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Income Taxes | 9 Months Ended
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Sep. 30, 2011
Income Tax Disclosure [Abstract] |
Income Taxes | 12. Income Taxes The Company is under continuous exam ination by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and tax authorities in other countries and states in which the Company has significant business operations. The tax years under examination and open for examination vary by jurisdiction. In June 2008, the IRS completed its field examination of the Company's federal tax returns for the years 1997 through 2002. In July 2009, the IRS completed its field examination of the Company's federal tax returns for the years 2003 and 2004. In April 2011, unagreed issues for 1997 thr ough 2004 were resolved at IRS A ppeals. Additional r efund claims for those years continue to be reviewed by the IRS. In addition, t he Company is currently under examination by the IRS for the years 2005 through 2007. The Company believes it is reasonably possible that the unrecognized tax benefits could decrease within the next 12 months by as much as $851 m illion principally as a result of poten tial resolutions of prior year s' tax items with various taxi ng authorities. The prior year s' tax items include unrecognized tax benefits relating to the deductibility of certain expenses or losses and the attribution of taxable income to a particular jurisdiction or jurisdictions. Of the $851 m illion of unrecognize d tax ben efits, approximately $606 million relates to amounts recorded to equity that, if recognized, would not impact the effective tax rate. With resp ect to the remaining $245 million, it is not possible to quantify the impact that the decrease could have on the effective tax rate and net income due to the inherent complexities and the number of tax years open for examination in multiple jurisdictions. Resolution of the prior year s' items that comprise this remaining amount could have an impact on the effective tax rate and on net income, either favorably (principally as a result of settlements that are less than the liability for unrecognized tax benefits) or unfavorably (if such settlements exceed the liability for unrecognized tax benefits). The following table summarizes the Company's effective tax rate from continuing operations:
|  | Three Months Ended |  |  | Nine Months Ended |  |  | Year Ended |
|  | September 30, 2011 |  |  | September 30, 2011 |  |  | December 31, 2010 |
Effective tax rate(a)(b) |  | 28 | % |  | 29 | % |  | 32 | %
(a) Each of the periods reflect s recurring, permanent tax benefits in relation to the level of pretax income. (a) Each of the periods reflect s recurring, permanent tax benefits in relation to the level of pretax income. (b) The income tax provision from continuing operations for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2011 includes a $77 million tax benefit related to a distribution of foreign subsidiary earnings with associated foreign tax credits. The income tax provision from continuing operations for the nine months ended September 30, 2011 also includes the impact of a $102 million tax benefit related to the favorable resolution of certain prior years' tax items. Discontinued operations for the nine months ended September 30, 2011 included the impact of a $36 million tax benefit related to the favorable resolution of certain prior years' tax items related to American Express Bank, Ltd., which was sold to Standard Chartered PLC during the quarter ended March 31, 2008.

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- Definition The entire disclosure for income taxes. Disclosures may include net deferred tax liability or asset recognized in an enterprise's statement of financial position, net change during the year in the total valuation allowance, approximate tax effect of each type of temporary difference and carryforward that gives rise to a significant portion of deferred tax liabilities and deferred tax assets, utilization of a tax carryback, and tax uncertainties information. + References Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 740 -SubTopic 10 -Section 50 -Paragraph 2 -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6907707&loc=d3e32537-109319 Reference 2: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Statement of Financial Accounting Standard (FAS) -Number 109 -Paragraph 136, 172 -LegacyDoc This reference is SUPERSEDED by the Accounting Standards Codification effective for interim and annual periods ending after September 15, 2009. This reference is included to help users transition from the previous accounting hierarchy and will be removed from future versions of this taxonomy. Reference 3: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Statement of Financial Accounting Standard (FAS) -Number 109 -Paragraph 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49 -LegacyDoc This reference is SUPERSEDED by the Accounting Standards Codification effective for interim and annual periods ending after September 15, 2009. This reference is included to help users transition from the previous accounting hierarchy and will be removed from future versions of this taxonomy. Reference 4: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher SEC -Name Regulation S-X (SX) -Number 210 -Section 08 -Paragraph h -Article 4 Reference 5: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 740 -SubTopic 10 -Section 50 -Paragraph 3 -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6907707&loc=d3e32559-109319 Reference 6: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 740 -SubTopic 10 -Section 50 -Paragraph 9 -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6907707&loc=d3e32639-109319 Reference 7: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 740 -SubTopic 10 -Section 50 -Paragraph 15 -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6907707&loc=d3e32718-109319 Reference 8: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 235 -SubTopic 10 -Section S99 -Paragraph 1 -Subparagraph (SX 210.4-08.(h)) -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6881521&loc=d3e23780-122690 + Details
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