Current tax expense or benefit is an income-statement amount for the current tax consequence. It is related to return tax, but recognized uncertain-position changes, interest, or penalties can make the reported amount differ from the return computation. It also differs from the ending payable and cash paid.
Reconcile the current rail
ASC 740-10-30-6 ties current tax payable or refundable and current tax expense or benefit to the Topic 740 recognition and measurement requirements.
Suppose return current tax is $170,000. A $4,000 increase in unrecognized tax benefits and $2,000 of interest classified in tax expense produce $176,000 recognized current expense under the supplied facts. If $160,000 cash was paid against a $30,000 opening payable, the ending payable is $40,000. Keep all four amounts visible. The example applies supplied tax and classification conclusions; it does not prepare the return or decide technical merits.
The current-expense schedule must also tie to the tax-expense entry without absorbing deferred-tax or intraperiod-allocation differences.
Put the concept to work
Apply this concept
- Separate current tax expense or benefit from ending payable or receivable and cash taxes paid, then reconcile the three through a rollforward.
Learning resources
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