Income Taxes

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2024

Income Tax Disclosure [Abstract]

Income Taxes

NOTE 3 — INCOME TAXES

Our provisions for income taxes for the quarters ended March 31, 2024 and 2023 were $445 million and $379 million, respectively, and the effective tax rate was 21.8% for both periods. Our provisions for income taxes included tax benefits related to settlements of employee equity awards of $69 million and $74 million for the quarters ended March 31, 2024 and 2023, respectively.

Our gross unrecognized tax benefits were $650 million, excluding accrued interest of $189 million, as of March 31, 2024 ($639 million and $177 million, respectively, as of December 31, 2023). Unrecognized tax benefits of $331 million ($320 million as of December 31, 2023) would affect the effective rate, if recognized.

At March 31, 2024, the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) was conducting examinations of the Company’s 2016, 2017 and 2018 federal income tax returns and the 2019 returns for certain affiliates. We are also subject to examination by the IRS for tax years after 2019 as well as by state and foreign taxing authorities. Depending on the resolution of any federal, state and foreign tax disputes, the completion of examinations by federal, state or foreign taxing authorities, or the expiration of statutes of limitation for specific taxing jurisdictions, we believe it is reasonably possible that our liability for unrecognized tax benefits may significantly increase or decrease within the next 12 months. However, we are currently unable to estimate the range of any possible change.