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Income Taxes (Narrative) (Details) (USD $)
12 Months Ended 3 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2014
Dec. 31, 2013
Dec. 31, 2012
Sep. 30, 2014
Dec. 31, 2014
Mar. 31, 2013
Dec. 31, 2011
Income Tax Contingency [Line Items]              
Deferred tax liabilities, other $ 2,300,000,000us-gaap_DeferredTaxLiabilitiesOther       $ 2,300,000,000us-gaap_DeferredTaxLiabilitiesOther    
Tax adjustments, settlements, and unusual provisions 0us-gaap_TaxAdjustmentsSettlementsAndUnusualProvisions (775,000,000)us-gaap_TaxAdjustmentsSettlementsAndUnusualProvisions 0us-gaap_TaxAdjustmentsSettlementsAndUnusualProvisions        
Unrecognized Tax Benefits (158,000,000)us-gaap_UnrecognizedTaxBenefits (161,000,000)us-gaap_UnrecognizedTaxBenefits (972,000,000)us-gaap_UnrecognizedTaxBenefits   (158,000,000)us-gaap_UnrecognizedTaxBenefits   (857,000,000)us-gaap_UnrecognizedTaxBenefits
Deferred income tax provision (benefit) for the effect of changes in non-U.S. and U.S. state tax rates (13,000,000)ip_DeferredIncomeTaxExpenseBenefitForEffectOfChangesInNonUSAndUSStateTaxRates 7,000,000ip_DeferredIncomeTaxExpenseBenefitForEffectOfChangesInNonUSAndUSStateTaxRates 25,000,000ip_DeferredIncomeTaxExpenseBenefitForEffectOfChangesInNonUSAndUSStateTaxRates        
Income tax payments, net of refunds 172,000,000us-gaap_IncomeTaxesPaidNet 291,000,000us-gaap_IncomeTaxesPaidNet 95,000,000us-gaap_IncomeTaxesPaidNet        
Deferred tax assets, other 266,000,000us-gaap_DeferredTaxAssetsOther 284,000,000us-gaap_DeferredTaxAssetsOther     266,000,000us-gaap_DeferredTaxAssetsOther    
Valuation allowance for deferred tax assets 415,000,000us-gaap_DeferredTaxAssetsValuationAllowance 413,000,000us-gaap_DeferredTaxAssetsValuationAllowance     415,000,000us-gaap_DeferredTaxAssetsValuationAllowance    
Valuation allowance, deferred tax asset, increase (decrease) 2,000,000us-gaap_ValuationAllowanceDeferredTaxAssetChangeInAmount            
Tax positions for which the ultimate benefits are highly certain, but for which there is uncertainty about the timing of such benefits 5,000,000us-gaap_SignificantChangeInUnrecognizedTaxBenefitsIsReasonablyPossibleAmountOfUnrecordedBenefit       5,000,000us-gaap_SignificantChangeInUnrecognizedTaxBenefitsIsReasonablyPossibleAmountOfUnrecordedBenefit    
Accrual for the payment of estimated interest and penalties associated with unrecognized tax benefits 41,000,000us-gaap_UnrecognizedTaxBenefitsIncomeTaxPenaltiesAndInterestAccrued 54,000,000us-gaap_UnrecognizedTaxBenefitsIncomeTaxPenaltiesAndInterestAccrued     41,000,000us-gaap_UnrecognizedTaxBenefitsIncomeTaxPenaltiesAndInterestAccrued    
Unrecognized tax benefits, decrease resulting from settlements with taxing authorities 0us-gaap_UnrecognizedTaxBenefitsDecreasesResultingFromSettlementsWithTaxingAuthorities 26,000,000us-gaap_UnrecognizedTaxBenefitsDecreasesResultingFromSettlementsWithTaxingAuthorities 2,000,000us-gaap_UnrecognizedTaxBenefitsDecreasesResultingFromSettlementsWithTaxingAuthorities        
Income tax provision (benefit) related to special items (453,000,000)ip_IncomeTaxProvisionBenefitRelatedToSpecialItems (869,000,000)ip_IncomeTaxProvisionBenefitRelatedToSpecialItems (63,000,000)ip_IncomeTaxProvisionBenefitRelatedToSpecialItems        
Income tax provision excluding the impact special items 659,000,000ip_IncomeTaxExpenseBenefitExcludingEffectOfSpecialItems 497,000,000ip_IncomeTaxExpenseBenefitExcludingEffectOfSpecialItems 415,000,000ip_IncomeTaxExpenseBenefitExcludingEffectOfSpecialItems        
Income tax provision (benefit) excluding the impact of special items as a percentage of pre-tax earnings before equity earnings 31.00%ip_IncomeTaxExpenseBenefitExcludingImpactOfSpecialItemsAsPercentageOfPreTaxEarningsBeforeEquityEarnings 26.00%ip_IncomeTaxExpenseBenefitExcludingImpactOfSpecialItemsAsPercentageOfPreTaxEarningsBeforeEquityEarnings 28.00%ip_IncomeTaxExpenseBenefitExcludingImpactOfSpecialItemsAsPercentageOfPreTaxEarningsBeforeEquityEarnings        
Undistributed earnings of foreign subsidiaries 5,200,000,000us-gaap_UndistributedEarningsOfForeignSubsidiaries 5,100,000,000us-gaap_UndistributedEarningsOfForeignSubsidiaries 4,700,000,000us-gaap_UndistributedEarningsOfForeignSubsidiaries   5,200,000,000us-gaap_UndistributedEarningsOfForeignSubsidiaries    
Income tax provision (benefit) 123,000,000us-gaap_IncomeTaxExpenseBenefit (498,000,000)us-gaap_IncomeTaxExpenseBenefit 306,000,000us-gaap_IncomeTaxExpenseBenefit        
FY 2013 [Member]              
Income Tax Contingency [Line Items]              
Income tax provision (benefit)   (32,000,000)us-gaap_IncomeTaxExpenseBenefit
/ ip_PeriodOfRecognitionAxis
= ip_TwentyThirteenMember
         
