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Income Taxes (Details Textual) (USD $)
12 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2015
Mar. 31, 2014
Mar. 31, 2013
Mar. 31, 2012
Income Tax Details [Line Items]        
Increase in income tax provision related to tax losses $ 95,000,000nvl_IncomeTaxReconciliationCanadianStatutoryIncomeTaxRateChangeInDeferredTaxAssetsValuationAllowance $ 94,000,000nvl_IncomeTaxReconciliationCanadianStatutoryIncomeTaxRateChangeInDeferredTaxAssetsValuationAllowance $ 84,000,000nvl_IncomeTaxReconciliationCanadianStatutoryIncomeTaxRateChangeInDeferredTaxAssetsValuationAllowance  
Impact on income tax provision of the credits 22,000,000nvl_IncomeTaxReconciliationCanadianStatutoryIncomeTaxRateTaxCreditsAndOtherAllowances 38,000,000nvl_IncomeTaxReconciliationCanadianStatutoryIncomeTaxRateTaxCreditsAndOtherAllowances 8,000,000nvl_IncomeTaxReconciliationCanadianStatutoryIncomeTaxRateTaxCreditsAndOtherAllowances  
Income tax holiday, amount 9,000,000us-gaap_IncomeTaxHolidayAggregateDollarAmount      
Deferred tax assets, valuation allowance (528,000,000)us-gaap_DeferredTaxAssetsValuationAllowance (426,000,000)us-gaap_DeferredTaxAssetsValuationAllowance    
Net operating loss carryforwards 515,000,000nvl_OperatingLossCarryforwardtaxeffected      
Tax credit carryforward 112,000,000us-gaap_TaxCreditCarryforwardAmount 97,000,000us-gaap_TaxCreditCarryforwardAmount    
Operating loss carryforwards, valuation allowance 381,000,000us-gaap_OperatingLossCarryforwardsValuationAllowance 287,000,000us-gaap_OperatingLossCarryforwardsValuationAllowance    
Tax credit carryforward, valuation allowance 99,000,000us-gaap_TaxCreditCarryforwardValuationAllowance 84,000,000us-gaap_TaxCreditCarryforwardValuationAllowance    
Operating loss carryforwards   396,000,000us-gaap_OperatingLossCarryforwards    
Undistributed earnings of foreign subsidiaries (outside Canada) 2,000,000,000nvl_UndistributedEarningsOfForeignSubsidiariesOutsideCanada      
Unrecognized tax benefits 37,000,000us-gaap_UnrecognizedTaxBenefits 39,000,000us-gaap_UnrecognizedTaxBenefits 30,000,000us-gaap_UnrecognizedTaxBenefits 28,000,000us-gaap_UnrecognizedTaxBenefits
Maximum amount by which reserves for interest and penalties for unrecognized tax benefits may decrease in the next 12 months 13,000,000us-gaap_SignificantChangeInUnrecognizedTaxBenefitsIsReasonablyPossibleEstimatedRangeOfChangeUpperBound      
Accrued income tax penalties and interest 5,000,000us-gaap_UnrecognizedTaxBenefitsIncomeTaxPenaltiesAndInterestAccrued 4,000,000us-gaap_UnrecognizedTaxBenefitsIncomeTaxPenaltiesAndInterestAccrued 3,000,000us-gaap_UnrecognizedTaxBenefitsIncomeTaxPenaltiesAndInterestAccrued  
Income tax penalties and interest expense 1,000,000us-gaap_UnrecognizedTaxBenefitsIncomeTaxPenaltiesAndInterestExpense 1,000,000us-gaap_UnrecognizedTaxBenefitsIncomeTaxPenaltiesAndInterestExpense    
Settlement with taxing authorities including interest     (8,000,000)nvl_UnrecognizedTaxBenefitsDecreasesResultingFromSettlementsWithTaxingAuthoritiesIncludingInterest  
Taxes payable 14,000,000us-gaap_TaxesPayableCurrentAndNoncurrent 52,000,000us-gaap_TaxesPayableCurrentAndNoncurrent    
Taxes payable, current 11,000,000us-gaap_TaxesPayableCurrent 31,000,000us-gaap_TaxesPayableCurrent    
Deferred Tax Assets, Other [Member]        
Income Tax Details [Line Items]        
Deferred tax assets, valuation allowance (48,000,000)us-gaap_DeferredTaxAssetsValuationAllowance
/ us-gaap_ValuationAllowanceByDeferredTaxAssetAxis
= nvl_DeferredTaxAssetsOtherMember
(55,000,000)us-gaap_DeferredTaxAssetsValuationAllowance
/ us-gaap_ValuationAllowanceByDeferredTaxAssetAxis
= nvl_DeferredTaxAssetsOtherMember
   
New York [Member]        
Income Tax Details [Line Items]        
Income tax credits and adjustments 8,000,000us-gaap_IncomeTaxCreditsAndAdjustments
/ us-gaap_IncomeTaxAuthorityAxis
= stpr_NY
     
United Kingdom [Member]        
Income Tax Details [Line Items]        
Income tax credits and adjustments 11,000,000us-gaap_IncomeTaxCreditsAndAdjustments
/ us-gaap_IncomeTaxAuthorityAxis
= country_GB
     
Canada [Member]        
Income Tax Details [Line Items]        
Deferred tax assets, valuation allowance (446,000,000)us-gaap_DeferredTaxAssetsValuationAllowance
/ us-gaap_IncomeTaxAuthorityAxis
= country_CA
     
Tax credit carryforward 46,000,000us-gaap_TaxCreditCarryforwardAmount
/ us-gaap_IncomeTaxAuthorityAxis
= country_CA
     
Operating loss carryforwards $ 357,000,000us-gaap_OperatingLossCarryforwards
/ us-gaap_IncomeTaxAuthorityAxis
= country_CA