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Income Taxes
 9 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2020
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)2020201920202019
Income from continuing operations before income taxes$341 $380 $899 $666 
Income tax expense from continuing operations92 6 216 9 
Effective income tax rate27.0 %1.6 %24.0 %1.4 %
For the three and nine months ended September 30, 2020, the effective tax rates were higher than the statutory rate of 21% due to state tax expense partially offset by an excess tax benefit related to share-based compensation. For the same periods in 2019, the 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 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 September 30, 2020, NRG had a non-current tax liability of $21 million for uncertain tax benefits from positions taken on various state income tax returns and accrued interest. For the nine months ended September 30, 2020, NRG accrued an immaterial amount of interest relating to the uncertain tax benefits. As of September 30, 2020, NRG had cumulative interest and penalties related to these uncertain tax benefits of $3 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.