ASC

ASC 740-30

Other Considerations or Special Areas

740 Income Taxes

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In brief

AdvancedIncome taxesRecognitionDisclosureConsolidation

ASC 740-30 governs the limited exceptions to comprehensive deferred tax recognition for temporary differences (outside basis differences) arising from investments in subsidiaries and corporate joint ventures, principally undistributed earnings. The starting presumption is that all undistributed earnings of a subsidiary will be transferred to the parent and thus create a taxable temporary difference (740-30-25-3), but that presumption can be overcome by the "indefinite reversal criteria" for foreign subsidiaries/foreign corporate joint ventures essentially permanent in duration and for pre-December 16, 1992 domestic undistributed earnings (740-30-25-17 and 25-18). Deferred tax assets for excess outside tax basis are recognized only if it is apparent the difference will reverse in the foreseeable future (740-30-25-9).

Key points (7)
  • Undistributed earnings of a subsidiary included in consolidated income (or under the equity method) are presumed to be transferred to the parent and are accounted for as a temporary difference unless tax law provides a means by which the investment in a domestic subsidiary can be recovered tax free (740-30-25-2 through 25-3, 25-7).
  • A deferred tax liability must be recognized for an excess of financial reporting over tax basis of an investment in a domestic subsidiary arising in fiscal years beginning after December 15, 1992, and for a 50-percent-or-less-owned investee (except a corporate joint venture essentially permanent in duration) (740-30-25-5).
  • No deferred tax liability is recognized, unless reversal in the foreseeable future becomes apparent, for the excess book-over-tax basis of a foreign subsidiary or foreign corporate joint venture essentially permanent in duration, or for undistributed earnings of a domestic subsidiary/joint venture arising in fiscal years beginning on or before December 15, 1992 (LIFO pattern) (740-30-25-18).
  • The presumption of remittance is overcome only with sufficient evidence of specific plans for indefinite reinvestment or a tax-free liquidation—the indefinite reversal criteria—which cannot be applied to inside basis differences of foreign subsidiaries (740-30-25-17).
  • A deferred tax asset for an excess of tax basis over financial reporting amount of an investment in a subsidiary or an essentially permanent corporate joint venture is recognized only if it is apparent the difference will reverse in the foreseeable future (e.g., a decision to sell the subsidiary), subject to a valuation allowance assessment (740-30-25-9 through 25-11).
  • Changes in expectations—remittance becoming apparent, previously accrued earnings that will not be remitted, or an investee ceasing to be a subsidiary—are accrued or adjusted in income tax expense of the current period (740-30-25-15, 25-19, 740-30-45-2 through 45-3).
  • Disclosure is required of the types of temporary differences for which no deferred tax liability is recognized and events that would make them taxable, the cumulative amount of each type, and the unrecognized deferred tax liability for foreign subsidiaries/joint ventures or a statement that determination is not practicable (740-30-50-2).

For students. This is the classic "APB 23" indefinite reinvestment exception—exam questions test that it is a narrow exception (foreign subsidiaries and pre-1993 domestic earnings), not a general election. A common misunderstanding is symmetry: the exception suspends deferred tax liabilities, while deferred tax assets for excess outside tax basis require the higher "apparent reversal in the foreseeable future" hurdle.

outside basis differenceundistributed earningsindefinite reversal criteriadeferred tax liabilitycorporate joint venture essentially permanent in durationforeign subsidiaryvaluation allowancetax-free recovery of investment

Machine-generated study aid for ASC 740-30. Check the source paragraphs below.

