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Note 6 - Income Taxes | 12 Months Ended
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Dec. 31, 2015
Income Tax Disclosure [Abstract] |
Income Tax Disclosure [Text Block] | 6. Income Taxes Income before income taxes follows (in millions):
| Years ended December 31,
| 2015 |  | 2014 |  | 2013
U.S. companies | $ | 426 |  | $ | 2,384 |  | $ | 1,274
Non-U.S. companies |  | 1,060 |  |  | 1,184 |  |  | 1,199
Income before income taxes | $ | 1,486 |  | $ | 3,568 |  | $ | 2,473
The current and deferred amounts of the provision (benefit) for income taxes follow (in millions):
| Years ended December 31,
| 2015 |  | 2014 |  | 2013
Current: |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
Federal | $ | 40 |  | $ | 38 |  | $ | 3
State and municipal |  | 20 |  |  | 32 |  |  | 12
Foreign |  | 33 |  |  | 414 |  |  | 308
Deferred: |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
Federal |  | 144 |  |  | 411 |  |  | 112
State and municipal |  | 30 |  |  | (9) |  |  | 50
Foreign |  | (120) |  |  | 210 |  |  | 27
Provision for income taxes | $ | 147 |  | $ | 1,096 |  | $ | 512
Amounts are reflected in the preceding tables based on the location of the taxing authorities. Reconciliation of the U.S. statutory income tax rate to our effective tax rate for continuing operations follows:
| Years ended December 31,
| 2015 |  | 2014 |  | 2013
Statutory U.S. income tax rate | 35.0% |  |  | 35.0% |  |  | 35.0% |
State income tax (benefit), net of federal effect | 0.1 |  |  | 4.9 | (9) |  | 0.6 |
Tax holidays (1) | (0.5) |  |  | (0.4) |  |  | (1.2) |
Investment and other tax credits (2) | (1.7) |  |  | (0.3) |  |  | (2.0) |
Rate difference on foreign earnings | (19.8) | (11) |  | (8.3) |  |  | (8.1) | (4)
Uncertain tax positions | 4.3 | (10) |  | (0.1) |  |  | 0.2 |
Equity earnings impact (3) | (5.4) |  |  | (2.0) |  |  | (6.6) |
Valuation allowances | (4.2) | (7) |  | 0.8 | (6) |  | 3.1 | (5)
Other items, net | 2.1 |  |  | 1.1 | (8) |  | (0.3) |
Effective income tax (benefit) rate | 9.9% |  |  | 30.7% |  |  | 20.7% |
(1) | Primarily related to a subsidiary in Taiwan operating under tax holiday arrangements. The nature and extent of such arrangements vary, and the benefits of existing arrangements phase out in future years (through 2018). The impact of tax holidays on net income per share on a diluted basis was $0.01 in 2015, $0.01 in 2014 and $0.02 in 2013.
(2) | Primarily related to research and development and other credits in the U.S.
(3) | Equity in earnings of nonconsolidated affiliates reported in the financials net of tax. The difference between 2013-2014 was due to the change of Samsung Corning Precision Materials from an equity company to a consolidated entity.
(4) | In 2013, $74 million of tax benefit increase was due to $37 million expense recorded in 2012 that was reversed in the first quarter of 2013 as a result of the retroactive application of the American Taxpayer Relief Act enacted on January 3, 2013. In 2013, the additional increase in the benefit was attributable to excess foreign tax credits realized in U.S. from a taxable intercompany loan.
(5) | Primarily related to change in judgment on the realizability of Australia and certain state deferred tax assets.
(6) | $177 million tax expense related to change in judgment on the realizability of Germany and Japan deferred tax assets is partially offset with benefit from state deferred tax asset valuation allowance reductions, including the valuation allowance relating to the New York State attribute reduction discussed in (9) below.
(7) | $100 million tax benefit primarily related to change in judgment on the realizability of Germany and Japan deferred tax assets is partially offset with tax expense from U.S. state and China deferred tax allowance increases.
