Income Taxes (Tables)

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2025

Income Tax Disclosure [Abstract]

Schedule of Income before Income Tax, Domestic and Foreign

The jurisdictional components of income before income taxes and non-controlling interests on our Consolidated Statements of Operations are as follows (in millions):

	Year Ended December 31,
	2025		2024		2023
U.S. federal	$	7,239	$	4,696	$	11,176
International	1,043		607		3,402
Total income before income taxes and non-controlling interests	$	8,282	$	5,303	$	14,578

Schedule of Components of Income Tax Expense (Benefit)

Income tax provision included in our reported net income consisted of the following (in millions): 

	Year Ended December 31,
	2025		2024		2023
Current:
U.S. federal	$	(383)	$	471	$	130
State	1		2		1
Foreign	11		8		(1)
Total current	(371)		481		130
Deferred:
U.S. federal	1,846		319		2,377
State	12		9		15
Foreign	1		2		(3)
Total deferred	1,859		330		2,389
Total income tax provision	$	1,488	$	811	$	2,519

Schedule of Effective Income Tax Rate Reconciliation

Our income tax rates do not bear a customary relationship to statutory income tax rates. A reconciliation of the U.S. federal statutory income tax rate of 21% to our effective income tax rate for the year ended December 31, 2025 is as follows: 

	Year Ended December 31, 2025
	Amount (in millions)		Percent (2)
U.S. federal statutory tax rate	$	1,739	21.0	%
State and local income taxes, net of federal income tax effect (1)	11		0.1
Foreign tax effects
United Kingdom
Cheniere Marketing income not taxable in the U.K. under transfer pricing principles	(249)		(3.0)
Other	40		0.5
Other foreign jurisdictions	2		—
Effects of cross-border tax laws	(2)		—
Tax credits	(4)		(0.1)
Changes in valuation allowance	54		0.7
Nontaxable or nondeductible items
CQP income not taxable to Cheniere	(313)		(3.8)
Other	9		0.1
Changes in unrecognized tax benefits	3		—
Other adjustments
Cheniere Marketing income taxable in the U.S. under transfer pricing principles	209		2.5
Other	(11)		—
Effective tax rate as reported	$	1,488	18.0	%

(1)State taxes in Louisiana and Texas contributed to the majority of the tax effect in this category.

(2)The percentages in the table may not recalculate exactly due to rounding as the percentages are calculated based on whole numbers, not the rounded numbers presented.

As previously disclosed for the years ended December 31, 2024 and 2023, prior to the adoption of ASU 2023-09, a reconciliation of the U.S. federal statutory income tax rate of 21% to our effective income tax rate was as follows:

	Year Ended December 31,
	2024		2023
U.S. federal statutory tax rate	21.0	%	21.0	%
Income not taxable to Cheniere	(5.0)		(3.1)
Foreign-derived intangible income deduction	(1.0)		(0.7)
Changes in valuation allowance	(0.7)		—
Other	1.0		0.1
Effective tax rate as reported	15.3	%	17.3	%

Schedule of Deferred Tax Assets and Liabilities

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

	December 31,
	2025		2024
Deferred tax assets
Net operating loss (“NOL”) carryforwards
U.S. federal	$	245	$	313
State	119		119
Tax Credits
CAMT carryforward	—		383
Other tax credits	50		40
Operating lease liabilities	566		562
Other	447		306
Less: valuation allowance (1)	(170)		(110)
Total deferred tax assets	1,257		1,613
Deferred tax liabilities
Investment in partnerships	(375)		(305)
Property, plant and equipment	(3,277)		(2,459)
Operating lease assets	(553)		(548)
Derivative instruments	(696)		(108)
Other	(42)		(30)
Total deferred tax liabilities	(4,943)		(3,450)
Net deferred tax liabilities	$	(3,686)	$	(1,837)

(1)Valuation allowance primarily relates to a valuation allowance recorded on U.S. federal capital loss carryforwards and state NOL carryforwards and increased by $60 million during the year ended December 31, 2025 primarily due to a capital loss carryforward generated in the current year that we do not expect to realize before expiration. The valuation allowance decreased by $37 million during the year ended December 31, 2024 and increased by $4 million during the year ended December 31, 2023.

Schedule of Unrecognized Tax Benefits Roll Forward

A reconciliation of the beginning and ending amounts of our unrecognized tax benefits is as follows (in millions): 

	Year Ended December 31,
	2025		2024		2023
Balance at beginning of the year	$	72	$	73	$	74
Statute of limitations expiration	(3)		—		—
Reductions for tax positions of prior years	—		(1)		(1)
Balance at end of the year	$	69	$	72	$	73

Schedule of Components of Income Taxes Paid, Net

The following is a supplemental schedule of cash paid for income taxes, net of refunds, for the year ended December 31, 2025 (in millions):

	Year Ended December 31,
	2025
U.S. federal	$	47
State and local	2
Foreign
United Kingdom	(18)
Other	1
Total Foreign	(17)
Total income taxes paid, net of refunds received	$	32