INCOME TAXES |
3 Months Ended |
|---|---|
Mar. 31, 2026 | |
| Income Tax Disclosure [Abstract] | |
| INCOME TAXES | Note 6 — INCOME TAXES During the three months ended March 31, 2026, the Company’s effective tax rate of 22.8% was above the U.S federal rate of 21.0% primarily due to foreign earnings mix, U.S. global intangible low-taxed income (GILTI), and withholding taxes on foreign earnings. These unfavorable items were partially offset by U.S. research and development (R&D) credits, along with favorable foreign permanent items, most notably tax incentives associated with R&D. During the three months ended March 31, 2025, the Company's effective tax rate resulted in a benefit of 25.2% as a result of pre-tax loss in the first quarter of 2025. The pre-tax loss was driven by the Company's cloud-based enterprise resource planning system impairment. The 25.2% income tax benefit was higher than the U.S. federal tax rate of 21.0% primarily due to the state and local tax benefit of the pre-tax loss. In December 2024, Avient received a Notice of Deficiency (Notice) from the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) proposing an adjustment to the 2019 tax year resulting from a disallowed capital loss. The proposed incremental tax associated with the Notice is $23.8 million plus estimated interest of $7.8 million. We contested the Notice by filing a petition in U.S. Tax Court on March 4, 2025. The IRS' answer to Avient's petition included an additional accuracy-related penalty of $4.8 million and is subject to interest. The Company believes that the proposed penalty is also without merit, and we intend to contest the penalty vigorously in U.S. Tax Court. However, there can be no assurance this dispute with the IRS will be resolved favorably. As of March 31, 2026, the Company has not recorded any income tax provision related to this matter; therefore an unfavorable ruling in U.S. Tax Court or settlement would adversely impact our effective tax rate and result in a cash tax payment.
|