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Income Taxes
3 Months Ended
Jun. 30, 2019
Income Tax Disclosure [Abstract]  
Income Taxes INCOME TAXES
Our tax provision or benefit from income taxes for interim periods is determined using an estimate of our annual effective tax rate, adjusted for discrete items, if any, that are taken into account in the relevant period. Each quarter we update our estimate of the annual effective tax rate, and if our estimated tax rate changes, we make a cumulative adjustment.
Our quarterly tax provision, and our quarterly estimate of our annual effective tax rate, is subject to significant variation due to several factors, including variability in accurately predicting our pre-tax and taxable income and loss and the mix of jurisdictions to which they relate, intercompany transactions, the applicability of special tax regimes, changes in how we do business, acquisitions, investments, audit-related developments, changes in our stock price, changes in our deferred tax assets and liabilities and their valuation, foreign currency gains (losses), changes in statutes, regulations, case law, and administrative practices, principles, and interpretations related to tax, including changes to the global tax framework, competition, and other laws and accounting rules in various jurisdictions, and relative changes of expenses or losses for which tax benefits are not recognized. Additionally, our effective tax rate can be more or less volatile based on the amount of pre-tax income or loss. For example, the impact of discrete items and non-deductible expenses on our effective tax rate is greater when our pre-tax income is lower.
For 2020, we estimate that our effective tax rate will be favorably affected by the impact of excess tax benefits from stock-based compensation and the U.S. federal research and development credit and adversely affected by state income taxes and losses incurred in certain foreign jurisdictions for which we may not realize a tax benefit. Losses for which we may not realize a related tax benefit, primarily due to losses of foreign subsidiaries, reduce our pre-tax income without a corresponding reduction in our tax expense, and therefore increase our effective tax rate. We record valuation allowances against the deferred tax assets associated with losses for which we may not realize a related tax benefit.
Our income tax provisions for the six months ended June 30, 2019 and 2020 were $1.1 billion and $1.7 billion, which included $706 million and $831 million of net discrete tax benefits primarily attributable to excess tax benefits from stock-based compensation.
Cash paid for income taxes, net of refunds was $283 million and $486 million in Q2 2019 and Q2 2020, and $451 million and $791 million for the six months ended June 30, 2019 and 2020.
As of December 31, 2019 and June 30, 2020, tax contingencies were approximately $3.9 billion and $3.7 billion. Changes in tax laws, regulations, administrative practices, principles, and interpretations may impact our tax contingencies. The timing of the resolution of income tax examinations is highly uncertain, and the amounts ultimately paid, if any, upon resolution of the issues raised by the taxing authorities may differ from the amounts accrued. It is reasonably possible that within the next twelve months we will receive additional assessments by various tax authorities or possibly reach resolution of income tax examinations in one or more jurisdictions. These assessments or settlements could result in changes to our contingencies related to positions on prior years’ tax filings.
We are under examination, or may be subject to examination, by the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) for the calendar year 2007 and thereafter. These examinations may lead to ordinary course adjustments or proposed adjustments to our taxes or our net operating losses with respect to years under examination as well as subsequent periods.
In October 2014, the European Commission opened a formal investigation to examine whether decisions by the tax authorities in Luxembourg with regard to the corporate income tax paid by certain of our subsidiaries comply with European Union rules on state aid. On October 4, 2017, the European Commission announced its decision that determinations by the tax authorities in Luxembourg did not comply with European Union rules on state aid. Based on that decision the European Commission announced an estimated recovery amount of approximately €250 million, plus interest, for the period May 2006 through June 2014, and ordered Luxembourg tax authorities to calculate the actual amount of additional taxes subject to recovery. Luxembourg computed an initial recovery amount, consistent with the European Commission’s decision, that we deposited into escrow in March 2018, subject to adjustment pending conclusion of all appeals. In December 2017, Luxembourg appealed the European Commission’s decision. In May 2018, we appealed. We believe the European Commission’s decision to be without merit and will continue to defend ourselves vigorously in this matter. We are also subject to taxation in various states and other foreign jurisdictions including China, Germany, India, Japan, Luxembourg, and the United Kingdom. We are under, or may be subject to, audit or examination and additional assessments by the relevant authorities in respect of these particular jurisdictions primarily for 2009 and thereafter.