement in an amount at least equal to the aggregate outstanding borrowings under the Commercial Paper Program. Net proceeds from the issuance of the Commercial Paper Notes may be used for general corporate purposes. The maturities of the Commercial Paper Notes may vary but may not exceed 397 days from the date of issuance. There were $200 million in Commercial Paper Notes outstanding as of December 31, 2025.
In March 2025, May 2024, June 2023, May 2022, May 2020 and September 2019, we issued fixed and floating rate notes with varying maturity dates (collectively referred to as the "Notes"). Proceeds from the issuance of these Notes may be used for general corporate purposes, which may include funding the repayment or redemption of outstanding debt, share repurchases, ongoing operations, capital expenditures, and possible acquisitions of businesses, assets, or strategic investments. As of December 31, 2025, we had an aggregate principal amount of $10.9 billion in debt outstanding with varying maturity dates.
For additional information, see "Note 12-Debt" to our consolidated financial statements included in this Form 10-K.
Depending on market conditions, we may from time to time issue debt, including in private or public offerings, to fund our operating activities, finance acquisitions, make strategic investments, repurchase shares under our stock repurchase program, or reduce our cost of capital.
Credit ratings
As of December 31, 2025, we continue to be rated investment grade by Standard and Poor's Financial Services, LLC, Fitch Ratings, Inc., and Moody's Investors Services, Inc. We expect that these credit rating agencies will continue to monitor our performance, including our capital structure and results of operations. Our goal is to be rated investment grade, but as circumstances change, various factors could result in our credit ratings being downgraded or put on a watch list for possible downgrading. If that were to occur, it could increase our borrowing rates, including the interest rate on borrowings under our credit agreements.
CURRENT AND FUTURE CASH REQUIREMENTS
Our material cash requirements include funds to support current and potential: operating activities, credit products, customer protection programs, stock repurchases, dividend payments, strategic investments, acquisitions, other commitments, capital expenditures, and other future obligations.
Credit products
Growth in our portfolio of loans receivable increases our liquidity needs, and any inability to meet those liquidity needs could adversely affect our business. We continue to evaluate partnerships and third-party sources of funding for our credit products.
The Luxembourg Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier (the "CSSF") has agreed that PayPal's management may designate up to 50% of European customer balances held in our Luxembourg banking subsidiary to fund European and U.K. credit activities. As of December 31, 2025 and 2024, the cumulative amount approved by PayPal to be designated to fund credit activities was $2.0 billion as of those respective dates and represented approximately 26% of European customer balances made available for our corporate use as of those respective dates, as determined by applying financial regulations maintained by the CSSF. We may periodically seek to change the designation of amounts of European customer balances for our credit activities, as we deem necessary, based on utilization of the approved funds and anticipated credit funding requirements. Under certain exceptional circumstances, corporate liquidity could be called upon to meet our obligations related to our European customer balances.
We have entered into forward flow arrangements with third-party investors to sell certain loans receivable portfolios. In 2023, we entered into a multi-year agreement with a third-party investment firm to sell loans receivable, which was amended and restated in 2024 and 2025. In 2025, we entered into an updated multi-year agreement with this third-party investment firm to extend the commitment period through March 2028 and increase the maximum loans to be sold to €65 billion. Also in 2025, we entered into an arrangement with a separate third-party investment firm which has a duration of two years and up to $7.0 billion of loans receivable sales over the term. During the years ended December 31, 2025 and 2024, we had net proceeds of $26.7 billion and $20.8 billion, respectively, of loans and interest receivable sold under these arrangements. For additional information, see "Note 1-Overview and Summary of Significant Accounting Policies" to our consolidated financial statements included in this Form 10-K.
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FY 2025 FORM 10-K
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While our objective is to expand the availability of our credit products with capital from external sources, there can be no assurance that we will be successful in achieving that goal.
Customer protection programs
The risk of losses from our customer protection programs are specific to individual consumers, merchants, and transactions, and may also be impacted by regional variations in, and changes or modifications to, the programs, including as a result of changes in regulatory requirements. For the periods presented in these consolidated financial statements included in this report, our transaction loss rate ranged between 0.07% and 0.08% of TPV. Historical loss rates may not be indicative of future results.
Capital return program
Stock repurchases
During the year ended December 31, 2025, we repurchased approximately $6.0 billion of our common stock in the open market under our stock repurchase programs authorized in June 2022 and February 2025. As of December 31, 2025, a total of approximately $13.9 billion remained available for future repurchases of our common stock under our February 2025 stock repurchase program. For additional information, see "Note 14-Stockholders' Equity" to our consolidated financial statements included in this Form 10-K.
