Income Taxes

6 Months Ended

Jan. 31, 2024

Income Tax Disclosure [Abstract]

Income Taxes

9. Income Taxes

Effective Tax Rate

We compute our provision for or benefit from income taxes by applying the estimated annual effective tax rate to income or loss from recurring operations and adding the effects of any discrete income tax items specific to the period.

For the three and six months ended January 31, 2024, we recognized excess tax benefits on share-based compensation of $56 million and $83 million, respectively, in our provision for income taxes. For the three and six months ended January 31, 2023, we recognized tax shortfalls on share-based compensation of $9 million and $2 million, respectively, in our provision for income taxes.

We recorded $1 million in tax expense on pretax income of $354 million for the three months ended January 31, 2024. Our effective tax rate for the six months ended January 31, 2024 was approximately 4%. Excluding discrete tax items primarily related to share-based compensation, our effective tax rate for both periods was approximately 24%. The difference from the federal statutory rate of 21% was primarily due to state income taxes and non-deductible share-based compensation, which were partially offset by the tax benefit we received from the federal research and experimentation credit.

Our effective tax rates for the three and six months ended January 31, 2023 were approximately 26% and 20%, respectively. Excluding discrete tax items primarily related to share-based compensation, our effective tax rate for both periods was approximately 24%. The difference from the federal statutory rate of 21% was primarily due to state income taxes and non-deductible share-based compensation, which were partially offset by the tax benefit we received from the federal research and experimentation credit.

The Inflation Reduction Act was enacted on August 16, 2022. This law, among other provisions, provides a corporate alternative minimum tax on adjusted financial statement income, which was effective for us beginning in fiscal 2024. We do not expect any impact from the corporate alternative minimum tax in fiscal 2024.

In the current global tax policy environment, the U.S. and other domestic and foreign governments continue to consider, and in some cases enact, changes in corporate tax laws. As changes occur, we account for finalized legislation in the period of enactment.

Unrecognized Tax Benefits and Other Considerations

The total amount of our unrecognized tax benefits at July 31, 2023 was $246 million. If we were to recognize these net benefits, our income tax expense would reflect a favorable net impact of $152 million. There were no material changes to these amounts during the three and six months ended January 31, 2024. We do not believe that it is reasonably possible that there will be a significant increase or decrease in our unrecognized tax benefits over the next 12 months.

We offset a $61 million and $85 million long-term liability for uncertain tax positions against our long-term income tax receivable at January 31, 2024 and July 31, 2023, respectively. The long-term income tax receivable at January 31, 2024 was primarily related to the government’s approval of a method of accounting change request for fiscal 2018. The long-term income tax receivable at July 31, 2023 was primarily related to the government’s approval of a method of accounting change request for fiscal 2018 and a refund claim related to Credit Karma’s alternative minimum tax credit that was recorded as part of the acquisition.