740-30-00Status

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740-30-05Overview and Background

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Undistributed Earnings of Subsidiaries and Corporate Joint Ventures

740-30-05-1
Subtopic 740-10 addresses the majority of tax accounting issues. That Subtopic addresses the majority of differences between the financial reporting (or book) basis and tax basis of assets and liabilities (basis differences) and the requirements to record deferred income taxes on those differences. It also identifies specific and limited exceptions to the otherwise required recognition of deferred taxes on basis differences.
740-30-05-2
This Subtopic provides the required accounting and disclosure guidance for certain of the specific limited exceptions identified in Subtopic 740-10 to the requirements to record deferred taxes on specific basis differences related to investments in subsidiaries and corporate joint ventures arising from undistributed earnings or other causes.
740-30-05-3
The accounting addressed in this Subtopic represents, in some situations, an exception to the otherwise required comprehensive recognition of deferred income taxes for temporary differences.
740-30-05-4
A domestic or foreign subsidiary remits earnings to a parent entity after the parties consider numerous factors, including the following:
  1. a
    Financial requirements of the parent entity
  2. b
    Financial requirements of the subsidiary
  3. c
    Operational and fiscal objectives of the parent entity, both long-term and short-term
  4. d
    Remittance restrictions imposed by governments
  5. e
    Remittance restrictions imposed by lease or financing agreements of the subsidiary
  6. f
    Tax consequences of the remittance.
740-30-05-5
Remittance of earnings of a subsidiary may sometimes be indefinite because of the specific long-term investment plans and objectives of the parent entity. Even in the absence of long-term investment plans, the flexibility inherent in the U.S. Internal Revenue Code may permit a parent entity to postpone income taxes on the earnings of a subsidiary for an extended period or may permit the ultimate distribution to be taxed at special rates applicable to the nature of the distribution. Other circumstances may indicate that the earnings will probably be remitted in the foreseeable future. However, the parent entity may control the events that create the tax consequences in either circumstance.
740-30-05-6
Corporate joint ventures are of two kinds: those essentially permanent in duration and those that have a life limited by the nature of the venture or other business activity.
740-30-05-7
Unless characteristics indicate a limited life, a corporate joint venture has many of the characteristics of a subsidiary. The investors usually participate in the management of the joint venture, consider the factors set forth in paragraph 740-30-05-4, and agree (frequently before forming the venture) as to plans for long-term investment, for utilizing the flexibility inherent in the U.S. Internal Revenue Code, and for planned remittances.

740-30-15Scope and Scope Exceptions

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Overall Guidance

740-30-15-1
This Subtopic follows the same Scope and Scope Exceptions as outlined in the Overall Subtopic, see Section 740-10-15, with specific transaction qualifications noted below.

Transactions

740-30-15-2
The guidance in this Subtopic applies to basis differences arising from investments in subsidiaries and corporate joint ventures.
740-30-15-3
The basis differences addressed in this Subtopic represent situations where there are exceptions to the general requirements established in the Overall Subtopic for the comprehensive recognition of deferred income taxes on temporary differences.
740-30-15-4
There are other exceptions to the comprehensive recognition of deferred income taxes on temporary differences specifically addressed in other Subtopics. However; the provisions of this Subtopic shall not be applied to analogous types of temporary differences.

740-30-25Recognition

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Undistributed Earnings of Subsidiaries and Corporate Joint Ventures