(8) | Includes in 2014, $9 million benefit for domestic manufacturing deduction and $46 million of tax expense related to out of period transfer pricing adjustments. The impact of these corrections is not material to any individual period previously presented.
(9) | Includes $100 million tax expense related to the write-off of New York State tax attributes for a state law change that were offset with full valuation allowance.
(10) | Unrecognized tax benefit reserve was primarily for tax positions taken related to transfer pricing of which $31 million tax expense is related to out of period adjustments. The impact of these corrections is not material to any individual period previously presented. Since the Company operates in a number of countries with income tax treaties, an offsetting benefit was recorded where it believes it is more-likely-than-not to receive competent authority relief.
(11) | Tax benefit is primarily for excess foreign tax credits resulting from the inclusion of high-taxed foreign earnings in U.S. income and the income of Taiwan and Korea subsidiaries with lower statutory rates than the U.S. The amount of tax benefit in 2015 is relatively consistent with 2014. The change in the effective tax rate reconciliation percentage is driven by the significant decrease in the gain on our foreign currency translation hedges in 2015 versus 2014.
The tax effects of temporary differences and carryforwards that gave rise to significant portions of the deferred tax assets and liabilities follows (in millions):
| December 31,
| 2015 |  | 2014
Loss and tax credit carryforwards | $ | 1,151 |  | $ | 1,235
Other assets |  | 69 |  |  | 69
Asset impairments and restructuring reserves |  | 153 |  |  | 170
Postretirement medical and life benefits |  | 276 |  |  | 312
Other accrued liabilities |  | 265 |  |  | 246
Other employee benefits |  | 505 |  |  | 473
Gross deferred tax assets |  | 2,419 |  |  | 2,505
Valuation allowance |  | (238) |  |  | (298)
Total deferred tax assets |  | 2,181 |  |  | 2,207
Intangible and other assets |  | (181) |  |  | (152)
Fixed assets |  | (284) |  |  | (299)
Total deferred tax liabilities |  | (465) |  |  | (451)
Net deferred tax assets | $ | 1,716 |  | $ | 1,756
The net deferred tax assets are classified in our consolidated balance sheets as follows (in millions):
| December 31,
| 2015 |  | 2014
Current deferred tax assets |  |  |  | $ | 248
Non-current deferred tax assets | $ | 2,056 |  |  | 1,889
Current deferred tax liabilities |  |  |  |  | (5)
Non-current deferred tax liabilities |  | (340) |  |  | (376)
Net deferred tax assets | $ | 1,716 |  | $ | 1,756
Corning adopted ASU 2015-17 prospectively. All deferred taxes are classified as non-current on the balance sheet as of December 31, 2015. Prior periods were not retrospectively adjusted. Details on deferred tax assets for loss and tax credit carryforwards at December 31, 2015 follow (in millions):
|  |  | Expiration
| Amount |  | 2016-2020 |  | 2021-2025 |  | 2026-2035 |  | Indefinite
Net operating losses | $ | 406 |  | $ | 127 |  | $ | 63 |  | $ | 3 |  | $ | 213
Tax credits |  | 745 |  |  | 414 |  |  | 58 |  |  | 237 |  |  | 36
Totals as of December 31, 2015 | $ | 1,151 |  | $ | 541 |  | $ | 121 |  | $ | 240 |  | $ | 249
The recognition of windfall tax benefits from share-based compensation deducted on the tax return is prohibited until realized through a reduction of income tax payable. Cumulative tax benefits totaling $244 million will be recorded in additional paid-in-capital when credit carryforwards are utilized and the windfall tax benefit can be realized. Deferred tax assets are to be reduced by a valuation allowance if, based on the weight of available positive and negative evidence, it is more likely than not (a likelihood of greater than 50 percent) that some portion or all of the deferred tax assets will not be realized. Corning has valuation allowances on certain shorter-lived deferred tax assets such as those represented by capital loss and state tax net operating loss carryforwards, as well as other foreign net operating loss carryforwards, because we cannot conclude that it is more likely than not that we will earn income of the character required to utilize these assets before they expire. U.S. profits of approximately $4.7 billion will be required to fully realize the U.S. deferred tax assets as of December 31, 2015, of which $88 million will be required over the next 20 years to realize the deferred tax assets related to general business credits and $1.9 billion of foreign sourced income will be required over the next 10 years to fully realize the deferred tax assets associated with foreign tax credits. The amount of U.S. and foreign deferred tax assets that have remaining valuation allowances at December 31, 2015 and 2014 was $238 million and $298 million, respectively. The following is a tabular reconciliation of the total amount of unrecognized tax benefits (in millions):
