Income Taxes

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2023

Income Tax Disclosure [Abstract]

Income Taxes

NOTE 3 — INCOME TAXES

Our provisions for income taxes for the quarters ended September 30, 2023 and 2022 were $355 million and $360 million, respectively, and the effective tax rates were 24.8% and 24.1%, respectively. Our provisions for income taxes for the nine months ended September 30, 2023 and 2022 were $1.131 billion and $1.090 billion, respectively, and the effective tax rates were 23.7% and 23.4%, respectively. Our provisions for income taxes included tax benefits related to settlements of employee equity awards of $89 million and $70 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2023 and 2022, respectively.

Our gross unrecognized tax benefits were $653 million, excluding accrued interest of $168 million, as of September 30, 2023 ($639 million and $129 million, respectively, as of December 31, 2022). Unrecognized tax benefits of $326 million ($278 million as of December 31, 2022) would affect the effective rate, if recognized.

At September 30, 2023, the Internal Revenue Service was conducting examinations of the Company’s 2016, 2017 and 2018 federal income tax returns and the 2019 returns of certain affiliates. We are also subject to examination by state, local and foreign taxing authorities. Depending on the resolution of any tax disputes, the completion of examinations by 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.