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Income Taxes
3 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2021
Income Tax Disclosure [Abstract]  
Income Taxes Income Taxes
For interim income tax reporting, we estimate our annual effective tax rate and apply it to our year-to-date ordinary income (loss). Tax jurisdictions with a projected or year-to-date loss for which a tax benefit cannot be realized are excluded. The tax effects of unusual or infrequently occurring items, including changes in judgment about valuation allowances and effects of changes in tax laws or rates, are reported in the interim period in which they occur.

In the three months ended March 31, 2021, Income tax expense of $1.2 billion was primarily due to tax expense attributable to entities included in our effective tax rate calculation and the establishment of a valuation allowance against Cruise deferred tax assets that are considered no longer realizable.

In the three months ended March 31, 2021, Cruise issued new preferred shares to investors. As a result of the issuance, Cruise fell below the ownership threshold required for inclusion in our U.S. consolidated income tax returns, and we established a valuation allowance of $316 million against deferred tax assets. Refer to Note 16 to our condensed consolidated financial statements for additional information regarding the Cruise preferred stock issuance. The effective tax rate is higher than the applicable statutory tax rate primarily due to tax expense related to the establishment of the valuation allowance.

In the three months ended March 31, 2020, Income tax expense of $357 million was primarily due to tax expense attributable to entities included in our effective tax rate calculation and the establishment of a valuation allowance against deferred tax assets that were considered no longer realizable. The effective tax rate was higher than the applicable statutory tax rate primarily due to tax expense related to the establishment of the valuation allowance and losses for which a tax benefit cannot be realized.

At March 31, 2021, we had $22.4 billion of net deferred tax assets consisting of net operating losses and income tax credits, capitalized research expenditures and other timing differences that are available to offset future income tax liabilities, partially offset by valuation allowances.