Implementation of dividend program
In October 2025, we announced that our Board of Directors approved the initiation of a quarterly cash dividend program and declared a cash dividend of $0.14 per share on our common stock, totaling approximately $130 million. The dividend was payable on December 10, 2025, to stockholders of record of our common stock as of the close of business on November 19, 2025. Dividend payments in future quarters will be subject to and contingent upon market conditions and approval by our Board of Directors at its sole discretion.
Future obligations
We have certain fixed contractual obligations and commitments that include future estimated payments for general operating purposes. Changes in our business needs, contractual cancellation provisions, fluctuating interest rates, and other factors may result in actual payments differing from our estimates. We cannot provide certainty regarding the timing and amounts of these payments. The following table summarizes our obligations as of December 31, 2025 that are expected to impact liquidity and cash flow in future periods. We believe we will be able to fund these obligations through our existing cash and investment portfolio and cash expected to be generated from operations.
|
Purchase Obligations |
Leases | Long-term Debt | Total | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Payments Due During the Year Ending December 31, | (In millions) | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2026 | $ | 829 | $ | 182 | $ | 1,811 | $ | 2,822 | |||||||||||||||
| 2027 | 699 | 181 | 1,446 | 2,326 | |||||||||||||||||||
| 2028 | 621 | 147 | 1,467 | 2,235 | |||||||||||||||||||
| 2029 | 575 | 125 | 1,815 | 2,515 | |||||||||||||||||||
| 2030 | 572 | 110 | 1,261 | 1,943 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Thereafter | 66 | 348 | 8,770 | 9,184 | |||||||||||||||||||
| $ | 3,362 | $ | 1,093 | $ | 16,570 | $ | 21,025 | ||||||||||||||||
The significant assumptions used in our determination of amounts presented in the above table are as follows:
•Purchase obligation amounts include minimum purchase commitments for cloud computing services, advertising, and other goods and services entered into in the ordinary course of business.
•Lease amounts include primarily minimum rental payments under our non-cancelable operating leases predominantly for office and data center facilities. The amounts presented are consistent with contractual terms and are not expected to differ significantly from actual results under our existing leases, unless a substantial change in our headcount needs requires us to expand our occupied space or exit an office facility early.
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FY 2025 FORM 10-K
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•Long-term debt amounts represent the future principal and interest payments (based on contractual interest rates) on our fixed and floating-rate debt and amounts outstanding under our credit facilities. For more information, see "Note 12-Debt" to our consolidated financial statements included in this Form 10-K.
As we are unable to reasonably predict the timing of settlement of liabilities related to unrecognized tax benefits, net, the table above does not include $2.9 billion recorded in other long-term liabilities on our consolidated balance sheets as of December 31, 2025.
Other considerations
Our liquidity, access to capital, and borrowing costs could be adversely impacted by declines in our credit rating, our financial performance, and global credit market conditions, as well as a broad range of other factors. In addition, our liquidity, access to capital, and borrowing costs could also be negatively impacted by the outcome of any of the legal or regulatory proceedings to which we are a party. See "Item 1A. Risk Factors" and "Note 13-Commitments and Contingencies" to our consolidated financial statements included in this Form 10-K for additional discussion of these and other risks that our business faces.
CRITICAL ACCOUNTING POLICIES AND ESTIMATES
The application of U.S. generally accepted accounting principles ("GAAP") requires us to make estimates and assumptions about certain items and future events that directly affect our reported financial condition. We have established detailed policies and control procedures to provide reasonable assurance that the methods used to make estimates and assumptions are well controlled and are applied consistently from period to period. The accounting estimates and assumptions discussed in this section are those that we consider to be the most critical to our financial statements. An accounting estimate or assumption is considered critical if both (a) the nature of the estimate or assumption is material due to the levels of subjectivity and judgment involved, and (b) the impact within a reasonable range of outcomes of the estimate and assumption is material to our financial condition. Management has discussed the development, selection, and disclosure of these estimates with the Audit and Finance Committee of our Board of Directors. Our significant accounting policies, including recent accounting pronouncements, are described in "Note 1-Overview and Summary of Significant Accounting Policies" to the consolidated financial statements included in this Form 10-K.
