Income Taxes

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2022

Income Tax Disclosure [Abstract]

Income Taxes

Income Taxes

The effective tax rate for the three months ended March 31, 2022 was 16.8% and includes a benefit of $1 million associated with the 2019 sale of a business. The effective tax rate for the three months ended March 31, 2021 was a benefit of 33.6% and includes benefits of $3 million from an affiliate reorganization.

As is the case with other large corporations, our tax returns are examined by tax authorities in the U.S. and other global taxing jurisdictions in which we have operations. As a result, it is reasonably possible that the amount of unrecognized tax benefits will decrease in the next 12 months, and this decrease could be up to 15% of our unrecognized tax benefits.

The Internal Revenue Service examinations of our consolidated U.S. income tax returns for tax years prior to 2018 are closed to audit; however, various post-2016 U.S. state and local tax returns are still subject to examination, with some states in appeals from 2011. For our significant non-U.S. jurisdictions, Canada is closed to examination through 2016 except for a specific issue arising in earlier years, France is closed through 2019, Germany is closed through 2016 and the U.K. is closed through 2019. We also have other less significant tax filings currently subject to examination.