Income Taxes Income Taxes (Tables)

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2015

Schedule of Income before Income Tax, Domestic and Foreign

The jurisdictional components of income from continuing operations before income tax expense (benefit), attributable to Calpine, for the years ended December 31, 2015, 2014 and 2013, are as follows (in millions):



	2015		2014		2013
U.S.	$	133	$	942	$	(13	)
International	26		26		29
Total	$	159	$	968	$	16

Schedule of Components of Income Tax Expense (Benefit)

The components of income tax expense (benefit) from continuing operations for the years ended December 31, 2015, 2014 and 2013, consisted of the following (in millions):



	2015			2014			2013
Current:
Federal	$	(1	)	$	(1	)	$	(2	)
State	10			19			(9		)
Foreign	2			(1		)	(1		)
Total current	11			17			(12		)
Deferred:
Federal	(21		)	—			1
State	1			(1		)	4
Foreign	(67		)	6			9
Total deferred	(87		)	5			14
Total income tax expense (benefit)	$	(76	)	$	22		$	2

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, 2015, 2014 and 2013, is as follows:



	2015		2014		2013
Federal statutory tax expense (benefit) rate	35.0	%	35.0	%	35.0	%
State tax expense (benefit), net of federal benefit	5.1		1.9		(69.8	)
Depletion in excess of basis	—		(0.3	)	(14.7	)
Valuation allowances against future tax benefits	(46.3	)	(35.8	)	89.8
Valuation allowance related to foreign taxes	(49.4	)	—		(19.8	)
Distributions from foreign affiliates and foreign taxes	3.1		1.2		(10.8	)
Intraperiod allocation	—		—		4.5
Change in unrecognized tax benefits	1.2		(0.4	)	(30.1	)
Disallowed compensation	3.1		0.1		11.7
Stock-based compensation	0.6		0.1		8.6
Lobbying contributions	0.5		0.1		3.3
Other differences	(0.7	)	0.4		4.8
Effective income tax expense (benefit) rate	(47.8	)%	2.3	%	12.5	%

Schedule of Deferred Tax Assets and Liabilities

The components of deferred income taxes as of December 31, 2015 and 2014, are as follows (in millions):



	2015⁽¹⁾			2014
Deferred tax assets:
NOL and credit carryforwards	$	2,842		$	2,873
Taxes related to risk management activities and derivatives	53			61
Reorganization items and impairments	212			216
Foreign capital losses	—			16
Deferred tax assets before valuation allowance	3,107			3,166
Valuation allowance	(1,637		)	(1,836		)
Total deferred tax assets	1,470			1,330
Deferred tax liabilities:
Property, plant and equipment	(1,377		)	(1,305		)
Other differences	(3		)	(21		)
Total deferred tax liabilities	(1,380		)	(1,326		)
Net deferred tax asset	90			4
Less: Current portion deferred tax liability	—			(14		)
Less: Non-current deferred tax liability	—			(1		)
Deferred income tax asset, non-current	$	90		$	19

___________


(1)	We prospectively early adopted Accounting Standards Update 2015-17 during the fourth quarter of 2015 which requires the presentation of deferred tax assets and liabilities as non-current in our Consolidated Balance Sheet. See Note 2 for further information regarding the adoption of Accounting Standards Update 2015-17.

Schedule of Income Tax Expense (Benefit) Intraperiod Tax Allocation

Schedule of Income Tax Contingencies

A reconciliation of the beginning and ending amounts of our unrecognized tax benefits for the years ended December 31, 2015, 2014 and 2013, is as follows (in millions):



	2015			2014			2013
Balance, beginning of period	$	(56	)	$	(68	)	$	(92	)
Increases related to prior year tax positions	—			(4		)	(7		)
Decreases related to prior year tax positions	3			8			8
Increases related to current year tax positions	(5		)	—			—
Decreases related to settlements	—			8			10
Decrease related to lapse of statute of limitations	—			—			13
Balance, end of period	$	(58	)	$	(56	)	$	(68	)