A quantitative sensitivity analysis is provided where information is reasonably available, can be reliably estimated, and provides material information to investors. The amounts used to assess sensitivity are included to allow users of this report to understand a general directional cause and effect of changes in the estimates and do not represent management's predictions of variability. For all of these estimates, it should be noted that future events rarely develop exactly as forecasted, and such estimates require regular review and adjustment.
ALLOWANCE FOR TRANSACTION AND CREDIT LOSSES
Transaction and credit losses include the expense associated with our customer protection programs, fraud, chargebacks, and credit losses associated with our loans receivable balances. Our transaction and credit losses fluctuate depending on many factors, including: total TPV, product mix, current and projected macroeconomic conditions, merchant insolvency events, changes to and usage of our customer protection programs, the impact of regulatory changes, and the credit quality of loans receivable arising from transactions funded with our credit products, which include revolving and installment credit products offered to consumers at checkout, as well as merchant loans and advances arising from the PPWC and PPBL products.
We establish allowances for negative customer balances and estimated transaction losses arising from processing customer transactions, such as chargebacks for unauthorized credit card use and merchant-related chargebacks due to non-delivery or unsatisfactory delivery of eligible purchased items, purchase protection program claims, account takeovers, and bank returns and reversals. Additions to the allowance, in the form of provisions, are reflected in transaction and credit losses on our consolidated statements of income (loss). The allowances are based on known facts and circumstances, internal factors including experience with similar cases, historical trends involving collection and write-off patterns, and the mix of transaction and loss types, as well as current and projected macroeconomic factors, as appropriate. Actual losses may vary from amounts recorded given the estimates used in determining allowances for negative customer balances and transaction losses involve judgment and uncertainties and historical loss patterns may not be predictive of future losses. Changes in loss rate assumptions could have a material impact on the allowance for transaction losses. We evaluate these assumptions and estimates on an ongoing basis and periodically update our allowance as new facts become known and events occur that may impact the ultimate settlement or recovery of losses.
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FY 2025 FORM 10-K
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We also establish an allowance for loans and interest receivable, which represents our estimate of current expected credit losses inherent in our portfolio of loans and interest receivable and includes expected credit losses from modifications of receivables to borrowers experiencing financial difficulty. Determining appropriate current expected credit loss allowances for loans and interest receivable is an inherently uncertain process and ultimate losses may vary from the current estimates. We regularly update our allowance estimates as new facts become known and events occur that may impact the settlement or recovery of losses. The allowances are maintained at a level we deem appropriate to adequately provide for current expected credit losses at the balance sheet date after incorporating the impact of externally sourced macroeconomic forecasts. As of December 31, 2025, we utilized externally published projections of forecasted U.S. unemployment rates and retail e-commerce sales and forecasted U.K. average weekly earnings, among others, over the reasonable and supportable forecast period. As of December 31, 2024, we utilized externally published projections of forecasted U.S. unemployment rates, forecasted U.S. and U.K. retail e-commerce sales, and forecasted U.K. household disposable income, among others, over the reasonable and supportable forecast period. The overall principal and interest coverage ratio as of both December 31, 2025 and 2024 was approximately 7%. A significant change in the forecasted macroeconomic factors could result in a material change in our allowances. An increase of 1% in the principal and interest coverage ratio would increase our allowances by approximately $73 million based on the loans and interest receivable balance outstanding as of December 31, 2025.
ACCOUNTING FOR INCOME TAXES
Our annual tax rate is based on our income, statutory tax rates, and tax planning opportunities available to us in the various jurisdictions in which we operate. Tax laws are complex and subject to different interpretations by the taxpayer and respective government taxing authorities. Significant judgment is required in determining our tax expense and in evaluating our tax positions, including evaluating uncertainties. We review our tax positions quarterly and adjust the balances as new information becomes available. Our income tax rate is significantly affected by the tax rates that apply to our foreign earnings. In addition to local country tax laws and regulations, our income tax rate depends on the extent that our foreign earnings are taxed by the U.S. through provisions such as the NCTI tax and base erosion anti-abuse tax.
Deferred tax assets represent amounts available to reduce income taxes payable on taxable income in future years. Such assets arise because of temporary differences between the financial reporting and tax bases of assets and liabilities, as well as from net operating loss and tax credit carryforwards. We evaluate the recoverability of these future tax deductions and credits by assessing the adequacy of future expected taxable income from all sources, including reversal of taxable temporary differences, forecasted operating earnings, and available tax planning strategies. These sources of income rely heavily on estimates that are based on a number of factors, including our historical experience and short-range and long-range business forecasts. To the extent deferred tax assets are not expected to be realized, we record a valuation allowance.
