Income Taxes and Accounting for Uncertainty in Income Taxes (Tables)

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2024

Income Taxes and Accounting for Uncertainty in Income Taxes

Schedule of components of the (benefit from) provision for income taxes

	For the Years Ended December 31,
	2024		2023		2022
	(In thousands)
Current (benefit) provision:
Federal	$	(20,241)	$	(7,484)	$	(1,283)
State		23,007		39,441		70,707
Foreign		17,898		8,405		(601)
Total current (benefit) provision		20,664		40,362		68,823
Deferred (benefit) provision:
Federal		(35,837)		(308,917)		638,077
State		(60,930)		(150,108)		93,755
Foreign		(23,653)		(45,006)		(20,965)
Increase (decrease) in valuation allowance		148,701		166,809		18,720
Total deferred (benefit) provision		28,281		(337,222)		729,587
Total (benefit) provision	$	48,945	$	(296,860)	$	798,410

Schedule of principal reasons for the difference between the effective income tax rate and the statutory federal tax rate

	For the Years Ended December 31,
	2024	2023	2022
	% of pre-tax income/(loss)
Statutory rate	21.0	21.0	21.0
State income taxes, net of federal benefit	62.9	3.6	3.3
Rates different than statutory	(8.6)	1.1	(0.5)
Increase (decrease) in valuation allowance	(196.8)	(8.6)	0.6
Tax credits	62.5	3.8	(0.8)
Impairments	—	(6.0)	—
Other, net	(5.8)	0.5	0.3
Total (benefit) provision for income taxes	(64.8)	15.4	23.9

Schedule of deferred tax assets and liabilities

	As of December 31,
	2024		2023
	(In thousands)
Deferred tax assets:
NOL, interest, credit and other carryforwards	$	1,986,276	$	1,322,706
Accrued and prepaid expenses		1,013,457		966,445
Stock-based compensation		31,061		29,387
Unrealized (gains) losses on available for sale and other investments (1)		58,587		222,769
Discount on convertible notes and convertible note hedge transaction, net		696		46,636
Deferred revenue		6,369		10,748
Other		3,602		10,096
Total deferred tax assets		3,100,048		2,608,787
Valuation allowance		(564,306)		(492,340)
Deferred tax asset after valuation allowance		2,535,742		2,116,447
Deferred tax liabilities:
Depreciation		(1,996,186)		(1,961,227)
Regulatory authorizations and other intangible amortization		(4,187,034)		(3,960,608)
Bases differences in partnerships and cost method investments (2)		(1,312,328)		(1,179,418)
Other liabilities		(21,752)		(21,227)
Total deferred tax liabilities		(7,517,300)		(7,122,480)
Net deferred tax asset (liability) (3)	$	(4,981,558)	$	(5,006,033)

(1) Included in this line item are deferred taxes related to, among other things, changes in the probability weighted fair value of our option to purchase certain of T-Mobile’s 800 MHz spectrum licenses during the year ended December 31, 2023. See Note 6 for further information.

(2) Included in this line item are deferred taxes related to, among other things, our noncontrolling investments in Northstar Spectrum and SNR HoldCo, including deferred taxes created by the tax amortization of the Northstar Licenses and SNR Licenses. See Note 2 for further information.

(3) The presentation of net deferred tax liability includes both deferred tax liabilities and deferred tax assets. Certain foreign deferred tax assets are presented as part of “Other noncurrent assets, net” on our Consolidated Balance Sheets and our deferred tax liabilities related to all other jurisdictions are reported separately as “Deferred tax liabilities, net” on our Consolidated Balance Sheets.

Schedule of reconciliation of the unrecognized tax benefits

	For the Years Ended December 31,
Unrecognized tax benefit	2024		2023		2022
	(In thousands)
Balance, beginning of period	$	609,543	$	569,601	$	539,113
Additions based on tax positions related to the current year		251,296		9,210		36,587
Additions based on tax positions related to prior years		23,794		41,522		16,369
Reductions based on tax positions related to prior years		(24,996)		(7,219)		(21,541)
Reductions based on tax positions related to settlements with taxing authorities		—		(3,219)		—
Reductions based on tax positions related to the lapse of the statute of limitations		(310)		(352)		(927)
Balance, end of period	$	859,327	$	609,543	$	569,601