Income Taxes

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2020

10.

INCOME TAXES

Determination of Quarterly Effective Income Tax Rate

We have historically calculated the provision for income taxes during interim reporting periods by applying an estimate of the annual effective tax rate for the full year to income for the interim period. Given the significant uncertainty with respect to the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak on our business and results of operations, we are not currently able to estimate our annual effective income tax rate for 2020. Therefore, our income tax rate for the three months ended March 31, 2020 is our best estimate of our annual effective income tax rate.

CARES Act

On March 27, 2020, the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act was enacted, which resulted in significant changes to the U.S. Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended. The most significant changes affecting us were as follows:

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Modification of the limitations previously set by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 by providing that tax net operating losses (NOLs) arising in a tax year beginning in 2018, 2019, or 2020 can be carried back five years. This provision allows the taxpayer to recover taxes previously paid at a 35 percent federal income tax rate during tax years prior to 2018. In addition, the CARES Act removed the taxable income limitation to allow a tax NOL to fully offset taxable income for tax years beginning before January 1, 2021.


•	Increased the deductibility of interest expense from 30 percent to 50 percent of adjusted taxable income for 2019 and 2020. Also, a taxpayer can elect to use its 2019 adjusted taxable income in 2020 to determine the deductible amount of interest expense in that year.

We recognized an overall income tax benefit of $616 million for the three months ended March 31, 2020, of which $110 million was attributable to the expected tax NOL carryback provided for under the CARES Act for expected tax NOLs from our current tax year to our 2015 income tax year in which we paid federal income tax at a 35 percent tax rate. In addition, we were not limited in the amount of interest expense we could deduct. The remaining income tax benefit was primarily due to the LCM inventory valuation adjustment that resulted in a tax benefit of $551 million.