Income Taxes

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2011

Income Taxes [Abstract]

Income Taxes

Note 10: Income Taxes

The Company's income taxes and the related effective tax rates for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2011 and 2010 are as follows:

	Three Months Ended September 30,						Nine Months Ended September 30,
In millions	2011			2010			2011			2010
Pre-tax income (loss)	$	745		$	(356)		$	(1,165)		$	(647)
Provision (benefit) for income taxes	$	301	40.4%	$	(143)	40.2%	$	(472)	40.5%	$	(249)	38.5%

Embedded in the effective tax rate for the nine months ended September 30, 2011 are the tax effects of the Company's expected operating activities, such as scheduled premium earnings, fees, net investment income, and operating expenses, for the full year of 2011. For the nine months ended September 30, 2011, the Company's effective tax rate applied to its pre-tax loss was higher than the U.S. statutory tax rate as a result of the Company's tax-exempt interest income from investments, income earned in non-U.S. jurisdictions, which is being taxed at less than 35%, and a reduction in the valuation allowance. The Company's effective tax rate related to the pre-tax loss for the nine months ended September 30, 2010 was higher than the U.S. statutory rate primarily as a result of tax-exempt interest from investments and a decrease in the valuation allowance.

For interim reporting purposes, the Company calculated its effective tax rate for the full year of 2011 by treating the net unrealized loss on its insured derivative portfolio as a discrete item. As such, this amount is not included when projecting the Company's full year effective tax rate but rather is accounted for at the federal statutory rate of 35% after applying the projected full year effective tax rate to actual nine-month results before the discrete item. Given the Company's inability to estimate this item for the full year of 2011, the Company believes that it is appropriate to treat net unrealized gains and losses on its derivative portfolio as a discrete item for purposes of calculating its effective tax rate for the year.

As of December 31, 2010, the Company had a capital loss carryforward of $413 million which will expire in 2013. The Company also had a NOL carryforward of $782 million which will expire beginning in 2029 through 2030, and a minimum tax credit carryforward of $46 million which has an unlimited carryforward period.

Deferred Tax Asset, Net of Valuation Allowance

The Company establishes a valuation allowance against its deferred tax asset when it is more likely than not that all or a portion of the deferred tax asset will not be realized. All evidence, both positive and negative, needs to be identified and considered in making the determination. Future realization of the existing deferred tax asset ultimately depends, in part, on the existence of sufficient taxable income of appropriate character (for example, ordinary income versus capital gains) within the carryforward period available under the tax law.

As of September 30, 2011, the Company reported a net deferred tax asset of $1.3 billion. The $1.3 billion deferred tax asset is net of a $342 million valuation allowance. As of September 30, 2011, the Company had a full valuation allowance against the deferred tax asset related to losses from asset impairments and realized losses from sales of investments as these losses are considered capital losses, have a five year carryforward period, and can only be offset by capital gain income. This valuation allowance reflects a decrease of $34 million from the December 31, 2010 valuation allowance of $376 million. The change in the valuation allowance for the nine months ended September 30, 2011 was primarily due to realized gains resulting from asset sales.

The Company has concluded that it is more likely than not that the remaining deferred tax assets will be realized. In its conclusion, the Company considered the following evidence (both positive and negative):

• Due to the long-tail nature of the financial guarantee business, it is important to note that MBIA Inc.'s insurance subsidiaries, without regard to any new business, will have a steady stream of scheduled premium earnings with respect to the existing insured portfolio. MBIA Corp.'s announcement in February 2008 of a temporary suspension in writing new structured finance transactions and a permanent cessation with respect to insuring new CDS contracts, except in transactions related to the reduction of existing derivative exposure, would not have an impact on the expected earnings related to the existing insured portfolio. Although MBIA Corp. expects a significant portion of the unrealized losses to reverse over time, MBIA Corp. performed taxable income projections over a fifteen and twenty year period to determine whether it will have sufficient income to offset its deferred tax asset that will generate future ordinary deductions. In this analysis, MBIA Corp. concluded that premium earnings, even without regard to any new business, combined with investment income, less deductible expenses, will be sufficient to recover its net deferred tax asset.

• The Company's taxable income projections used to assess the recoverability of its deferred tax asset include an estimate of future loss and LAE equal to the present value discount of loss reserves already recognized on the balance sheet and an estimate of loss adjustment expense which is generally insignificant. The Company does not assume additional losses, with the exception of the accretion of its existing present value loss reserves, because the Company establishes case basis reserves on a present value basis based on an estimate of probable losses on specifically identified credits that have defaulted or are expected to default.

• As of September 30, 2011, the Company had approximately $76 million of deferred tax assets related to unrealized losses on investments. The Company intends to hold these investments until maturity or until such time as the value recovers. As such, the Company expects that the related deferred tax assets will reverse over the life of the securities.

