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Income Taxes
12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2019
Income Taxes [Abstract]  
Income Taxes
Note 19—Income Taxes
Income taxes charged to net income (loss) were:
Millions of Dollars
2019
2018
2017
Income Taxes
Federal
Current
$
18
4
79
Deferred
(113)
545
(3,046)
Foreign
Current
2,545
3,273
1,729
Deferred
(323)
(166)
(510)
State and local
Current
148
108
51
Deferred
(8)
(96)
(125)
$
2,267
3,668
(1,822)
Deferred income taxes reflect the net tax effect of temporary
 
differences between the carrying amounts of
assets and liabilities for financial reporting purposes
 
and the amounts used for tax purposes.
 
Major components
of deferred tax liabilities and assets at December
 
31 were:
Millions of Dollars
2019
2018
Deferred Tax Liabilities
PP&E and intangibles
$
8,660
8,004
Inventory
35
60
Deferred state income tax
-
61
Other
234
156
Total deferred tax liabilities
8,929
8,281
Deferred Tax Assets
Benefit plan accruals
542
641
Asset retirement obligations and accrued environmental
 
costs
2,339
2,891
Investments in joint ventures
1,722
104
Other financial accruals and deferrals
777
330
Loss and credit carryforwards
8,968
2,378
Other
345
398
Total deferred tax assets
14,693
6,742
Less: valuation allowance
(10,214)
(3,040)
Net deferred tax assets
4,479
3,702
Net deferred tax liabilities
$
4,450
4,579
At December 31, 2019, noncurrent assets and liabilities
 
included deferred taxes of $
184
 
million and
$
4,634
 
million, respectively.
 
At December 31, 2018, noncurrent assets and liabilities
 
included deferred taxes
of $
442
 
million and $
5,021
 
million, respectively.
At December 31, 2019, the components of our loss and
 
credit carryforwards before and after consideration
 
of
the applicable valuation allowances were:
Millions of Dollars
Net Deferred
Expiration of
Gross Deferred
Tax Asset After
Net Deferred
Tax Asset
Valuation
 
Allowance
Tax Asset
U.S. foreign tax credits
$
7,696
14
2028
U.S. general business credits
250
250
2036-2038
U.S. capital loss
202
32
2024
State net operating losses and tax credits
370
50
Various
Foreign net operating losses and tax credits
450
413
Post 2025
$
8,968
759
Valuation
 
allowances have been established to reduce
 
deferred tax assets to an amount that will, more
 
likely
than not, be realized.
 
During 2019, valuation allowances increased a
 
total of $
7,174
 
million.
 
The increase
primarily relates to deferred tax assets recognized during
 
2019 as a result of the finalization of rules related to
the U.S. Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (Tax Legislation including ongoing issuance of tax regulations related to such
legislation), as further discussed below.
 
Based on our historical taxable income,
 
expectations for the future,
and available tax-planning strategies, management
 
expects deferred tax assets, net of valuation allowance,
 
will
primarily be realized as offsets to reversing deferred tax liabilities.
 
 
On December 2, 2019, the Internal Revenue Service finalized
 
foreign tax credit regulations related to the 2017
Tax Cuts
 
and Jobs Act.
 
Due to the finalization of these regulations,
 
in the fourth quarter of 2019 we
recognized $
151
 
million of net deferred tax assets.
 
Correspondingly, we recorded $
6,642
 
million of existing
foreign tax credit carryovers where recognition
 
was previously considered to be remote.
 
Present legislation
still makes their realization unlikely and therefore these
 
credits have been offset with a full valuation
allowance.
 
 
At December 31, 2019, unremitted income considered
 
to be permanently reinvested in certain
 
foreign
subsidiaries and foreign corporate joint ventures
 
totaled approximately $
4,196
 
million.
 
Deferred income taxes
have not been provided on this amount, as we
 
do not plan to initiate any action that would
 
require the payment
of income taxes.
 
The estimated amount of additional tax, primarily local
 
withholding tax, that would be
payable on this income if distributed is approximately
 
$
210
 
million.
The following table shows a reconciliation of the beginning
 
and ending unrecognized tax benefits for 2019,
2018 and 2017:
Millions of Dollars
2019
2018
2017
Balance at January 1
$
1,081
882
381
Additions based on tax positions related to the current
 
year
9
268
612
Additions for tax positions of prior years
120
43
109
Reductions for tax positions of prior years
(22)
(73)
(129)
Settlements
(9)
(35)
(5)
Lapse of statute
(2)
(4)
(86)
Balance at December 31
$
1,177
1,081
882
Included in the balance of unrecognized tax benefits
 
for 2019, 2018 and 2017 were $
1,100
 
million,
$
1,081
 
million and $
882
 
million, respectively, which, if recognized, would impact our effective tax rate.
 
