Special Items (Tables)

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2022

Property, Plant and Equipment [Abstract]

Schedule of unusual or infrequent items, or both

The following is a listing of special items presented on our consolidated statements of operations for the three months ended March 31, 2022 and 2021 (in millions):


	Three Months Ended March 31,
	2022		2021
Special Items
Federal payroll support grant recognition(1)	$	—	$	(288)
CARES Act employee retention credit(2)	—		(1)
Total	$	—	$	(289)

(1) As discussed in Note 3 to our condensed consolidated financial statements, we received assistance in the form of grants and unsecured loans under various federal payroll support programs. Funds under these federal payroll support programs were to be used exclusively for the continuation of payment of crewmember wages, salaries and benefits. The carrying values of the payroll support grants (after consideration of the warrants we issued) were recorded within other liabilities and were recognized as contra-expenses within special items on our consolidated statements of operations as the funds were utilized. We utilized $288 million of payroll support grants for the three months ended March 31, 2021. Our payroll support grants were fully utilized as of December 31, 2021.

(2) The Employee Retention Credit ("ERC") under the CARES Act is a refundable tax credit which encourages business to keep employees on the payroll during the COVID-19 pandemic. Eligible employers can qualify for up to $5,000 of credit for each employee based on qualified wages paid after March 12, 2020 and before January 1, 2021. The Internal Revenue Service ("IRS") subsequently issued Notice 2021-23 and Notice 2021-49 which collectively extended the ERC eligibility to cover qualified wages paid after December 31, 2020 and before January 1, 2022. Qualified wages are the wages paid to an employee

for the time that the employee is not providing services due to an economic hardship, specifically, either (1) a full or partial suspension of operations by order of a governmental authority due to COVID-19, or (2) a significant decline in gross receipts. Our policy is to recognize the ERC when it is filed with the IRS. We recognized $1 million of ERC as a contra-expense within special items on our consolidated statements of operations for the three months ended March 31, 2021.