Income Taxes

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2021

Income Tax Disclosure [Abstract]

Income Taxes

NOTE 3 — INCOME TAXES

Our provisions for income taxes for the quarters ended September 30, 2021 and 2020 were $685 million and $209 million, respectively, and the effective tax rates were 23.2% and 23.8%, respectively. Our provisions for income taxes for the nine months ended September 30, 2021 and 2020 were $1.531 billion and $665 million, respectively, and the effective tax rates were 22.9% and 22.2%, respectively. Our provisions for income taxes included tax benefits related to settlements of employee equity awards of $96 million and $59 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2021 and 2020, respectively.

Our liability for unrecognized tax benefits was $626 million, including accrued interest of $95 million, as of September 30, 2021 ($508 million and $73 million, respectively, as of December 31, 2020). Unrecognized tax benefits of $192 million ($157 million as of December 31, 2020) would affect the effective rate, if recognized.

The Internal Revenue Service was conducting an examination of the Company’s 2016, 2017 and 2018 federal income tax returns at September 30, 2021. We are also subject to examination 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.