Income Taxes

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2021

Income Tax Disclosure [Abstract]

INCOME TAXES

9.    INCOME TAXES

Our income tax expense for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2021 included a permanent income tax benefit to our estimated annual effective tax rate from DGD’s share of pre-tax income that is not taxable to us and a benefit for the settlement of the audits of certain state tax returns for 2004 through 2006. In addition, income tax expense for the nine months ended September 30, 2021 included a $64 million charge, which resulted from certain statutory income tax rate changes (primarily an increase in the United Kingdom (U.K.) rate from 19 percent to 25 percent effective in 2023) that were enacted during the three months ended June 30, 2021. The variation in the customary relationship of our effective tax rate to the U.S. federal statutory rate for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2021 was primarily due to these components of our tax expense.

On March 27, 2020, the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act was enacted, which resulted in significant changes to the U.S. Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended. Our income tax benefit for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2020, therefore, included a tax benefit of $121 million and $238 million, respectively, attributable to the carryback of our 2020 tax net operating loss (NOL) to our 2015 income tax year when we paid U.S. federal income taxes at a 35 percent tax rate. The variation in the customary relationship of our effective tax rate to the U.S. federal statutory rate for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2020 was primarily due to this income tax benefit.