We recognize and measure uncertain tax positions in accordance with U.S. GAAP, pursuant to which we only recognize the tax benefit from an uncertain tax position if it is more likely than not that the tax position will be sustained on examination by the taxing authorities, based on the technical merits of the position. The tax benefits recognized in the financial statements from such positions are then measured based on the largest benefit that has a greater than 50 percent likelihood of being realized upon ultimate settlement. We report a liability for unrecognized tax benefits resulting from uncertain tax positions taken or expected to be taken in a tax return. U.S. GAAP further requires that a change in judgment related to the expected ultimate resolution of uncertain tax positions be recognized in earnings in the quarter in which such change occurs. We recognize interest and penalties, if any, related to unrecognized tax benefits in income tax expense.
We file annual income tax returns in multiple taxing jurisdictions around the world. A number of years may elapse before an uncertain tax position is audited by the relevant tax authorities and finally resolved. While it is often difficult to predict the final outcome or the timing of resolution of any particular uncertain tax position, we believe that our reserves for income taxes are adequate. We adjust these reserves, as well as the related interest and penalties, where appropriate in light of changing facts and circumstances. Settlement of any particular position could require the use of cash.
Based on our results for the year ended December 31, 2025, an increase in our income tax expense of $63 million would have resulted in a one-percentage point increase in our effective tax rate.
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FY 2025 FORM 10-K
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LOSS CONTINGENCIES
We are regularly involved in various claims, regulatory and legal proceedings, and investigations of potential violations by regulatory authorities. On a regular basis, we review the status of each significant matter and assess our potential financial exposure. If the potential loss from any claim, legal proceeding, or potential regulatory violation is considered probable and the amount can be reasonably estimated, we accrue a liability for the estimated loss. Significant judgment is required in both the determination of probability and whether an exposure is reasonably estimable. Our judgments are subjective and are based on the status of the legal or regulatory proceedings, the merits of our defenses, and consultation with in-house and outside legal counsel. Because of uncertainties related to these matters, accruals are based on the best information available at the time. As additional information becomes available, we reassess the potential liability related to pending claims, litigation, or other potential violations and may revise our estimates. Due to the inherent uncertainties of legal and regulatory processes in the multiple jurisdictions in which we operate, our judgments may differ materially from the actual outcomes.
REVENUE RECOGNITION
Application of the accounting principles in U.S. GAAP related to the measurement and recognition of revenue requires us to make judgments and estimates. Complex arrangements with nonstandard terms and conditions may require significant contract interpretation to determine the appropriate accounting. Specifically, the determination of whether we are a principal to a transaction (gross revenue) or an agent (net revenue) can require considerable judgment. Further, we provide incentive payments to consumers and merchants. Evaluating whether these incentives are a payment to a customer, or consideration payable on behalf of a customer, requires judgment. Incentives determined to be made to a customer, or payable on behalf of a customer, are recorded as a reduction to gross revenue. Incentives that are earned by the customer based on performance targets are recorded when earned, based on management's estimate of each customer's future performance. These accruals are regularly reviewed and estimates of performance are adjusted, as appropriate, based on changes in performance expectations, actual customer performance, amendments to existing contracts, or the execution of new contracts. Changes in judgments with respect to these assumptions and estimates could impact the amount of revenue recognized.
EVALUATION OF STRATEGIC INVESTMENTS FOR IMPAIRMENT
We have strategic investments in non-marketable equity securities, which include investments that do not have a readily determinable fair value and are measured at cost minus impairment, if any, and are adjusted for changes resulting from observable price changes in orderly transactions for an identical or similar investment in the same issuer (the Measurement Alternative). We review these investments regularly to determine if impairment has occurred. We assess whether an impairment loss on these non-marketable equity securities, which are primarily investments in privately held companies, has occurred based on qualitative factors such as the companies' financial condition and business outlook, industry performance, regulatory, economic or technological environment, and other relevant events and factors affecting the company. When indicators of impairment exist, we estimate the fair value of these non-marketable equity securities using the market approach and/or the income approach. If any impairment is identified, we write down the investment to its fair value and record the corresponding charge through other income (expense), net on our consolidated statements of income (loss). Estimating fair value requires judgment and use of estimates such as discount rates, forecasted cash flows, and market data of comparable companies, among others. For sensitivity analysis performed on our strategic investments, see "Item 7A. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures about Market Risk-Equity Investment Risk."
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