Income Taxes

For interim tax reporting we estimate our annual effective tax rate and apply it to our year to date ordinary income. Jurisdictions with a projected loss for the year or an actual year-to-date loss where no tax benefit can be recognized due to a valuation allowance are excluded from the estimated annual effective tax rate. The impact of including these jurisdictions on the quarterly effective rate calculation could result in a higher or lower effective tax rate during a particular quarter due to the mix and timing of actual earnings versus annual projections. The tax effects of certain unusual or infrequently occurring items, including changes in judgment about valuation allowances and effects of changes in tax laws or rates, are excluded from the estimated annual effective tax rate calculation and recognized in the interim period in which they occur.

We reported income tax expense of $40 million and $12 million in the three month periods ended March 31, 2014 and 2013, respectively. The tax expense recorded in the first three months of 2013 included a net tax benefit of $13 million for tax adjustments primarily related to recognizing a U.S. tax benefit for foreign taxes and changes to prior year estimates. U.S. tax benefit for foreign taxes is driven by our ability to claim a U.S. foreign tax credit beginning in 2013. The U.S. foreign tax credit law provides for a credit against U.S. taxes otherwise payable for foreign taxes paid with regard to dividends, interest and royalties paid to us in the U.S.

In 2012, we reversed the tax valuation allowance against our net deferred tax assets in the U.S. based on operating improvements we had made, the outlook for light and commercial vehicle production in the U.S. and the positive impact this should have on our U.S. operations. We now have a federal net operating loss ("NOL") at March 31, 2014 of $5 million, which expires in 2030. The state NOLs expire in various tax years through 2032.

Valuation allowances are established in certain foreign jurisdictions for deferred tax assets based on a “more likely than not” standard. The ability to realize deferred tax assets depends on our ability to generate sufficient taxable income within the carryforward periods provided for in the tax law for each tax jurisdiction. We have considered the following possible sources of taxable income when assessing the realization of our deferred tax assets:


•	Future reversals of existing taxable temporary differences;


•	Taxable income or loss, based on recent results, exclusive of reversing temporary differences and carryforwards;


•	Tax-planning strategies; and


•	Taxable income in prior carryback years if carryback is permitted under the relevant tax law.

The valuation allowances recorded against deferred tax assets will impact our provision for income taxes until the valuation allowances are released. Our provision for income taxes will include no tax benefit for losses incurred and no tax expense with respect to income generated in these jurisdictions until the respective valuation allowance is eliminated.