Income Taxes

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2014

Income Tax Disclosure [Abstract]

Income Taxes

10. INCOME TAXES

Unrecognized Tax Benefits
(In millions)	September 30, 2014		December 31, 2013
Unrecognized tax benefits	$	5,877	$	5,816
Portion that, if recognized, would reduce tax
expense and effective tax rate(a)		3,973		4,307
Accrued interest on unrecognized tax benefits		823		975
Accrued penalties on unrecognized tax benefits		100		164
Reasonably possible reduction to the balance of
unrecognized tax benefits in succeeding 12 months		0-650		0-900
Portion that, if recognized, would reduce tax
expense and effective tax rate(a)		0-100		0-350

(a) Some portion of such reduction may be reported as discontinued operations.

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is currently auditing our consolidated U.S. income tax returns for 2010-2011. In addition, certain other U.S. tax deficiency issues and refund claims for previous years are still unresolved. The IRS has disallowed the tax loss on our 2003 disposition of ERC Life Reinsurance Corporation. We have contested the disallowance of this loss. It is reasonably possible that the unresolved items could be resolved during the next 12 months, which could result in a decrease in our balance of unrecognized tax benefits – that is, the aggregate tax effect of differences between tax return positions and the benefits recognized in our financial statements. We believe that there are no other jurisdictions in which the outcome of unresolved issues or claims is likely to be material to our results of operations, financial position or cash flows. We further believe that we have made adequate provision for all income tax uncertainties.