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Income statement

Effective Tax Rate

The share of a company's pre-tax profit it actually pays in income tax, shown as a percentage.

Part of the Reading Financial Statements course · Lesson 12 of 33
Formula
Income Tax Expense / Pre-Tax Income

What it is

The effective tax rate is the income-tax expense a company reports divided by its pre-tax income. Unlike the statutory rate set by law, it reflects what the company actually bears after deductions, credits, foreign-rate differences, and timing items. It is a single percentage summarizing the real tax burden for the period.

Why it matters

The effective tax rate explains part of the gap between pre-tax and net income and signals how tax-efficient a company is. The pitfall is volatility: one-time credits, settlements, or changes in tax law can push the rate far from its normal level, so a single year can be misleading and the trend matters more than one figure.

How it's calculated

Divide reported income-tax expense by pre-tax income (earnings before tax) for the same period.

How Quintarthai uses it

The inputs — income-tax expense and pre-tax income — appear in the 10-year income statement on the Financials tab of each company page, so you can track the effective tax rate over time.

Cross-border note. Canadian and US companies face different statutory rates (combined federal-plus-provincial in Canada versus federal-plus-state in the US), and cross-border earnings plus treaty/withholding effects mean two similar firms can show very different effective rates.

FAQ

Why is the effective tax rate different from the statutory rate?
Deductions, tax credits, foreign income taxed at other rates, and timing differences move the actual rate paid away from the headline rate set by law.
Can a company have a negative effective tax rate?
Yes. Large tax credits or recognizing previously unused tax benefits can produce a net tax benefit, giving a negative effective rate for a period.
Related terms
See Effective Tax Rate on a real company
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