NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS Annual tax provisions include amounts considered sufficient to pay probable assessments for examination of prior-year tax  returns by federal, foreign, state and local jurisdictions. Actual assessments may differ; however, we do not expect that such  an outcome would have a material effect on the future financial statements for a particular year, although such an outcome  is possible. No provision for deferred taxes has been made on $860 million of unremitted earnings (primarily earnings  for periods prior to 1998) that are considered to be indefinitely invested in non-U.S. subsidiaries. Deferred taxes for these  unremitted earnings are not practicable to estimate. The components of deferred tax assets and liabilities at December 31 were as follows (in millions): Operating loss carryforwards for tax purposes were $7.5 billion at December 31, 2004. A substantial portion of these losses  has an indefinite carryforward period; the remaining losses will begin to expire in 2005. Tax credits available to offset future  tax liabilities are $2.5 billion. A substantial portion has an indefinite carryforward period; the remainder begins to expire  in 2010. Tax benefits of operating loss and tax credit carryforwards are evaluated on an ongoing basis, including a review  of historical and projected future operating results, the eligible carryforward period, and other circumstances. Management  believes that it is more likely than not that the deferred tax assets will be realized. On October 4, 2004, President Bush signed the  Working Families Tax Relief Act of 2004 , which retroactively reinstated the  research tax credit from the June 30, 2004 expiration date. The reinstatement of the research tax credit was reflected in our  fourth quarter 2004 results.  During the fourth quarter, we settled various issues related to federal and state audits of the period 1990 to 2000. The primary  settlement relates to foreign sales corporation claims. The acceptance by the Internal Revenue Service of these claims, as well as  the settlement of other issues related to the tax years ended 1999 to 2000, resulted in a tax benefit of $270 million. Held-for-sale Operations. Consistent with our objectives to build on the basics and focus on core businesses, management  committed in December 2004 to sell certain consolidated dealerships in the Asia Pacific and Africa/Mazda segment. The  sale of these dealerships will allow us to concentrate on the production and marketing of our products in the Asia Pacific  region rather than the day-to-day retailing operations. We expect to sell these operations during the next twelve months and  have reported them as held for sale. We recorded a pre-tax charge of $16 million reflected in  Income/(loss) before income  taxes  related to the anticipated loss on the sale of the net assets. The charge represents the difference between the anticipated  selling price of the net assets, less costs to sell them, and their recorded book values. We also recorded a pre-tax goodwill  impairment of $64 million reflected in  Income/(loss) before income taxes  related to the disposal of these operations. At December 31, 2004, the assets of the held-for-sale operations consisted primarily of receivables and inventory totaling approximately $49 million and $114 million, respectively. 6 5 NOTE 4. DISCONTINUED AND HELD-FOR-SALE OPERATIONS Automotive Sector  2004  2003 Deferred tax assets Employee benefit plans $ 6,082 $  6,721 Dealer and customer allowances and claims 3,196 3,177 Tax credit carryforwards 2,452 2,370 Other foreign deferred tax assets 2,639 2,012 Allowance for credit losses 1,957 1,930 All other 5,859 5,196 Total deferred tax assets 22,185 21,406 Deferred tax liabilities Leasing transactions 7,662 7,956 Depreciation and amortization (excluding leasing transactions) 7,234 6,511 Finance receivables 2,826 2,953 All other 5,804 5,036 Total deferred tax liabilities 23,526 22,456 Net deferred tax assets/(liabilities) $ (1,341) $  (1,050)