740-30-25-1
This Section provides guidance on the accounting for specific temporary differences related to investments in subsidiaries and corporate joint ventures, including differences arising from undistributed earnings. In certain situations, these temporary differences may be accounted for differently from the accounting that otherwise requires comprehensive recognition of deferred income taxes for temporary differences.
740-30-25-2
Including undistributed earnings of a subsidiary (which would include the undistributed earnings of a domestic international sales corporation eligible for tax deferral) in the pretax accounting income of a parent entity either through consolidation or accounting for the investment by the equity method results in a temporary difference.
740-30-25-3
It shall be presumed that all undistributed earnings of a subsidiary will be transferred to the parent entity. Accordingly, the undistributed earnings of a subsidiary included in consolidated income shall be accounted for as a temporary difference unless the tax law provides a means by which the investment in a domestic subsidiary can be recovered tax free.
740-30-25-4
The principles applicable to undistributed earnings of subsidiaries in this Section also apply to tax effects of differences between taxable income and pretax accounting income attributable to earnings of corporate joint ventures that are essentially permanent in duration and are accounted for by the equity method. Certain corporate joint ventures have a life limited by the nature of the venture, project, or other business activity. Therefore, a reasonable assumption is that a part or all of the undistributed earnings of the venture will be transferred to the investor in a taxable distribution. Deferred taxes shall be recorded, in accordance with the requirements of Subtopic 740-10 at the time the earnings (or losses) are included in the investor's income.
740-30-25-5
A deferred tax liability shall be recognized for both of the following types of taxable temporary differences:
  1. a
    An excess of the amount for financial reporting over the tax basis of an investment in a domestic subsidiary that arises in fiscal years beginning after December 15, 1992
  2. b
    An excess of the amount for financial reporting over the tax basis of an investment in a 50-percent-or-less-owned investee except as provided in paragraph 740-30-25-18 for a corporate joint venture that is essentially permanent in duration.
Paragraphs 740-30-25-9 and 740-30-25-18 identify exceptions to the accounting that otherwise requires comprehensive recognition of deferred income taxes for temporary differences arising from investments in subsidiaries and corporate joint ventures.
740-30-25-6
Paragraph 740-30-25-18 provides that a deferred tax liability is not recognized for either of the following:
  1. a
    An excess of the amount for financial reporting over the tax basis of an investment in a foreign subsidiary that meets the criteria in paragraph 740-30-25-17
  2. b
    Undistributed earnings of a domestic subsidiary that arose in fiscal years beginning on or before December 15, 1992, and that meet the criteria in paragraph 740-30-25-17. The criteria in that paragraph do not apply to undistributed earnings of domestic subsidiaries that arise in fiscal years beginning after December 15, 1992, and as required by the preceding paragraph, a deferred tax liability shall be recognized if the undistributed earnings are a taxable temporary difference.
740-30-25-7
Whether an excess of the amount for financial reporting over the tax basis of an investment in a more-than-50-percent-owned domestic subsidiary is a taxable temporary difference shall be assessed. It is not a taxable temporary difference if the tax law provides a means by which the reported amount of that investment can be recovered tax-free and the entity expects that it will ultimately use that means. For example, tax law may provide that:
  1. a
    An entity may elect to determine taxable gain or loss on the liquidation of an 80-percent-or-more-owned subsidiary by reference to the tax basis of the subsidiary's net assets rather than by reference to the parent entity's tax basis for the stock of that subsidiary.
  2. b
    An entity may execute a statutory merger whereby a subsidiary is merged into the parent entity, the noncontrolling shareholders receive stock of the parent, the subsidiary's stock is cancelled, and no taxable gain or loss results if the continuity of ownership, continuity of business entity, and certain other requirements of the tax law are met.
740-30-25-8
Some elections for tax purposes are available only if the parent owns a specified percentage of the subsidiary's stock. The parent sometimes may own less than that specified percentage, and the price per share to acquire a noncontrolling interest may significantly exceed the per-share equivalent of the amount reported as noncontrolling interest in the consolidated financial statements. In those circumstances, the excess of the amount for financial reporting over the tax basis of the parent's investment in the subsidiary is not a taxable temporary difference if settlement of the noncontrolling interest is expected to occur at the point in time when settlement would not result in a significant cost. That could occur, for example, toward the end of the life of the subsidiary, after it has recovered and settled most of its assets and liabilities, respectively. The fair value of the noncontrolling interest ordinarily will approximately equal its percentage of the subsidiary's net assets if those net assets consist primarily of cash.
