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Income Taxes (Tables) | 12 Months Ended
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Dec. 31, 2017
Income Tax Disclosure [Abstract] |
Income tax provision from continuing operations | The income tax provision from continuing operations consisted of the following amounts:
| Year Ended December 31,
| 2017 |  | 2016 |  | 2015
| (In millions, except percentages)
Current |  |  |  |  |
State | $ | 19 |  |  | $ | 6 |  |  | $ | 9 |
Total — current | 19 |  |  | 6 |  |  | 9 |
Deferred |  |  |  |  |
U.S. Federal | (6 | ) |  | 3 |  |  | 1,020 |
State | (7 | ) |  | (6 | ) |  | 315 |
Foreign | 2 |  |  | 2 |  |  | 1 |
Total — deferred | (11 | ) |  | (1 | ) |  | 1,336 |
Total income tax expense | $ | 8 |  |  | $ | 5 |  |  | $ | 1,345 |
Effective tax rate | (0.5 | )% |  | (0.5 | )% |  | (27.0 | )%
Domestic and foreign components of income/(loss) before income tax (benefit)/expense | The following represents the domestic and foreign components of loss before income tax expense:
| Year Ended December 31,
| 2017 |  | 2016 |  | 2015
| (In millions)
U.S. | $ | (1,557 | ) |  | $ | (989 | ) |  | $ | (4,997 | )
Foreign | 17 |  |  | 11 |  |  | 11 |
Total | $ | (1,540 | ) |  | $ | (978 | ) |  | $ | (4,986 | )
Reconciliation of the U.S. federal statutory rate to NRG's effective rate | A reconciliation of the U.S. federal statutory rate of 35% to NRG's effective rate is as follows:
| Year Ended December 31,
| 2017 |  | 2016 |  | 2015
| (In millions, except percentages)
Loss before income taxes | $ | (1,540 | ) |  | $ | (978 | ) |  | $ | (4,986 | )
Tax at 35% | (539 | ) |  | (342 | ) |  | (1,745 | )
State taxes | 19 |  |  | — |  |  | (215 | )
Foreign operations | 2 |  |  | 10 |  |  | 1 |
Federal and state tax credits, excluding PTCs | — |  |  | — |  |  | (5 | )
Tax Act - corporate income tax rate change | 733 |  |  | — |  |  | — |
Valuation allowance due to corporate income tax rate change | (660 | ) |  | — |  |  | — |
Valuation allowance - current period activities | 482 |  |  | 398 |  |  | 3,023 |
Impact of non-taxable equity earnings | (5 | ) |  | 22 |  |  | (10 | )
Book goodwill impairment | 30 |  |  | — |  |  | 340 |
Net interest accrued on uncertain tax positions | — |  |  | 1 |  |  | (3 | )
Production tax credits | (20 | ) |  | (26 | ) |  | (33 | )
Recognition of uncertain tax benefits | (5 | ) |  | 2 |  |  | (15 | )
Tax expense attributable to consolidated partnerships | 4 |  |  | (1 | ) |  | 12 |
State rate change including true-up to current period activity | 18 |  |  | (59 | ) |  | (7 | )
AMT refundable credit | (64 | ) |  | — |  |  | — |
Other | 13 |  |  | — |  |  | 2 |
Income tax expense | $ | 8 |  |  | $ | 5 |  |  | $ | 1,345 |
Effective income tax rate | (0.5 | )% |  | (0.5 | )% |  | (27.0 | )%
Company's deferred tax assets and liabilities | The temporary differences, which gave rise to the Company's deferred tax assets and liabilities consisted of the following:
| As of December 31,
| 2017 |  | 2016
| (In millions)
Deferred tax liabilities: |  |  |
Emissions allowances | $ | 15 |  |  | $ | 31 |
Derivatives, net | 15 |  |  | — |
Cumulative translation adjustments | — |  |  | 11 |
Investment in projects | 231 |  |  | 378 |
Discount/premium on notes | 2 |  |  | 5 |
Deferred financing costs | 2 |  |  | 2 |
Discontinued operations | — |  |  | 6 |
Total deferred tax liabilities | 265 |  |  | 433 |
Deferred tax assets: |  |  |
Deferred compensation, accrued vacation and other reserves | 141 |  |  | 256 |
Difference between book and tax basis of property | 596 |  |  | 530 |
Goodwill | 38 |  |  | 83 |
Differences between book and tax basis of contracts | 68 |  |  | 60 |
Pension and other postretirement benefits | 74 |  |  | 122 |
Equity compensation | 10 |  |  | 11 |
Bad debt reserve | 14 |  |  | 12 |
U.S. capital loss carryforwards | 1 |  |  | 1 |
U.S. Federal net operating loss carryforwards | 596 |  |  | 728 |
Foreign net operating loss carryforwards | 66 |  |  | 63 |
State net operating loss carryforwards | 140 |  |  | 106 |
Foreign capital loss carryforwards | 1 |  |  | 1 |
Federal and state tax credit carryforwards | 376 |  |  | 446 |
Federal benefit on state uncertain tax positions | 7 |  |  | 12 |
Intangibles amortization (excluding goodwill) | 101 |  |  | 115 |
Derivatives, net | — |  |  | 106 |
Inventory obsolescence | 12 |  |  | 5 |
Other | — |  |  | 7 |
Discontinued operations | — |  |  | 2,093 |
Total deferred tax assets | 2,241 |  |  | 4,757 |
Valuation allowance | (1,863 | ) |  | (2,032 | )
Discontinued operations | — |  |  | (2,087 | )
Total deferred tax assets, net of valuation allowance | 378 |  |  | 638 |
Net deferred tax asset | $ | 113 |  |  | $ | 205 |
Summary of NRG's net deferred tax position | The following table summarizes NRG's net deferred tax position:
| As of December 31,
| 2017 |  | 2016
| (In millions)
Net deferred tax asset — noncurrent | $ | 134 |  |  | $ | 225 |
Net deferred tax liability — noncurrent | (21 | ) |  | (20 | )
Net deferred tax asset | $ | 113 |  |  | $ | 205 |
Reconciliation of total amounts of uncertain tax benefits | The following table reconciles the total amounts of uncertain tax benefits:
| As of December 31,
| 2017 |  | 2016
| (In millions)
Balance as of January 1 | $ | 34 |  |  | $ | 32 |
Increase due to current year positions | 4 |  |  | 8 |
Decrease due to prior year positions | (8 | ) |  | — |
Decrease due to settlements and payments | — |  |  | (6 | )
Uncertain tax benefits as of December 31 | $ | 30 |  |  | $ | 34 |

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- Definition Tabular disclosure of the components of income tax expense attributable to continuing operations for each year presented including, but not limited to: current tax expense (benefit), deferred tax expense (benefit), investment tax credits, government grants, the benefits of operating loss carryforwards, tax expense that results from allocating certain tax benefits either directly to contributed capital or to reduce goodwill or other noncurrent intangible assets of an acquired entity, adjustments of a deferred tax liability or asset for enacted changes in tax laws or rates or a change in the tax status of the entity, and adjustments of the beginning-of-the-year balances of a valuation allowance because of a change in circumstances that causes a change in judgment about the realizability of the related deferred tax asset in future years. + References Reference 1: 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=84230637&loc=d3e32639-109319 + Details
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