| 2015 |  | 2014
Balance at January 1 | $ | 10 |  | $ | 15
Additions based on tax positions related to the current year |  |  |  |  |
Additions for tax positions of prior years |  | 245 |  |  | 5
Reductions for tax positions of prior years |  | (1) |  |  |
Settlements and lapse of statute of limitations |  | (1) |  |  | (10)
Balance at December 31 | $ | 253 |  | $ | 10
The additions for tax positions of prior years include $221 million for unrecognized tax benefits related to gross transfer pricing adjustments. See footnote (10) of the Reconciliation of the U.S. statutory income tax rate to our effective tax rate for continuing operations above for more information. Included in the balance at December 31, 2015 and 2014 are $102 million and $5 million, respectively, of unrecognized tax benefits that would impact our effective tax rate if recognized. We recognize accrued interest and penalties associated with uncertain tax positions as part of tax expense. For the year ended December 31, 2015 the amount recognized in interest expense is $6 million. In 2014 and 2013, the amounts recognized in interest expense and income were immaterial. The amounts accrued at December 31, 2015 and 2014 for the payment of interest and penalties was $5 million and $1 million, respectively. While we expect the amount of unrecognized tax benefits to change in the next 12 months, we do not expect the change to have a significant impact on the results of operations or our financial position. Corning Incorporated, as the common parent company, and all 80%-or-more-owned of its U.S. subsidiaries join in the filing of consolidated U.S. federal income tax returns. All such returns for periods ended through December 31, 2004, have been audited by and settled with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). The statute of limitations is closed for all returns prior to 2002, but the IRS can make adjustments for the return in which the NOL, U.S. foreign tax and research experimentation credit carryovers are utilized. Corning Incorporated and its U.S. subsidiaries file income tax returns on a combined, unitary or stand-alone basis in multiple state and local jurisdictions, which generally have statutes of limitations ranging from 3 to 5 years. Various state income tax returns are currently in the process of examination or administrative appeal. Our foreign subsidiaries file income tax returns in the countries in which they have operations. Generally, these countries have statutes of limitations ranging from 3 to 7 years. Years still open to examination by foreign tax authorities in major jurisdictions include Japan (2009 onward), Taiwan (2014 onward) and South Korea (2015 onward). Corning continues to indefinitely reinvest substantially all of its foreign earnings, with the exception of an immaterial amount of current earnings that have very low or no tax cost associated with their repatriation. Our current analysis indicates that we have sufficient U.S. liquidity, including borrowing capacity, to fund foreseeable U.S. cash needs without requiring the repatriation of foreign cash. One time or unusual items that may impact our ability or intent to keep our foreign earnings and cash indefinitely reinvested include significant U.S. acquisitions, stock repurchases, shareholder dividends, changes in tax laws, derivative contract settlements or the development of tax planning ideas that allow us to repatriate earnings at minimal or no tax cost, and/or a change in our circumstances or economic conditions that negatively impact our ability to borrow or otherwise fund U.S. needs from existing U.S. sources. As of December 31, 2015, taxes have not been provided on approximately $11 billion of accumulated foreign unremitted earnings that are expected to remain invested indefinitely. While it remains impracticable to calculate the tax cost of repatriating our total unremitted foreign earnings, such cost could be material to the results of operations of Corning in a particular period.

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