740-30-25-9
A deferred tax asset shall be recognized for an excess of the tax basis over the amount for financial reporting of an investment in a subsidiary or corporate joint venture that is essentially permanent in duration only if it is apparent that the temporary difference will reverse in the foreseeable future.
740-30-25-10
For example, if an entity decides to sell a subsidiary that meets the requirements of paragraphs
205-20-45-1A through 45-1D
for measurement and display as a discontinued operation and the parent entity's tax basis in the stock of the subsidiary (outside tax basis) exceeds the financial reporting amount of the investment in the subsidiary, the decision to sell the subsidiary makes it apparent that the deductible temporary difference will reverse in the foreseeable future. Assuming in this example that it is more likely than not that the deferred tax asset will be realized, the tax benefit for the excess of outside tax basis over financial reporting basis shall be recognized when it is apparent that the temporary difference will reverse in the foreseeable future. The same criterion shall apply for the recognition of a deferred tax liability related to an excess of financial reporting basis over outside tax basis of an investment in a subsidiary that was previously not recognized under the provisions of paragraph 740-30-25-18.
740-30-25-11
The need for a valuation allowance for the deferred tax asset referred to in paragraph 740-30-25-9 and other related deferred tax assets, such as a deferred tax asset for foreign tax credit carryforwards, shall be assessed.
740-30-25-12
Paragraph 740-10-30-18 identifies four sources of taxable income to be considered in determining the need for and amount of a valuation allowance for those and other deferred tax assets. One source is future reversals of temporary differences.
740-30-25-13
Future distributions of future earnings of a subsidiary or corporate joint venture, however, shall not be considered except to the extent that a deferred tax liability has been recognized for existing undistributed earnings or earnings have been remitted in the past.
740-30-25-14
A tax benefit shall not be recognized, however, for tax deductions or favorable tax rates attributable to future dividends of undistributed earnings for which a deferred tax liability has not been recognized under the requirements of paragraph 740-30-25-18.
740-30-25-15
An investment in common stock of a subsidiary may change so that it is no longer a subsidiary because the parent entity sells a portion of the investment, the subsidiary sells additional stock, or other transactions affect the investment. If a parent entity did not recognize income taxes on its equity in undistributed earnings of a subsidiary for the reasons cited in paragraph 740-30-25-17 (and the entity in which the investment is held ceases to be a subsidiary), it shall accrue in the current period income taxes on the temporary difference related to its remaining investment in common stock in accordance with the guidance in Subtopic 740-10.
740-30-25-17
The presumption in paragraph 740-30-25-3 that all undistributed earnings will be transferred to the parent entity may be overcome, and no income taxes shall be accrued by the parent entity, for entities and periods identified in the following paragraph if sufficient evidence shows that the subsidiary has invested or will invest the undistributed earnings indefinitely or that the earnings will be remitted in a tax-free liquidation. A parent entity shall have evidence of specific plans for reinvestment of undistributed earnings of a subsidiary which demonstrate that remittance of the earnings will be postponed indefinitely. These criteria required to overcome the presumption are sometimes referred to as the indefinite reversal criteria. Experience of the entities and definite future programs of operations and remittances are examples of the types of evidence required to substantiate the parent entity's representation of indefinite postponement of remittances from a subsidiary. The indefinite reversal criteria shall not be applied to the inside basis differences of foreign subsidiaries.
740-30-25-18
As indicated in paragraph 740-10-25-3, a deferred tax liability shall not be recognized for either of the following types of temporary differences unless it becomes apparent that those temporary differences will reverse in the foreseeable future:
  1. a
    An excess of the amount for financial reporting over the tax basis of an investment in a foreign subsidiary or a foreign corporate joint venture that is essentially permanent in duration
  2. b
    Undistributed earnings of a domestic subsidiary or a domestic corporate joint venture that is essentially permanent in duration that arose in fiscal years beginning on or before December 15, 1992. A last-in, first-out (LIFO) pattern determines whether reversals pertain to differences that arose in fiscal years beginning on or before December 15, 1992.
740-30-25-19
If circumstances change and it becomes apparent that some or all of the undistributed earnings of a subsidiary will be remitted in the foreseeable future but income taxes have not been recognized by the parent entity, it shall accrue as an expense of the current period income taxes attributable to that remittance. If it becomes apparent that some or all of the undistributed earnings of a subsidiary on which income taxes have been accrued will not be remitted in the foreseeable future, the parent entity shall adjust income tax expense of the current period.

