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Income Taxes
 9 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2021
Income Tax Disclosure [Abstract]  
Income Taxes Income Taxes
For the three months ended September 30, 2021, we recorded an income tax benefit of $46 million on a pre-tax loss of $137 million, or an effective tax rate of 34.3%, compared to an income tax benefit of $13 million on a pre-tax loss of $9 million, or an effective tax rate of 155.0%, for the three months ended September 30, 2020.
For the three months ended September 30, 2021, we did not record an income tax benefit related to the goodwill impairment described in Note 3—United Kingdom Energy Crisis and Impairment Charges, above, as the impairment is non-deductible for income tax purposes. In addition, as a result of the effective settlement of the U.S. federal income tax audit for the 2012-2016 tax years, we reversed an accrual for unrecognized tax benefits and recognized a discrete income tax benefit of approximately $15 million.
For the nine months ended September 30, 2021, we recorded an income tax provision of $57 million on pre-tax income of $458 million, or an effective tax rate of 12.3%, compared to an income tax provision of $33 million on pre-tax income of $346 million, or an effective tax rate of 9.4%, for the nine months ended September 30, 2020.
For the nine months ended September 30, 2021, we did not record an income tax benefit related to the goodwill impairment described in Note 3—United Kingdom Energy Crisis and Impairment Charges, above, as the impairment is non-deductible for income tax purposes. In addition, our income tax provision includes a $36 million benefit reflecting the impact of agreement on certain issues related to U.S. federal income tax audits, including the reversal of an accrual for unrecognized tax benefits, as described above. For the nine months ended September 30, 2020, our income tax provision includes a $25 million benefit related to the settlement of certain U.S. and foreign income tax audits, which primarily related to the settlement of the audit of the Terra amended tax returns, which is further described below.
Our effective tax rate is also impacted by earnings attributable to the noncontrolling interest in CF Industries Nitrogen, LLC (CFN), as our consolidated income tax (benefit) provision does not include a tax provision on the earnings attributable to the noncontrolling interest. Our effective tax rate for the three months ended September 30, 2021 of 34.3%, which is based on a pre-tax loss of $137 million, including $94 million of earnings attributable to the noncontrolling interest, would be 14.0 percentage points lower if based on pre-tax loss exclusive of the $94 million of earnings attributable to the noncontrolling interest. Our effective tax rate for the three months ended September 30, 2020 of 155.0%, which is based on a pre-tax loss of $9 million, including $32 million of earnings attributable to the noncontrolling interest, would be 121.6 percentage points lower if based on pre-tax loss exclusive of the $32 million of earnings attributable to the noncontrolling interest. Our effective tax rate for the nine months ended September 30, 2021 of 12.3%, which is based on pre-tax income of $458 million, including $189 million attributable to the noncontrolling interest, would be 8.7 percentage points higher if based on pre-tax income exclusive of the $189 million of earnings attributable to the noncontrolling interest. Our effective tax rate for the nine months ended September 30, 2020 of 9.4%, which is based on pre-tax income of $346 million, including $83 million attributable to the noncontrolling interest, would be 3.0 percentage points higher if based on pre-tax income exclusive of the $83 million of earnings attributable to the noncontrolling interest. See Note 14—Noncontrolling Interest for additional information.
During the third quarter of 2020, as a result of an intercompany transaction with a foreign affiliate, we recognized a capital loss, which we will carry forward, and for which we recorded a deferred tax asset of approximately $90 million. However, as the foreign affiliate has operations that do not normally generate capital gains and no practical plans to do so in the future, we established a full valuation allowance of approximately $90 million against the deferred tax asset. As a result, there was no net impact on our income tax provision.
Terra Amended Tax Returns
We completed the acquisition of Terra Industries Inc. (Terra) in April 2010. After the acquisition, we determined that the manner in which Terra reported the repatriation of cash from foreign affiliates to its U.S. parent for U.S. and foreign income tax purposes was not appropriate. As a result, in 2012 we amended certain tax returns, including Terra’s income and withholding tax returns, back to 1999 (the Amended Tax Returns) and paid additional income and withholding taxes, and related interest and penalties. In 2013, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) commenced an examination of the U.S. tax aspects of the Amended Tax Returns.
In the second quarter of 2020, we received IRS notices indicating the amount of tax and interest to be refunded and received with respect to the income tax and withholding tax returns. As a result, we recognized $16 million of interest income ($13 million, net of tax) and $19 million of additional income tax benefit. In addition, in the second quarter of 2020, we received U.S. Federal income tax refunds, including interest, of $108 million relating to these matters. In July 2020, we received an additional $2 million, which finalized these matters with the IRS.
In 2017, we made a Voluntary Disclosures Program filing with the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) with respect to the Canadian tax aspects of the amended returns and paid additional Canadian taxes due. In late 2020, the CRA settled with us the voluntary disclosure matter, and, in the first quarter of 2021, we received approximately $20 million of withholding tax refunds, including interest, from the CRA. These amounts were previously recorded in our consolidated balance sheet as of December 31, 2020.