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Income taxes
9 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2020
Income Tax Disclosure [Abstract]  
Income taxes Income taxes
We generally estimate our annual effective tax rate for the full year and apply that rate to net income before tax in
determining the provision for income taxes for interim periods. We record discrete items in each respective interim period as appropriate. However, for the three months ended March 31, 2020, we determined that the annual rate method would not provide for a reliable estimate due to volatility in the forecasting process as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, we recorded the provision for income taxes for the three months ended March 31, 2020 using the actual effective rate plus discrete items for the three months ended March 31, 2020 (the “cut-off” method). We recorded the provision for income taxes for the six months ended June 30, 2020 and the nine months ended September 30, 2020 using the annual rate method, consistent with our general practice.

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, President Donald Trump signed into law the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (the CARES Act) on March 27, 2020. The CARES Act provides numerous tax provisions and other stimulus measures, including refundable payroll tax credits, deferral of employer social security payments, modifications to the net interest deduction limitations, expansions to the use and carryback of net operating losses, and a technical correction to the depreciation method applicable to qualified improvement property under the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. We will benefit from the technical correction for qualified improvement property which allows for an immediate deduction of any eligible leasehold improvements placed in service during 2018 and 2019. We will also benefit from the new depreciation method available for qualified improvement property which allows for an immediate retroactive deduction of certain eligible leasehold improvements previously placed in service. As a result, our 2020 tax payments are reduced by approximately $5 million. There is no change to our tax expense or our effective income tax rate since the changes are payment deferrals only. We will continue to monitor the impact of the CARES Act on our business as conditions change.
Due to guidance from the U.S. Department of the Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service, certain federal income tax payments due before July 15, 2020, were deferred to July 15, 2020. As a result, we made federal income tax payments of $30 million in the third quarter. We estimate making federal income tax payments of $40 million in the fourth quarter.