Income Taxes

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2023

Income Tax Disclosure [Abstract]

Income Taxes

NOTE 3 — INCOME TAXES

Our provisions for income taxes for the quarters ended March 31, 2023 and 2022 were $379 million and $349 million, respectively, and the effective tax rates were 21.8% and 21.5%, respectively. Our provisions for income taxes included tax benefits related to settlements of employee equity awards of $74 million and $64 million for the quarters ended March 31, 2023 and 2022, respectively.

Our gross unrecognized tax benefits were $644 million, excluding accrued interest of $142 million, as of March 31, 2023 ($639 million and $129 million, respectively, as of December 31, 2022). Unrecognized tax benefits of $292 million ($278 million as of December 31, 2022) would affect the effective rate, if recognized.

At March 31, 2023, the Internal Revenue Service was conducting examinations of the Company’s 2016, 2017 and 2018 federal income tax returns and the 2019 return for one affiliated partnership. We are also subject to examination by state and foreign taxing authorities. Depending on the resolution of any federal, state and foreign tax disputes, the completion of examinations by federal, state or foreign taxing authorities, or the expiration of statutes of limitation for specific taxing jurisdictions, we believe it is reasonably possible that our liability for unrecognized tax benefits may significantly increase or decrease within the next 12 months. However, we are currently unable to estimate the range of any possible change.