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Income Taxes

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2019

Income Tax Disclosure [Abstract]

Income Taxes

Income Taxes

Effective Income Tax Rate

The income tax provision consisted of the following:

			Three months ended September 30,																		Nine months ended September 30,
(In millions, except rates)			2019						2018						2019						2018
Income from continuing operations before income taxes			$	380					$	295					$	666					$	572
Income tax expense from continuing operations			6						8						9						19
Effective income tax rate			1.6		%				2.7		%				1.4		%				3.3		%

For the three and nine months ended September 30, 2019 and 2018, NRG's overall effective tax rates were lower than the statutory rate of 21%, primarily due to the tax benefit for the change in valuation allowance, partially offset by current state tax expense.

Uncertain Tax Benefits

As of September 30, 2019, NRG has recorded a non-current tax liability of $29 million for uncertain tax benefits from positions taken on various state income tax returns, including accrued interest. For the nine months ended September 30, 2019, NRG accrued an immaterial amount of interest relating to the uncertain tax benefits. As of September 30, 2019, NRG had cumulative interest and penalties related to these uncertain tax benefits of $5 million. The Company recognizes interest and penalties related to uncertain tax benefits in income tax expense.

NRG is subject to examination by taxing authorities for income tax returns filed in the U.S. federal jurisdiction and various state and foreign jurisdictions including operations located in Australia. The Company is no longer subject to U.S. federal income tax examinations for years prior to 2015. With few exceptions, state and local income tax examinations are no longer open for years before 2010.

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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://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 740
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/topic&trid=2144680

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