HELIX ENERGY SOLUTIONS GROUP INC Income Taxes Disclosure

Note 8 — Income Taxes

We operate in multiple jurisdictions with complex tax laws subject to interpretation and judgment. We believe that our application of such laws and the tax impact thereof are reasonable and fairly presented in our consolidated financial statements.

On July 4, 2025, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act was passed into law. The legislation provides us with benefits that are temporary in nature with no material impact on our income tax expense or effective tax rate for the year ended December 31, 2025.

Components of income tax provision reflected in the consolidated statements of operations consist of the following (in thousands):

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Components of income before income taxes are as follows (in thousands):

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Reconciling items between the U.S. statutory rate and our effective tax rate for the year ended December 31, 2025 are as follows (dollars in thousands):

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The primary differences between the income tax provision at the U.S. statutory rate and our actual income tax provision for the years ended December 31, 2024 and 2023 are as follows (dollars in thousands):

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Our operations are subject to current taxation in the U.S. (21% statutory rate) and the U.K. (25% statutory rate), or subject to taxation in jurisdictions with statutory rates greater than the Pillar Two threshold of 15%. After applying the existing Pillar Two laws, we have no incremental Pillar Two taxes.

For the year ended December 31, 2025, the valuation allowance increased by $9.6 million, which was predominantly driven by current year activity, including adjustments to prior year returns, and an internal restructuring.

For the year ended December 31, 2024, the valuation allowance decreased by $5.7 million, which included a $3.2 million decrease related to a valuation allowance release in Brazil, a $5.2 million increase in assessment on the realizability of U.S. group foreign tax credit carryforward, and a $7.7 million decrease in valuation allowance, which was predominantly driven by current year activity, including adjustments to prior year returns.

For the year ended December 31, 2023, the valuation allowance increased by $59.0 million, which included a $51.4 million increase for a change in assessment of our Luxembourg net operating losses, and a $7.6 million increase in valuation allowance, which was predominantly driven by current year activity, including adjustments to prior year returns.

Deferred income taxes result from the effect of transactions that are recognized in different periods for financial and tax reporting purposes. The nature of these differences and the income tax effect of each are as follows (in thousands):

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At December 31, 2025, our U.S. tax attributes included $8.1 million in foreign tax credit carryforwards, which expire between 2033 and 2035. Our non-U.S. net operating losses totaled $257.6 million, which included $210.7 million net operating losses in Luxembourg, which expire between 2035 and 2041, and $46.9 million net operating losses in the U.K., which do not expire under local tax law.

We operate in multiple tax jurisdictions and our tax returns are subject to review and examination by local taxing authorities. We have filed, and will continue to file, our income tax returns based on the tax laws in effect for each year and have recorded and paid our tax liabilities appropriately. Although we cannot predict the final outcome of any review and/or examination by such taxing authorities, we do not believe their resolution would have a material impact on our consolidated financial statements. The tax periods from 2021 through 2025 are open to review and examination by the U.S. Internal Revenue Service. In non-U.S. jurisdictions, the open tax periods include 2020 through 2025.

Components of income taxes paid (net of refunds received) by jurisdiction during the year ended December 31, 2025 are as follows (in thousands):

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