Income Taxes (Tables)

12 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2018

Factors Causing Variation in Effective Tax Rate From US Federal Statutory Rate

The differences that caused our effective income tax rates to differ from the U.S. federal statutory rate for income taxes were as follows:



	Year Ended March 31,
	2018			2017			2016
	(in millions)
Income tax (expense) benefit at the federal statutory rate	$	(95	)	$	270		$	649
Effect of:
State income taxes, net of federal income tax effect	(43		)	24			38
State law changes, net of federal income tax effect	9			4			20
Increase liability for unrecognized tax benefits	(29		)	(14		)	(4		)
Increase deferred tax liability for business activity changes	(89		)	—			—
Credit for increasing research activities	15			15			14
Tax (expense) benefit from organizational restructuring	—			(118		)	90
Change in federal and state valuation allowance⁽¹⁾	224			(615		)	(939		)
Tax benefit from the Tax Act	7,088			—			—
Other, net	(6		)	(1		)	(9		)
Income tax benefit (expense)	$	7,074		$	(435	)	$	(141	)
Effective income tax rate	(2,334.7		)%	(56.4		)%	(7.6		)%

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(1)	Exclusive of $2.1 billion federal and state release included in Tax benefit from the Tax Act line.

Schedule of Components of Income Tax Expense (Benefit)

Income tax benefit (expense) consists of the following:



	Year Ended March 31,
	2018			2017			2016
	(in millions)
Current income tax benefit (expense)
Federal	$	22		$	50		$	13
State	(58		)	(50		)	(30		)
Total current income tax expense	(36		)	—			(17		)
Deferred income tax benefit (expense)
Federal	7,234			(284		)	(206		)
State	(115		)	(149		)	83
Total deferred income tax benefit (expense)	7,119			(433		)	(123		)
Foreign income tax expense	(9		)	(2		)	(1		)
Total income tax benefit (expense)	$	7,074		$	(435	)	$	(141	)

Schedule of Income Tax Expense Benefit Allocated to Other Items

Income tax benefit (expense) allocated to other items was as follows:



	Year Ended March 31,
	2018			2017			2016
	(in millions)
Unrecognized net periodic pension and other postretirement benefit cost⁽¹⁾	$	9		$	(24	)	$	—
Unrealized holding gains (losses) on derivatives⁽¹⁾	$	(6	)	$	—		$	—

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(1)	These amounts have been recognized in accumulated other comprehensive loss.

Schedule of Deferred Tax Assets and Liabilities

The sources of the differences that give rise to the deferred income tax assets and liabilities as of March 31, 2018 and 2017, along with the income tax effect of each, were as follows:



	March 31,
	2018			2017
	(in millions)
Deferred tax assets
Net operating loss carryforwards	$	4,116		$	6,812
Tax credit carryforwards	244			340
Capital loss carryforwards	—			1
Property, plant and equipment	2,192			2,192
Debt obligations	64			205
Deferred rent	231			402
Pension and other postretirement benefits	219			332
Accruals and other liabilities	913			1,454
	7,979			11,738
Valuation allowance	(4,745		)	(10,477		)
	3,234			1,261
Deferred tax liabilities
FCC licenses	8,877			12,876
Trademarks	1,131			1,712
Intangibles	298			771
Other	222			318
	10,528			15,677

Long-term deferred tax liability	$	7,294		$	14,416

Summary of Income Tax Contingencies

A reconciliation of the beginning and ending amount of unrecognized tax benefits was as follows:



	Year Ended March 31,
	2018			2017
	(in millions)
Balance at beginning of period	$	190		$	166
Additions based on current year tax positions	21			15
Additions based on prior year tax positions	53			10
Reductions for prior year tax positions	(24		)	—
Reductions for lapse of statute of limitations	(1		)	(1		)
Balance at end of period	$	239		$	190