Income Taxes

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2021

Income Tax Disclosure [Abstract]

Income Taxes [Text Block]

Income Taxes

The Registrants reported the following effective tax rates:

	Three Months Ended March 31,
	2021		2020
CenterPoint Energy - Continuing operations (1)	17	%	25	%
CenterPoint Energy - Discontinued operations (2)	—	%	10	%
Houston Electric	13	%	13	%
CERC - Continuing operations (3)	22	%	21	%
CERC - Discontinued operations (4)	—	%	15	%

(1)CenterPoint Energy’s lower effective tax rate on income from continuing operations for the three months ended March 31, 2021 compared to the higher effective tax rate on a loss from continuing operations for the three months ended March 31, 2020 was primarily driven by an increase in the amount of amortization of the net regulatory EDIT liability. The higher effective tax rate on the loss from continuing operations for the three months ended March 31, 2020 was primarily due to lower earnings from the impairment of CenterPoint Energy’s investment in Enable. Other effective tax rate drivers include the non-deductible goodwill impairment at the Indiana Electric reporting unit, the impact of NOL carryback claims allowed under the CARES Act, and an increase in the amount of remeasurement of state deferred tax liabilities for changes in apportionment, the effects of which were compounded by the book loss in the three months ended March 31, 2020.

(2)CenterPoint Energy’s lower than statutory tax rate on the loss from discontinued operations for the three months ended March 31, 2020 was primarily due to the non-deductible portions of goodwill impairments on the Energy Services and Infrastructure Services Disposal Groups.

(3)CERC’s higher effective tax rate on income from continuing operations for the three months ended March 31, 2021 compared to the three months ended March 31, 2020 was primarily driven by a decrease in the amount of amortization of the net regulatory EDIT liability.

(4)CERC’s lower than statutory tax rate on the loss from discontinued operations for the three months ended March 31, 2020 was primarily due to the non-deductible portion of the goodwill impairment on the Energy Services Disposal Group.

On March 11, 2021, the ARPA was enacted in response to continued economic and health impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. The ARPA expands the definition of “covered employee” under section 162(m) beginning in 2027, and extends the employee retention tax credit through December 31, 2021, among other provisions. CenterPoint Energy does not currently anticipate any material impacts from this legislation. On March 27, 2020, the CARES Act was enacted in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The CARES Act provides relief to corporate taxpayers by permitting a five-year carryback of 2018-2020 NOLs, deferring the payment of the employer share of payroll taxes for the remaining months of 2020 until 2021 and 2022, increasing the 30% limitation on interest expense deductibility to 50% of adjusted taxable income for 2019 and 2020, and accelerating refunds for minimum tax credit carryforwards, among other provisions. Based on the CARES Act NOL carryback provision, during the three months ended March 31, 2020, CenterPoint Energy recorded a $19 million benefit resulting from carryback claims to be filed to refund taxes paid.

CenterPoint Energy reported a net uncertain tax liability, inclusive of interest and penalties, of $10 million as of March 31, 2021. Interest and penalties of $1 million were recorded on the uncertain tax liability for the three month period ending March 31, 2021. The Registrants believe that it is reasonably possible that a decrease of up to $6 million in unrecognized tax benefits may occur in the next 12 months as a result of a lapse of statutes on older exposures and/or the acceptance of an application for an accounting method change. For CenterPoint Energy, tax years through 2018 have been audited and settled with the IRS. For the 2019 through 2021 tax years CenterPoint Energy is a participant in the IRS’s Compliance Assurance Process. Vectren’s pre-Merger 2017 through 2019 tax years are still open for examination.