Income Taxes

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2022

Income Tax Disclosure [Abstract]

Income Taxes

NOTE 6. INCOME TAXES

For the first quarter of 2022, we recorded income tax expense of $38 million on income before income taxes of $134 million. Income tax expense for the three months ended March 31, 2022 includes net discrete tax expense of $4 million. Discrete tax expense includes a charge of $11 million to establish a full valuation allowance on our net deferred tax assets in Russia, partially offset by a net benefit of $7 million for various other items.

For the first quarter of 2021, we recorded income tax expense of $15 million on income before income taxes of $33 million. Income tax expense for the three months ended March 31, 2021 includes net discrete tax expense of $3 million.

We record taxes based on overall estimated annual effective tax rates. The difference between our effective tax rate and the U.S. statutory rate of 21% for both the three months ended March 31, 2022 and March 31, 2021 primarily relates to losses in foreign jurisdictions in which no tax benefits are recorded and the discrete items noted above.

We consider both positive and negative evidence when measuring the need for a valuation allowance. The weight given to the evidence is commensurate with the extent to which it may be objectively verified. Current and cumulative financial reporting results are a source of objectively verifiable evidence. We give operating results during the most recent three-year period a significant weight in our analysis. We typically only consider forecasts of future profitability when positive cumulative operating results exist in the most recent three-year period. We perform scheduling exercises to determine if sufficient taxable income of the appropriate character exists in the periods required in order to realize our deferred tax assets with limited lives (such as tax loss carryforwards and tax credits) prior to their expiration. We also consider prudent tax planning strategies (including an assessment of their feasibility) to accelerate taxable income if required to utilize expiring deferred tax assets. A valuation allowance is not required to the extent that, in our judgment, positive evidence exists with a magnitude and duration sufficient to result in a conclusion that it is more likely than not that our deferred tax assets will be realized.

At both March 31, 2022 and December 31, 2021, we had approximately $1.2 billion of U.S. federal, state and local net deferred tax assets, net of valuation allowances totaling $26 million primarily for state tax loss carryforwards with limited lives. In the U.S., we have a cumulative loss for the three-year period ending March 31, 2022. However, as the three-year cumulative loss in the U.S. is driven by business disruptions created by the COVID-19 pandemic, primarily in 2020, and only include the favorable impact of the Cooper Tire acquisition since the Closing Date, we also considered other objectively verifiable information in assessing our ability to utilize our net deferred tax assets, including continued favorable recovery trends in the tire industry and our tire volume as well as expected continued improvement. In addition, the Cooper Tire acquisition has generated significant incremental domestic earnings since the Closing Date and provides opportunities for cost and other operating synergies to further improve our U.S. profitability.

At both March 31, 2022 and December 31, 2021, our U.S. net deferred tax assets include $339 million of foreign tax credits with limited lives, net of valuation allowances of $3 million. Our earnings and forecasts of future profitability, taking into consideration recent trends, along with three significant sources of foreign income, provide us sufficient positive evidence that we will be able to utilize these net foreign tax credits which expire through 2030. Our sources of foreign income are (1) 100% of our domestic profitability can be re-characterized as foreign source income under current U.S. tax law to the extent domestic losses have offset foreign source income in prior years, (2) annual net foreign source income, exclusive of dividends, primarily from royalties, and (3) tax planning strategies, including capitalizing research and development costs, accelerating income on cross border transactions, including sales of inventory or raw materials to our subsidiaries, and reducing U.S. interest expense by, for example, reducing intercompany loans through repatriating current year earnings of foreign subsidiaries, all of which would increase our domestic profitability.

We consider our current forecasts of future profitability in assessing our ability to realize our deferred tax assets, including our foreign tax credits. These forecasts include the impact of recent trends, including various macroeconomic factors such as the impact of higher raw material, transportation, labor and energy costs, on our profitability, as well as the impact of tax planning strategies. These macroeconomic factors possess a high degree of volatility and can significantly impact our profitability. As

such, there is a risk that future earnings will not be sufficient to fully utilize our U.S. net deferred tax assets, including our foreign tax credits. However, we believe our forecasts of future profitability along with the three significant sources of foreign income described above provide us sufficient positive, objectively verifiable evidence to conclude that it is more likely than not that, at March 31, 2022, our U.S. net deferred tax assets, including our foreign tax credits, net of valuation allowances, will be fully utilized.

At both March 31, 2022 and December 31, 2021, we also had approximately $1.3 billion of foreign net deferred tax assets, and related valuation allowances of $1.0 billion. Our losses in various foreign taxing jurisdictions in recent periods represented sufficient negative evidence to require us to maintain a full valuation allowance against certain of these net foreign deferred tax assets. Most notably, in Luxembourg, we maintain a valuation allowance of approximately $860 million on all of our net deferred tax assets. Each reporting period, we assess available positive and negative evidence and estimate if sufficient future taxable income will be generated to utilize these existing deferred tax assets. We do not believe that sufficient positive evidence required to release valuation allowances having a significant impact on our financial position or results of operations will exist within the next twelve months.

For the three months ended March 31, 2022, changes to our unrecognized tax benefits did not, and for the full year of 2022 are not expected to, have a significant impact on our financial position or results of operations.

We are open to examination in the United States for 2021 and in Germany from 2018 onward. Generally, for our remaining tax jurisdictions, years from 2017 onward are still open to examination.