Annual report pursuant to Section 13 and 15(d)

Income Taxes

v3.24.0.1
Income Taxes
12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2023
Income Tax Disclosure [Abstract]  
Income Taxes

12.

Income Taxes

We are incorporated in Bermuda. Under prior Bermuda law, we were not subject to tax on income and capital gains. Previously, we received from the Minister of Finance under The Exempted Undertakings Tax Protection Act 1966, as amended, an assurance that, in the event that Bermuda enacts legislation imposing tax computed on profits, income, any capital asset, gain or appreciation, or any tax in the nature of estate duty or inheritance, then the imposition of any such tax shall not be applicable to us or to any of our operations or shares, debentures or other obligations, until March 31, 2035. Such assurances were superseded by the passage of new legislation as described below.

On December 27, 2023, the Bermuda Act was enacted in Bermuda. Under the Bermuda Act, the corporate income tax will be determined based on a statutory tax rate of 15% effective for fiscal years beginning on or after January 1, 2025. The corporate income tax will apply only to Bermuda tax resident businesses that are part of multinational enterprise groups with €750 million or more in annual revenues in at least two of the four fiscal years immediately preceding the year in question. Although the Government of Bermuda has already released limited guidance with respect to specific provisions of the Bermuda Act, it is anticipated that further administrative guidance as well as regulatory guidance will be released over the course of the 2024 calendar year and beyond.

As enacted, the Bermuda Act makes it clear that any corporate income tax liability is due regardless of the above assurances under the Exempted Undertakings Tax Protection Act 1966. Therefore, we will be subject to the Bermuda corporate income tax with effect from January 1, 2025.

The Bermuda Act provides for an international shipping income exclusion. In order for a Bermuda entity’s international shipping income to qualify for the exclusion, the entity must demonstrate that the strategic or commercial management of all ships concerned is effectively carried on from or within Bermuda. We expect we will meet the necessary requirements to qualify for the international shipping income exclusion during 2024.

Additionally, the Bermuda Act provides for companies to be able to offset 80% of their Bermuda taxable income with any available tax loss deductions on an annual basis. The Bermuda Act provides for opening tax loss carryforwards based on the Bermuda taxable income (loss) results of the individual Bermuda entities in the five fiscal years prior to the enactment date, which includes the 2020 through 2024 calendar years for NCLH.

The components of net income (loss) before income taxes consist of the following (in thousands):

Year Ended December 31, 

    

2023

    

2022

    

2021

Bermuda

$

$

$

Foreign - Other

 

163,176

(2,276,703)

(4,501,320)

Net income (loss) before income taxes

$

163,176

$

(2,276,703)

$

(4,501,320)

The components of the provision for income taxes consisted of the following benefit (expense) (in thousands):

Year Ended December 31, 

    

2023

    

2022

    

2021

Current:

 

  

 

  

 

  

Bermuda

$

$

$

United States

 

20

 

12,706

 

(85)

Foreign - Other

 

2,850

 

(7,183)

 

(3,264)

Total current:

 

2,870

 

5,523

 

(3,349)

Deferred:

 

  

 

  

 

  

Bermuda

 

 

 

United States

 

104

 

 

(1,867)

Foreign - Other

 

28

 

1,271

 

(51)

Total deferred:

 

132

 

1,271

 

(1,918)

Income tax benefit (expense)

$

3,002

$

6,794

$

(5,267)

Our reconciliation of income tax expense computed by applying our Bermuda statutory rate and reported income tax benefit (expense) was as follows (in thousands):

Year Ended December 31, 

    

2023

    

2022

    

2021

Tax at Bermuda statutory rate

$

$

$

Foreign income taxes at different rates

 

(3,610)

 

37,434

 

38,668

Tax contingencies

 

 

(321)

 

(6)

Return to provision adjustments

 

8,959

 

13,039

 

1,105

Change in tax laws

 

532,387

 

 

Valuation allowance

 

(534,734)

 

(43,358)

 

(45,034)

Income tax benefit (expense)

$

3,002

$

6,794

$

(5,267)

Deferred tax assets and liabilities were as follows (in thousands):

As of December 31, 

    

2023

    

2022

Deferred tax assets:

 

  

 

  

Loss carryforwards

$

714,095

$

155,386

Other

 

34,596

 

27,810

Valuation allowance

 

(694,765)

 