The
balance of the unrecognized tax benefits increased in 2019
 
mainly due to the treatment of our PDVSA
settlement. The balance of the unrecognized tax benefits
 
increased in 2018 mainly due to the treatment
 
of
distributions from certain foreign subsidiaries.
 
The balance of unrecognized tax benefits increased
 
in 2017
mainly due to the recognition of a U.S. worthless securities
 
deduction that we do not believe will generate a
cash tax benefit.
 
See Note 13—Contingencies and Commitments,
 
for more information on the PDVSA
settlement.
 
 
At December 31, 2019, 2018 and 2017, accrued liabilities
 
for interest and penalties totaled $
42
 
million,
$
45
 
million and $
54
 
million, respectively, net of accrued income taxes.
 
Interest and penalties resulted in a
benefit to earnings of $
3
 
million in 2019, a benefit to earnings
 
of $
4
 
million in 2018, and
no
 
impact to earnings
in 2017.
 
 
We
 
file tax returns in the U.S. federal jurisdiction and
 
in many foreign and state jurisdictions.
 
Audits in major
jurisdictions are generally complete as follows: U.K.
 
(2015), Canada (2014), U.S.
 
(2014) and Norway (2018).
 
Issues in dispute for audited years and audits for
 
subsequent years are ongoing and in various stages
 
of
completion in the many jurisdictions in which we
 
operate around the world.
 
Consequently, the balance in
unrecognized tax benefits can be expected to fluctuate
 
from period to period.
 
It is reasonably possible such
changes could be significant when compared with
 
our total unrecognized tax benefits, but the amount
 
of
change is not estimable.
The amounts of U.S. and foreign income (loss)
 
before income taxes, with a reconciliation
 
of tax at the federal
statutory rate with the provision for income taxes,
 
were:
Millions of Dollars
Percent of Pre-Tax Income (Loss)
2019
2018
2017
2019
2018
2017
Income (loss) before income taxes
United States
$
4,704
2,867
(5,250)
49.4
%
28.7
200.8
Foreign
4,820
7,106
2,635
50.6
71.3
(100.8)
$
9,524
9,973
(2,615)
100.0
%
100.0
100.0
Federal statutory income tax
$
2,000
2,095
(915)
21.0
%
21.0
35.0
Non-U.S. effective tax rates
1,399
1,766
625
14.7
17.7
(23.9)
Tax Legislation
-
(10)
(852)
-
(0.1)
32.6
Canada disposition
-
-
(1,277)
-
-
48.8
U.K. disposition
(732)
(150)
-
(7.7)
(1.5)
-
Recovery of outside basis
(77)
(21)
(962)
(0.8)
(0.2)
36.8
Adjustment to tax reserves
9
(4)
881
0.1
-
(33.7)
Adjustment to valuation allowance
(225)
(26)
-
(2.4)
(0.3)
-
APLNG impairment
-
-
834
-
-
(31.9)
State income tax
123
135
(84)
1.3
1.4
3.2
Malaysia Deepwater Incentive
(164)
-
-
(1.7)
-
-
Enhanced oil recovery credit
(27)
(99)
(68)
(0.3)
(1.0)
2.6
Other
(39)
(18)
(4)
(0.4)
(0.2)
0.2
$
2,267
3,668
(1,822)
23.8
%
36.8
69.7
Our effective tax rate for 2019 was favorably impacted by
 
the sale of two of our U.K. subsidiaries. The
disposition generated a before-tax gain of more than $
1.7
 
billion with an associated tax benefit of $
335
million. The disposition generated a U.S. capital loss
 
of approximately $
2.1
 
billion which has generated a U.S.
tax benefit of approximately $
285
 
million. The remaining U.S. capital loss has
 
been recorded as a deferred tax
asset fully offset with a valuation allowance.
 
See Note 5—Asset Acquisitions and Dispositions, for additional
information on the disposition.
 
 
During the third quarter of 2019, we received final
 
partner approval in Malaysia Block G to claim
 
certain
deepwater tax credits. As a result, we recorded an income
 
tax benefit of $
164
 
million.
 
