Income Taxes

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2019

INCOME TAXES

For periods between the Merger Effectiveness Time and the Corteva Distribution, Corteva and its subsidiaries were included in DowDuPont's consolidated federal income tax group and consolidated tax return. Generally, the consolidated tax liability of the DowDuPont U.S. tax group for each year was apportioned among the members of the consolidated group based on each member’s separate taxable income. Corteva, DuPont and Dow intend that to the extent Federal and/or State corporate income tax liabilities are reduced through the utilization of tax attributes of the other, settlement of any receivable and payable generated from the use of the other party’s sub-group attributes will be in accordance with a tax matters agreement. See Note 5 - Divestitures and Other Transactions, for further information related to indemnifications between Corteva, Dow and DuPont.

On December 22, 2017, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (“The Act”) was enacted. The Act reduced the U.S. federal corporate income tax rate from 35 percent to 21 percent, required companies to pay a one-time transition tax (“transition tax”) on earnings of foreign subsidiaries that were previously tax deferred, created new provisions related to foreign sourced earnings, eliminated the domestic manufacturing deduction and moved towards a territorial system. At December 31, 2018, the company had completed its accounting for the tax effects of The Act.

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As a result of The Act, the company remeasured its U.S. federal deferred tax assets and liabilities based on the rates at which they are expected to reverse in the future, which is generally 21 percent. In the three and nine months ended September 30, 2018, the company recognized benefits of $94 million and $39 million, respectively, to benefit from income taxes on continuing operations in the company's Consolidated Statements of Operations to adjust the provisional amount related to the remeasurement of the company's deferred tax balance. Of the $94 million benefit booked in the three months ended September 30, 2018, $114 million related to the company's discretionary pension contribution in 2018, which was deducted on a 2017 tax return.


•	In the nine months ended September 30, 2018, the company recognized a charge of $16 million to benefit from income taxes on continuing operations in the company's Consolidated Statements of Operations as a result of an indirect impact of The Act related to certain inventory.

Each year the company files hundreds of tax returns in the various national, state and local income taxing jurisdictions in which it operates. These tax returns are subject to examination and possible challenge by the tax authorities. Positions challenged by the tax authorities may be settled or appealed by the company. As a result, there is an uncertainty in income taxes recognized in the company's financial statements in accordance with accounting for income taxes and accounting for uncertainty in income taxes. The ultimate resolution of such uncertainties is not expected to have a material impact on the company's results of operations.

During the three and nine months ended September 30, 2019, the company recognized an aggregate net tax benefit of $38 million to benefit from income taxes on continuing operations related to the enactment of Switzerland’s Federal Act on Tax Reform and AHV Financing (TRAF) (i.e., “Swiss Tax Reform”).

During the three and nine months ended September 30, 2019, the company recognized a net tax benefit of $13 million and a net tax charge of $83 million, respectively, to (benefit from) provision for income taxes on continuing operations related to application of The Act's foreign tax provisions.

During the nine months ended September 30, 2019, the company recognized a net tax charge of $146 million and a tax benefit of $102 million to provision for income taxes on continuing operations, related to U.S. state blended tax rate changes associated with the Business Separations and an internal legal entity restructuring associated with the Business Separations, respectively.

During the nine months ended September 30, 2019, the company recognized an aggregate tax benefit of $21 million to provision for income taxes on continuing operations associated with changes in accruals for certain prior year tax positions and reductions in the company's unrecognized tax benefits due to the closure of various tax statutes of limitations.

During the three months ended September 30, 2018, it was determined that a full valuation allowance against the net deferred tax asset position of a legal entity in Brazil was required. This determination was based on a change in judgment about the realizability of the deferred tax asset due to revised cash flow projections reflecting declines in the forecasted sales and profitability of the Agriculture reporting unit in Latin America. The revised cash flow projections quantify the impacts of market conditions, events and circumstances that developed throughout 2018. See Note 15 - Goodwill and Other Intangible Assets, for additional information. As a result, the company recognized tax expense of $75 million in the three and nine months ended September 30, 2018.

During 2018, the company repatriated certain funds from its foreign subsidiaries that were not needed to finance local operations or separation activities. During the three and nine months ended September 30, 2018, the company recorded tax expense of $61 million associated with these repatriation activities.

During the three and nine months ended September 30, 2018, the company recognized tax expense of $27 million associated with the reduction of a tax benefit recorded in 2017 due to taxable income limitations triggered by the company's decision to deduct the third quarter 2018 principal U.S. pension plan contribution on its 2017 consolidated U.S. tax return.

During the three and nine months ended September 30, 2018, the company recognized tax expense of $26 million related to an internal entity restructuring associated with the Business Separations.