Income Taxes (Tables)

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2020

Income Tax Disclosure [Abstract]

Schedule of income from continuing operations before income taxes

Income from continuing operations before income taxes consists of the following (in millions):

	Year Ended December 31,
	2018		2019		2020
Domestic operations	$	15,779	$	16,426	$	37,576
Foreign operations	19,134		23,199		10,506
Total	$	34,913	$	39,625	$	48,082

Schedule of components of income tax expense (benefit)

The provision for income taxes consists of the following (in millions):

	Year Ended December 31,
	2018		2019		2020
Current:
Federal and state	$	2,153	$	2,424	$	4,789
Foreign	1,251		2,713		1,687
Total	3,404		5,137		6,476
Deferred:
Federal and state	907		286		1,552
Foreign	(134)		(141)		(215)
Total	773		145		1,337
Provision for income taxes	$	4,177	$	5,282	$	7,813

Schedule of effective income tax rate reconciliation

The reconciliation of federal statutory income tax rate to our effective income tax rate is as follows:

	Year Ended December 31,
	2018		2019		2020
U.S. federal statutory tax rate	21.0	%	21.0	%	21.0	%
Foreign income taxed at different rates	(4.4)		(4.9)		(0.3)
Foreign-derived intangible income deduction	(0.5)		(0.7)		(3.0)
Stock-based compensation expense	(2.2)		(0.7)		(1.7)
Federal research credit	(2.4)		(2.5)		(2.3)
Impact of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act	(1.3)		(0.6)		0.0
European Commission fines	3.1		1.0		0.0
Deferred tax asset valuation allowance	(2.0)		0.0		1.4
State and local income taxes	(0.4)		1.1		1.1
Other adjustments	1.1		(0.4)		0.0
Effective tax rate	12.0	%	13.3	%	16.2	%

Schedule of deferred tax assets and liabilities

Significant components of our deferred tax assets and liabilities are as follows (in millions):

	As of December 31,
	2019		2020
Deferred tax assets:
Stock-based compensation expense	$	421	$	518
Accrued employee benefits	463		580
Accruals and reserves not currently deductible	1,047		1,049
Tax credits	3,264		3,723
Net operating losses	771		1,085
Operating leases	1,876		2,620
Intangible assets	164		1,525
Other	226		463
Total deferred tax assets	8,232		11,563
Valuation allowance	(3,502)		(4,823)
Total deferred tax assets net of valuation allowance	4,730		6,740
Deferred tax liabilities:
Property and equipment, net	(1,798)		(3,382)
Renewable energy investments	(466)		(415)
Foreign Earnings	(373)		(383)
Net investment gains	(1,074)		(1,901)
Operating leases	(1,619)		(2,354)
Other	(380)		(782)
Total deferred tax liabilities	(5,710)		(9,217)
Net deferred tax assets (liabilities)	$	(980)	$	(2,477)

Summary of income tax contingencies

The following table summarizes the activity related to our gross unrecognized tax benefits (in millions):

	Year Ended December 31,
	2018		2019		2020
Beginning gross unrecognized tax benefits	$	4,696	$	4,652	$	3,377
Increases related to prior year tax positions	321		938		372
Decreases related to prior year tax positions	(623)		(143)		(557)
Decreases related to settlement with tax authorities	(191)		(2,886)		(45)
Increases related to current year tax positions	449		816		690
Ending gross unrecognized tax benefits	$	4,652	$	3,377	$	3,837