(139,733)

Total net deferred assets

 

53,926

 

43,463

Deferred tax liabilities:

 

  

 

  

Property and equipment

 

(53,172)

 

(42,572)

Total deferred tax liabilities

 

(53,172)

 

(42,572)

Net deferred tax asset (liability)

$

754

$

891

We have U.S. net operating loss carryforwards of $845.5 million and $721.3 million for the years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022, respectively, which begin to expire in 2030, a portion of which relate to Prestige discussed further below. We have state net operating loss carryforwards of $32.1 million and $24.8 million for the years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022, respectively, which expire between 2028 through 2043. As described above, as a result of the new corporate income tax legislation enacted in Bermuda on December 27, 2023, we have Bermuda opening tax loss carryforwards of $3.5 billion as of December 31, 2023, which can be carried forward indefinitely. The opening tax loss carryforwards will continue to be evaluated through the enactment date, January 1, 2025, and is subject to material change as this is an estimated amount. We evaluate our deferred tax assets each period to determine if a valuation allowance is required based on whether it is more likely than not that some portion of the deferred tax assets would not be realized. The ultimate realization of these deferred tax assets is dependent upon the generation of sufficient taxable income during future periods. We conduct our evaluation by considering all available positive and negative evidence. This evaluation considers, among other factors, historical operating results, forecasts of future profitability, the duration of statutory carryforward periods, and the outlooks for the cruise industry and broader economy. Based on the weight of available evidence, we have recorded a valuation allowance in the fourth quarter of 2023, 2022 and 2021 of $2.3 million, $43.3 million and $45.0 million, respectively, with respect to the U.S. net deferred tax assets in one of our U.S. and several of our foreign subsidiaries. Additionally, we have recorded a valuation allowance in the fourth quarter of 2023 of $532.4 million with respect to our Bermuda net deferred tax assets.

Included above are deferred tax assets associated with our operations in Norway for which we have provided a full valuation allowance. We have Norway net operating loss carryforwards of $10.8 million and $11.6 million for the years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022, respectively, which can be carried forward indefinitely.

Included above are deferred tax assets associated with Prestige. We have U.S. net operating loss carryforwards of $155.0 million for the years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022, which begin to expire in 2030. Utilization of the Prestige net operating loss carryforwards may be subject to a substantial annual limitation due to ownership change limitations that have occurred previously and/or that could occur in the future, as provided by Section 382 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (“Section 382”). Ownership changes may limit the amount of net operating loss carryforwards that can be

utilized to offset future taxable income and tax, respectively. In general, an ownership change, as defined by Section 382, results from transactions increasing the ownership of certain shareholders or public groups in the stock of a corporation by more than 50 percentage points over a three-year period. If we have experienced an ownership change, utilization of Prestige’s net operating loss carryforwards would be subject to an annual limitation under Section 382. Any limitation may result in expiration of a portion of the net operating loss carryforwards before utilization. Subsequent ownership changes could further impact the limitation in future years. We implemented certain tax restructuring strategies that created our ability to utilize the net operating loss carryforwards of Prestige, for which we had previously provided a full valuation allowance.

We file income tax returns in the U.S. federal jurisdiction, various U.S. state jurisdictions and foreign jurisdictions. We are generally no longer subject to U.S. federal, state and local, or non-U.S. income tax examinations by authorities for years prior to 2020, except for years in which NOLs generated prior to 2020 are utilized.

Due to our international structure as well as the existence of international tax treaties that exempt taxation on certain activities, the repatriation of earnings from our subsidiaries would have no tax impact.

We derive our income from the international operation of ships. We are engaged in a trade or business in the U.S. and receive income from sources within the U.S. Under Section 883, certain foreign corporations are exempt from U. S. federal income or branch profits tax on U.S.-source income derived from or incidental to the international operation of ships. Applicable U.S. treasury regulations provide that a foreign corporation will qualify for the benefits of Section 883 if, in relevant part: (i) the foreign country in which the corporation is organized grants an equivalent exemption for income from the international operation of ships to corporations organized in the U.S., and (ii) the foreign corporation has one or more classes of stock that are “primarily and regularly traded on an established securities market” in the U.S. or another qualifying country. We believe that we qualify for the benefits of Section 883 because we are incorporated in qualifying countries and our ordinary shares are primarily and regularly traded on an established securities market in the U.S.