• As of September 30, 2011, approximately $1.6 billion of the net deferred tax asset relates to losses on insured credit derivatives of approximately $4.5 billion. The Company believes that such deferred tax asset will more likely than not be realized as the Company expects the unrealized losses and the related deferred tax asset to substantially reverse over time.

• While the ratings downgrades by the rating agencies have significantly adversely impacted the Company's ability to write new insurance business, the downgrades did not have a material impact on earnings from the existing insured portfolio, which the Company believes will be sufficient to absorb losses in the event that the cumulative unrealized losses become fully impaired.

• With respect to installment policies, the Company generally does not have an automatic cancellation provision solely in connection with ratings downgrades. For purposes of projecting future taxable income, the Company has applied a haircut to adjust for the possible cancellation of future installment premiums based on recent data. With regard to upfront policies, to the extent that the issuer chooses to terminate a policy, any unearned premium reserve with respect to that policy will be accelerated into earnings (i.e. refundings).

• With respect to insured CDS contracts, in the event that there are defaults for which MBIA is required to pay claims, the Company believes that the losses should be characterized as ordinary losses for tax purposes and, as such, the actual and expected payments will be recorded as losses incurred for U.S. STAT. However, because the federal income tax treatment of CDS contracts is an unsettled area of tax law, in the event that the Internal Revenue Service ("IRS") has a different view and considers the losses as capital losses, the Company may be required to establish a valuation allowance against substantially all of the deferred tax asset related to these losses until such time as it has sufficient capital gains to offset the losses. The establishment of this valuation allowance would have a material adverse effect on MBIA's financial condition at the time of its establishment.

After reviewing all of the evidence available, both positive and negative, MBIA believes that it has appropriately valued the recoverability of its deferred tax assets, net of the valuation allowance, as of September 30, 2011. The Company continues to assess the adequacy of its valuation allowance as additional evidence becomes available. The Company's recent financial results have been volatile which has impacted management's ability to accurately project future taxable income. Continued volatility or losses beyond those projected may cause the Company to conclude that certain of the deferred tax assets within the $1.3 billion as of September 30, 2011 may not be realizable.

Ownership Change under Section 382 of the Internal Revenue Code

Section 382 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, imposes annual limitations on the utilization of NOL carryforwards, other tax carryforwards, and certain built-in losses upon an ownership change as defined under that section. In general terms, an ownership change may result from transactions that increase the aggregate ownership of certain stockholders in the Company's stock by more than 50 percentage points over a three year testing period ("Section 382 Ownership Change").

During the first nine months of 2011, the cumulative ownership shift decreased to approximately 28.6%. This was due to the expiration in the first quarter of the three-year testing window with respect to Section 382 changes in ownership:

• The Warburg Pincus acquisition of Company stock in a secondary offering on January 30, 2008.

• The equity issuance which took place on February 13, 2008.

Although the cumulative ownership shift as of September 30, 2011 is significantly less than the 50% threshold, the Company continues to monitor any changes in its ownership for new 5% owners, certain dispositions by 5% owners, future equity issuances, and redemptions and repurchases of equity.

Treatment of Undistributed Earnings of Certain Foreign Subsidiaries—"Accounting for Income Taxes—Special Areas"

No U.S. deferred income taxes have been provided on the undistributed earnings of MBIA UK Insurance Limited, Euro Asset Acquisition Limited ("EAAL"), and MBIA Mexico, S.A. de C.V. because of the Company's practice and intent to permanently reinvest these earnings. The cumulative amounts of such untaxed earnings were $38 million and $122 million as of September 30, 2011 and 2010, respectively.

Accounting for Uncertainty in Income Taxes

It is the Company's policy to record and disclose interest and penalties related to uncertainty in the accounting for income taxes as a component of income tax expense in the statement of operations. Absent a material change, the Company shall not disclose such items in interim financial statements. As of September 30, 2011, there were no material changes in unrecognized tax benefits ("UTBs"), interest or penalties.

MBIA's major tax jurisdictions include the U.S. and the United Kingdom ("U.K."). MBIA and its U.S. subsidiaries file a U.S. consolidated federal income tax return. The IRS has concluded its field work with respect to the examination of tax years 2004 through 2009 and the results are subject to review by the Joint Committee on Taxation.

The U.K. tax authorities are currently auditing tax years 2005 through 2008. The Company expects the examinations to be concluded before December 31, 2011. French tax matters have been concluded through 2007.

It is reasonably possible that the total amount of UTB will significantly increase or decrease within the next 12 months due to the possibility of finalizing adjustments and concluding all significant tax examinations. The range of this possible change to the amount of the uncertain tax benefit cannot be estimated at this time.