Income Taxes

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2020

Effective Income Tax Rate

The income tax provision consisted of the following:


	Three months ended March 31,
(In millions, except rates)	2020			2019
Income from continuing operations before income taxes	$	144		$	98
Income tax expense from continuing operations	23			4

Effective income tax rate	16.0		%	4.1		%

For the three months ended March 31, 2020, the effective tax rate was lower than the statutory rate of 21%, primarily due to an excess tax benefit related to share-based compensation, partially offset by state tax expense. For the three months ended March 31, 2019, the effective tax rate was lower than the statutory rate of 21%, primarily due to the tax benefit for the change in valuation allowance, partially offset by state tax expense.

On March 27, 2020, the Senate passed the CARES Act to provide emergency relief related to the COVID-19 pandemic. The CARES Act contains federal income tax provisions which, among other things: (i) increases the amount of interest expense that businesses are allowed to deduct by increasing the adjusted taxable income limitation from 30% to 50% for tax years that begin in 2019 and 2020; (ii) permits businesses to carry back to each of the five tax years NOLs arising from tax years beginning after December 31, 2017 and before January 1, 2020; and (iii) temporarily removes the 80% limitation on NOLs until tax years beginning after 2020. NRG does not expect the CARES Act provisions to have a material impact on the tax positions of the Company.

Uncertain Tax Benefits

As of March 31, 2020, NRG had a non-current tax liability of $16 million for uncertain tax benefits from positions taken on various state income tax returns and accrued interest. For the three months ended March 31, 2020, NRG accrued an immaterial amount of interest relating to the uncertain tax benefits. As of March 31, 2020, NRG had cumulative interest and penalties related to these uncertain tax benefits of $2 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 and Canada. The Company is no longer subject to U.S. federal income tax examinations for years prior to 2016. With few exceptions, state and local income tax examinations are no longer open for years prior to 2011.