INCOME TAXES (Note)

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2024

Income Tax Disclosure [Abstract]

Income Taxes [Note Text Block]

International Paper made income tax payments, net of refunds, of $285 million and $295 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2024 and 2023, respectively.

The Company currently estimates that, as a result of ongoing discussions, pending tax settlements and expirations of statutes of limitations, the amount of unrecognized tax benefits could be reduced by approximately $3 million during the next 12 months.

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development has proposed a 15% global minimum tax applied on a country-by-country basis (the "Pillar Two rule"), and many countries, including countries in which we operate, have enacted or begun the process of enacting laws adopting the Pillar Two rule. The first component of the Pillar Two rule became effective as of January 1, 2024 and did not have a material impact on the Company’s effective tax rate. The second component is expected to go into effect in 2025.

During the second quarter, the Company completed an internal legal entity restructuring for which a capital loss was recognized for U.S. federal and state income tax purposes. The Company intends to use this capital loss to offset capital gains, and, as such, recorded a deferred tax asset and a deferred tax benefit of approximately $338 million in the second quarter, which impacted the effective income tax rate for the three months and six months ended June 30, 2024. During the third quarter of 2024, an adjustment to the capital loss amount resulted in an additional deferred tax asset and deferred tax benefit recorded of $78 million.

On September 3, 2024, the Company received the Unagreed Revenue Agent Report from the Internal Revenue Service relating to investment tax credits for the 2017-2019 years that currently are under examination. The estimated net incremental tax liability associated with the proposed adjustments would be approximately $50 million. The Company disagrees with the proposed adjustments and initiated the administrative appeals process on October 30, 2024 with the filing of our Protest of the proposed adjustments. An unfavorable resolution in the administrative appeals process or future tax litigation could result in cash tax payments and could adversely impact the effective tax rate.