Income Taxes Income Taxes (Tables)

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2014

Income Tax Disclosure [Abstract]

Schedule of Income before Income Tax, Domestic and Foreign

The jurisdictional components of income from continuing operations before income tax expense, attributable to Calpine, for the years ended December 31, 2014, 2013 and 2012, are as follows (in millions):

	2014		2013			2012
U.S.	$	942	$	(13	)	$	194
International	26		29			24
Total	$	968	$	16		$	218

Schedule of Components of Income Tax Expense (Benefit)

The components of income tax expense from continuing operations for the years ended December 31, 2014, 2013 and 2012, consisted of the following (in millions):

	2014			2013			2012
Current:
Federal	$	(1	)	$	(2	)	$	(12	)
State	19			(9		)	16
Foreign	(1		)	(1		)	14
Total current	17			(12		)	18
Deferred:
Federal	—			1			11
State	(1		)	4			(5		)
Foreign	6			9			(5		)
Total deferred	5			14			1
Total income tax expense	$	22		$	2		$	19

Schedule of Effective Income Tax Rate Reconciliation

A reconciliation of the federal statutory rate of 35% to our effective rate from continuing operations for the years ended December 31, 2014, 2013 and 2012, is as follows:

	2014		2013		2012
Federal statutory tax expense (benefit) rate	35.0	%	35.0	%	35.0	%
State tax expense (benefit), net of federal benefit	1.9		(69.8	)	3.2
Depletion in excess of basis	(0.3	)	(14.7	)	(0.2	)
Federal refunds	—		—		(4.7	)
Valuation allowances against future tax benefits	(35.8	)	89.8		(30.3	)
Valuation allowance related to foreign taxes	—		(19.8	)	(8.2	)
Distributions from foreign affiliates and foreign taxes	1.2		(10.8	)	3.7
Intraperiod allocation	—		4.5		4.6
Change in unrecognized tax benefits	(0.4	)	(30.1	)	5.1
Disallowed compensation	0.1		11.7		0.4
Stock-based compensation	0.1		8.6		0.2
Lobbying contributions	0.1		3.3		0.3
Other differences	0.4		4.8		(0.4	)
Effective income tax expense rate	2.3	%	12.5	%	8.7	%

Schedule of Deferred Tax Assets and Liabilities

The components of deferred income taxes as of December 31, 2014 and 2013, are as follows (in millions):

	2014			2013
Deferred tax assets:
NOL and credit carryforwards	$	2,873		$	3,120
Taxes related to risk management activities and derivatives	61			60
Reorganization items and impairments	216			262
Foreign capital losses	16			18
Other differences	—			104
Deferred tax assets before valuation allowance	3,166			3,564
Valuation allowance	(1,836		)	(2,246		)
Total deferred tax assets	1,330			1,318
Deferred tax liabilities:
Property, plant and equipment	(1,305		)	(1,310		)
Other differences	(21		)	—
Total deferred tax liabilities	(1,326		)	(1,310		)
Net deferred tax asset	4			8
Less: Current portion deferred tax asset (liability)	(14		)	12
Less: Non-current deferred tax asset	19			7
Deferred income tax liability, non-current	$	(1	)	$	(11	)

Schedule of Income Tax Expense (Benefit) Intraperiod Tax Allocation

The following table details the effects of our intraperiod tax allocations for the years ended December 31, 2014, 2013 and 2012 (in millions).

	2014		2013			2012
Intraperiod tax allocation expense included in continuing operations	$	—	$	1		$	9
Intraperiod tax allocation benefit included in OCI	$	—	$	(1	)	$	(9	)

Schedule of Income Tax Contingencies

A reconciliation of the beginning and ending amounts of our unrecognized tax benefits for the years ended December 31, 2014, 2013 and 2012, is as follows (in millions):

	2014			2013			2012
Balance, beginning of period	$	(68	)	$	(92	)	$	(74	)
Increases related to prior year tax positions	(4		)	(7		)	(19		)
Decreases related to prior year tax positions	8			8			1
Decreases related to settlements	8			10			—
Decrease related to lapse of statute of limitations	—			13			—
Balance, end of period	$	(56	)	$	(68	)	$	(92	)