 
The decrease in the effective tax rate for 2018 was primarily
 
due to the impact of the Clair Field disposition
 
in
the U.K. and our overall income position, partially
 
offset by our mix of income among taxing jurisdictions.
 
 
Our effective tax rate for 2018 was favorably impacted by
 
the sale of a U.K. subsidiary to BP.
 
The subsidiary
held 16.5 percent of our 24 percent interest in the
 
BP-operated Clair Field in the U.K.
 
The disposition
generated a before-tax gain of $
715
 
million with no associated tax cost.
 
See Note 5—Asset Acquisitions and
Dispositions, for additional information on the disposition.
 
 
Tax Legislation was enacted in the U.S.
 
on December 22, 2017, reducing the U.S.
 
federal corporate income tax
rate to 21 percent from 35 percent, requiring companies
 
to pay a one-time transition tax on earnings
 
of certain
foreign subsidiaries that were previously tax deferred
 
and creating new taxes on certain foreign-sourced
earnings.
 
 
 
SAB 118 measurement period
 
We
 
applied the guidance in Staff Accounting Bulletin No.
 
118 when accounting for the enactment-date effects
of Tax Legislation in 2017 and throughout 2018.
 
At December 31, 2017, we had not completed our
accounting for all the enactment-date income tax effects
 
of Tax Legislation under ASC 740, Income Taxes, for
the remeasurement of deferred tax assets and liabilities
 
and the one-time transition tax.
 
As of December 31,
2018, we had
 
completed our accounting for all the enactment-date
 
income tax effects of Tax Legislation.
 
As
further discussed below, during 2018, we recognized adjustments of $
10
 
million to the provisional amounts
recorded at December 31, 2017, and included these adjustments
 
as a component
 
of income tax provision.
 
 
Provisional Amounts—Foreign tax effects
 
The one-time transition tax is based on our total post-1986
 
earnings, the tax on which we previously deferred
from U.S. income taxes under U.S. law.
 
We estimated at December 31, 2017, that we would not incur a one-
time transition tax.
 
Upon further analyses of Tax Legislation and Notices and regulations issued
 
and proposed
by the U.S. Department of the Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service,
 
we finalized our calculations of the
transition tax liability during 2018.
 
Based upon this analysis, we did not incur
 
a one-time transition tax.
 
 
As a result of the Tax Legislation, we removed the indefinite reinvestment assertion on one
 
of our foreign
subsidiaries and recorded a tax expense of $
56
 
million in the fourth quarter of 2017.
 
 
Deferred tax assets and liabilities
 
As of December 31, 2017, we remeasured certain deferred
 
tax assets and liabilities based on the rates at which
they were expected to reverse in the future (which was
 
generally 21 percent), by recording a provisional
amount of $
908
 
million.
 
Upon further analysis of certain aspects
 
of Tax Legislation and refinement of our
calculations during the 12 months ended December
 
31, 2018, we adjusted our provisional
 
amount by $
10
million, which is included as a component of income tax
 
expense.
 
 
 
Global intangible low-taxed income (GILTI)
 
We
 
have elected to account for GILTI in the year the tax is incurred.
 
For 2019 and 2018,
 
the current-year U.S.
income tax impact related to GILTI activities is immaterial.
 
 
Our effective tax rate in 2017 was favorably impacted by a
 
tax benefit of $
1,277
 
million related to the Canada
disposition.
 
This tax benefit was primarily associated with
 
a deferred tax recovery related to the Canadian
capital gains exclusion component of the 2017 Canada
 
disposition and the recognition of previously
unrealizable Canadian capital asset tax basis.
 
The Canada disposition, along with the
 
associated restructuring
of our Canadian operations, may generate an additional
 
tax benefit of $
822
 
million.
 
However, since we
believe it is not likely we will receive a corresponding
 
cash tax savings, this $
822
 
million benefit has been
offset by a full tax reserve.
 
See Note 5—Asset Acquisitions and Dispositions
 
for additional information on our
Canada disposition.
 
 
The impairment of our APLNG investment in the second quarter
 
of 2017 did not generate a tax benefit.
 
See
the “APLNG” section of Note 6—Investments, Loans and
 
Long-Term Receivables, for information on the
impairment of our APLNG investment.
 
 
 
Certain operating losses in jurisdictions outside of
 
the U.S.
 
only yield a tax benefit in the U.S.
 
as a worthless
security deduction.
 
For 2019, 2018 and 2017, before consideration
 
of unrecorded tax benefits discussed above,
the amount of the tax benefit was $
9
 
million, $
36
 
million and $
962
 
million, respectively.