Timing of benefits [Member]              
Income Tax Contingency [Line Items]              
Unrecognized Tax Benefits 1,000,000us-gaap_UnrecognizedTaxBenefits
/ us-gaap_ReasonablyPossibleSignificantChangeInUnrecognizedTaxBenefitsByItemAxis
= ip_TimingofbenefitsMember
1,000,000us-gaap_UnrecognizedTaxBenefits
/ us-gaap_ReasonablyPossibleSignificantChangeInUnrecognizedTaxBenefitsByItemAxis
= ip_TimingofbenefitsMember
14,000,000us-gaap_UnrecognizedTaxBenefits
/ us-gaap_ReasonablyPossibleSignificantChangeInUnrecognizedTaxBenefitsByItemAxis
= ip_TimingofbenefitsMember
  1,000,000us-gaap_UnrecognizedTaxBenefits
/ us-gaap_ReasonablyPossibleSignificantChangeInUnrecognizedTaxBenefitsByItemAxis
= ip_TimingofbenefitsMember
   
Brazil [Member]              
Income Tax Contingency [Line Items]              
Tax adjustments, settlements, and unusual provisions       22,000,000us-gaap_TaxAdjustmentsSettlementsAndUnusualProvisions
/ us-gaap_IncomeTaxAuthorityAxis
= country_BR
     
Tax adjustments, settlements, and unusual provisions, net of tax       11,000,000ip_Taxadjustmentssettlementsandunusualprovisionsnetoftax
/ us-gaap_IncomeTaxAuthorityAxis
= country_BR
     
Domestic Tax Authority [Member]              
Income Tax Contingency [Line Items]              
Unrecognized tax benefits, decrease resulting from settlements with taxing authorities   844,000,000us-gaap_UnrecognizedTaxBenefitsDecreasesResultingFromSettlementsWithTaxingAuthorities
/ us-gaap_IncomeTaxAuthorityAxis
= us-gaap_DomesticCountryMember
         
Internal Restructuring [Member]              
Income Tax Contingency [Line Items]              
Income tax provision (benefit) related to special items (90,000,000)ip_IncomeTaxProvisionBenefitRelatedToSpecialItems
/ ip_TaxSpecialItemsAxis
= ip_InternalRestructuringMember
(4,000,000)ip_IncomeTaxProvisionBenefitRelatedToSpecialItems
/ ip_TaxSpecialItemsAxis
= ip_InternalRestructuringMember
14,000,000ip_IncomeTaxProvisionBenefitRelatedToSpecialItems
/ ip_TaxSpecialItemsAxis
= ip_InternalRestructuringMember
  (90,000,000)ip_IncomeTaxProvisionBenefitRelatedToSpecialItems
/ ip_TaxSpecialItemsAxis
= ip_InternalRestructuringMember
2,000,000ip_IncomeTaxProvisionBenefitRelatedToSpecialItems
/ ip_TaxSpecialItemsAxis
= ip_InternalRestructuringMember
 
Two Thousand And Six Financing Entities [Member]              
Income Tax Contingency [Line Items]              
Deferred tax liabilities, other 1,400,000,000us-gaap_DeferredTaxLiabilitiesOther
/ us-gaap_VariableInterestEntitiesByClassificationOfEntityAxis
= ip_EntitiesMember
      1,400,000,000us-gaap_DeferredTaxLiabilitiesOther
/ us-gaap_VariableInterestEntitiesByClassificationOfEntityAxis
= ip_EntitiesMember
   
Two Thousand Seven Monetized Notes [Member]              
Income Tax Contingency [Line Items]              
Deferred tax liabilities, other $ 840,000,000us-gaap_DeferredTaxLiabilitiesOther
/ us-gaap_DebtSecurityAxis
= ip_TwoThousandSevenMonetizedNotesMember
      $ 840,000,000us-gaap_DeferredTaxLiabilitiesOther
/ us-gaap_DebtSecurityAxis
= ip_TwoThousandSevenMonetizedNotesMember