Accounting for income taxes: Determining the applicable tax rate

This whitepaper is the second in a series of whitepapers to be used as a resource in understanding and analyzing the accounting for income taxes under FASB Accounting Standards Codification (ASC) 740, Income Taxes. This whitepaper addresses determining the applicable income tax rates that will be applied to the entity’s taxable income and cumulative temporary differences in order to calculate the current taxes payable (refundable) and deferred tax assets (liabilities), respectively. The scope of this whitepaper includes identifying the entity’s federal (national) tax rate, any state, local and foreign tax rates, as well as the impacts of changes in these rates and alternative tax systems, such as alternative minimum taxes. This whitepaper does not address every aspect of accounting for income taxes and should therefore be read in conjunction with ASC 740, Income Taxes.