Income Taxes (Tables)

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2020

The components of income taxes for the years ended December 31 were as follows:


(In millions)	2020		2019		2018
Current taxes
U.S. income taxes	$	2,128	$	1,476	$	804
Foreign income taxes	334		173		185
State income taxes	303		114		47
Total current taxes	2,765		1,763		1,036
Deferred taxes (benefits)
U.S. income taxes (benefits)	(217)		(236)		(75)
Foreign income taxes	11		16		8
State income tax (benefits)	(180)		(93)		(34)
Total deferred taxes (benefits)	(386)		(313)		(101)
Total income taxes	$	2,379	$	1,450	$	935

Reconciliation of Total Income Taxes to the Amount Computed Using the Nominal Federal Income Tax Rate

Total income taxes for the years ended December 31 were different from the amount computed using the nominal federal income tax rate for the following reasons:


	2020				2019				2018
(In millions)	$		%		$		%		$		%
Tax expense at nominal rate	$	2,282	21.0	%	$	1,380	21.0	%	$	752	21.0	%
Effect of U.S. tax reform legislation	—		—		—		—		(4)		(0.1)
Impact of sale of business	104		1.0		—		—		—		—
Effect of foreign earnings	(61)		(0.6)		24		0.4		74		2.1
Health insurance industry tax	93		0.9		—		—		78		2.2
State income tax (net of federal income tax benefit)	24		0.2		32		0.5		10		0.3
Other	(63)		(0.6)		14		0.2		25		0.6
Total income taxes	$	2,379	21.9	%	$	1,450	22.1	%	$	935	26.1	%

Consolidated pre-tax income from the Company’s foreign operations was approximately 14% of the Company’s pre-tax income in 2020, 12% in 2019 and 15% in 2018.

Deferred Income Tax Assets and Liabilities

Deferred income tax assets and liabilities as of December 31, were as follows:


(In millions)	2020		2019
Deferred tax assets
Employee and retiree benefit plans	$	477	$	511
Other insurance and contractholder liabilities	278		282
Loss carryforwards	177		260
Other accrued liabilities	358		183
Other	209		218
Deferred tax assets before valuation allowance	1,499		1,454
Valuation allowance for deferred tax assets	(207)		(196)
Deferred tax assets, net of valuation allowance	1,292		1,258
Deferred tax liabilities
Depreciation and amortization	660		630
Acquisition-related basis differences	8,989		9,386
Policy acquisition expenses	289		113
Unrealized appreciation on investments and foreign currency translation	171		223
Other	122		293
Total deferred tax liabilities	10,231		10,645
Net deferred income tax (liabilities) assets	$	(8,939)	$	(9,387)

Reconciliations of Unrecognized Tax Benefits

Reconciliations of unrecognized tax benefits for the years ended December 31 follow:


(In millions)	2020		2019		2018
Balance at January 1,	$	1,018	$	928	$	35
Increase due to prior year positions	128		68		40
Increase due to business combinations	—		—		860
Increase due to current year positions	88		29		6
Reduction related to settlements with taxing authorities	—		—		(1)
Reduction related to lapse of applicable statute of limitations	(24)		(7)		(12)
Balance at December 31,	$	1,210	$	1,018	$	928