740-30-45Other Presentation Matters

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Undistributed Earnings of Subsidiaries and Corporate Joint Ventures

740-30-45-1
This guidance addresses presentation in the income statement of specific types of adjustments to income taxes. The specific types of adjustments addressed result from either the recognition or derecognition of deferred income taxes related to exceptions to comprehensive recognition of deferred income taxes arising from investments in subsidiaries and corporate joint ventures.
740-30-45-2
Paragraph 740-30-25-18 identifies situations where deferred tax liabilities are not recorded for specific temporary differences. Paragraph 740-30-25-19 provides that if circumstances change and it becomes apparent that some or all of the undistributed earnings of a subsidiary will be remitted in the foreseeable future but income taxes have not been recognized by the parent entity, it shall accrue as an expense of the current period income taxes attributable to that remittance. If it becomes apparent that some or all of the undistributed earnings of a subsidiary on which income taxes have been accrued will not be remitted in the foreseeable future, the parent entity shall adjust income tax expense of the current period.
740-30-45-3
If a parent entity did not recognize income taxes on its equity in undistributed earnings of a subsidiary for the reasons cited in paragraph 740-30-25-17 and the entity in which the investment is held ceases to be a subsidiary, paragraph 740-30-25-15 requires that it shall accrue in the current period income taxes on the temporary difference related to its remaining investment in common stock in accordance with the guidance in Subtopic 740-10.

740-30-50Disclosure

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Undistributed Earnings of Subsidiaries and Corporate Joint Ventures

740-30-50-1
This guidance establishes disclosure requirements applicable to unrecognized deferred tax liabilities related to investments in subsidiaries and corporate joint ventures.
740-30-50-2
All of the following information shall be disclosed whenever a deferred tax liability is not recognized because of the exceptions to comprehensive recognition of deferred taxes related to subsidiaries and corporate joint ventures:
  1. a
    A description of the types of temporary differences for which a deferred tax liability has not been recognized and the types of events that would cause those temporary differences to become taxable
  2. b
    The cumulative amount of each type of temporary difference
  3. c
    The amount of the unrecognized deferred tax liability for temporary differences related to investments in foreign subsidiaries and foreign corporate joint ventures that are essentially permanent in duration if determination of that liability is practicable or a statement that determination is not practicable. While paragraph 740-30-25-14 prohibits recognition of a tax benefit for tax deductions or favorable tax rates attributable to future dividends of undistributed earnings for which a deferred tax liability has not been recognized, favorable tax treatment would be reflected in measuring that unrecognized deferred tax liability for disclosure purposes.
  4. d
    The amount of the deferred tax liability for temporary differences other than those in (c) (that is, undistributed domestic earnings) that is not recognized in accordance with the provisions of paragraph 740-30-25-18.
Transition date:(P) December 16, 2024; (N) December 16, 2025Transition guidance:
740-10-65-9 The following information shall be disclosed whenever a deferred tax liability is not recognized because of the exceptions to comprehensive recognition of deferred taxes related to subsidiaries and corporate joint ventures:
  1. a
    A description of the types of temporary differences for which a deferred tax liability has not been recognized and the types of events that would cause those temporary differences to become taxable
  2. b
    Subparagraph superseded by Accounting Standards Update No. 2023-09.
  3. c
    The amount of the unrecognized deferred tax liability for temporary differences related to investments in foreign subsidiaries and foreign corporate joint ventures that are essentially permanent in duration if determination of that liability is practicable or a statement that determination is not practicable. While paragraph 740-30-25-14 prohibits recognition of a tax benefit for tax deductions or favorable tax rates attributable to future dividends of undistributed earnings for which a deferred tax liability has not been recognized, favorable tax treatment would be reflected in measuring that unrecognized deferred tax liability for disclosure purposes.
  4. d
    The amount of the deferred tax liability for temporary differences other than those in (c) (that is, undistributed domestic earnings) that is not recognized in accordance with the provisions of paragraph 740-30-25-18.

740-30-60Relationships

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Financial Services—Depository and Lending

740-30-60-1
For guidance on the tax consequences of bad debt reserves of savings and loans (and other qualified thrift lenders) that arose in tax years beginning before December 31, 1987, see Subtopic 942-740 on financial services—depository and lending—income taxes.

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