Income taxes

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2024

Income Tax Disclosure [Abstract]

Income taxes

Income taxes

The income tax provisions for the three months ended March 31, 2024 and 2023, were tax expenses of $45 million and $601 million, respectively, on a pretax loss of $68 million and a pretax income of $3,442 million, respectively. The effective tax rates for the three months ended March 31, 2024 and 2023, were (66.2)% and 17.5%, respectively.

The decrease in our effective tax rate for the three months ended March 31, 2024, was primarily due to the earnings mix as a result of the inclusion of the Horizon business, amortization of Horizon acquired assets and the first quarter 2024 unrealized loss on our BeiGene investment. See Note 6, Investments—BeiGene, Ltd. The effective tax rates differ from the federal statutory rate primarily due to impacts of the jurisdictional mix of income and expenses. Substantially all of the benefit to our effective tax rate from foreign earnings results from locations where the Company has significant manufacturing operations, including Singapore, Ireland and Puerto Rico, a territory of the United States that is treated as a foreign jurisdiction for U.S. tax purposes. Our operations in Puerto Rico are subject to a tax incentive grant through 2050. Additionally, the Company’s operations conducted in Singapore are subject to a tax incentive grant through 2036. Our foreign earnings are also subject to U.S. tax at a reduced rate of 10.5%. Additionally, effective January 1, 2024, selected individual countries, including the United Kingdom and EU member countries, have enacted the global minimum tax agreement. Our legal entities in such countries, along with their direct and indirect subsidiaries, are now subject to a 15% minimum tax rate on adjusted financial statement income.

Beginning on January 1, 2023, we were no longer subject to a 4% excise tax in the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico on the gross intercompany purchase price of goods and services from our manufacturer in Puerto Rico. We qualify for and are subject to the alternative income tax rate on industrial development income of our Puerto Rico affiliate. In the United States, this income tax qualifies for foreign tax credits. Both this income tax and the associated foreign tax credits are generally recognized in our provision for income taxes. We accounted for the 2022 excise tax that was capitalized in Inventories as an expense in Cost of sales when the related products were sold in the first half of 2023, and a foreign tax credit was not recognized with respect to the excise tax expense in 2023. We do not have this excise tax exposure in 2024.

One or more of our legal entities file income tax returns in the U.S. federal jurisdiction, various U.S. state jurisdictions and certain foreign jurisdictions. Our income tax returns are routinely examined by tax authorities in those jurisdictions. Significant disputes can and have arisen with tax authorities involving issues regarding the timing and amount of deductions, the use of tax credits and allocations of income and expenses among various tax jurisdictions because of differing interpretations of tax laws, regulations and relevant facts. Tax authorities, including the IRS, are becoming more aggressive and are particularly focused on such matters.

In 2017, we received an RAR and a modified RAR from the IRS for the years 2010–2012, proposing significant adjustments that primarily relate to the allocation of profits between certain of our entities in the United States and the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico. We disagreed with the proposed adjustments and calculations and pursued resolution with the IRS appeals office but were unable to reach resolution. In July 2021, we filed a petition in the U.S. Tax Court to contest two duplicate Statutory Notices of Deficiency (Notices) for the years 2010–2012 that we received in May and July 2021, which seek to increase our U.S. taxable income for the years 2010–2012 by an amount that would result in additional federal tax of approximately $3.6 billion plus interest. Any additional tax that could be imposed for the years 2010–2012 would be reduced by up to approximately $900 million of repatriation tax previously accrued on our foreign earnings.

In 2020, we received an RAR and a modified RAR from the IRS for the years 2013–2015, also proposing significant adjustments that primarily relate to the allocation of profits between certain of our entities in the United States and the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico similar to those proposed for the years 2010–2012. We disagreed with the proposed adjustments and calculations and pursued resolution with the IRS appeals office but were unable to reach resolution. In July 2022, we filed a petition in the U.S. Tax Court to contest a Notice for the years 2013–2015 that we previously reported receiving in April 2022 that seeks to increase our U.S. taxable income for the years 2013–2015 by an amount that would result in additional federal tax of approximately $5.1 billion, plus interest. In addition, the Notice asserts penalties of approximately $2.0 billion. Any additional tax that could be imposed for the years 2013–2015 would be reduced by up to approximately $2.2 billion of repatriation tax previously accrued on our foreign earnings.

We firmly believe that the IRS positions set forth in the 2010–2012 and 2013–2015 Notices are without merit. We are contesting the 2010–2012 and 2013–2015 Notices through the judicial process. The two cases were consolidated in the U.S. Tax Court on December 19, 2022. The trial is currently scheduled to begin on November 4, 2024.

We are currently under examination by the IRS for the years 2016–2018 with respect to issues similar to those for the 2010 through 2015 period. In addition, we are under examination by a number of state and foreign tax jurisdictions.

Final resolution of these complex matters is not likely within the next 12 months. We continue to believe our accrual for income tax liabilities is appropriate based on past experience, interpretations of tax law, application of the tax law to our facts and judgments about potential actions by tax authorities; however, due to the complexity of the provision for income taxes and uncertain resolution of these matters, the ultimate outcome of any tax matters may result in payments substantially greater than amounts accrued and could have a material adverse impact on our condensed consolidated financial statements.

During the three months ended March 31, 2024, the gross amounts of our UTBs increased by $40 million as a result of tax positions taken during the current year. Substantially all of the UTBs as of March 31, 2024, if recognized, would affect our effective tax rate.