Fannie Mae-No Politics (FNMA)

[capitalismforever]

Does a DTA have a dollar value that is constant or can a DTA be thought of as an amount of profit - future profit - that will avoid future taxation?

DTA's can increase. They are used to offset taxes in future years.

Example:

Fannie has a $33.5b DTA. If they were no longer in conservatorship and their tax obligation for 2017 was $10b, they'd apply $10b of their DTA towards the tax obligation which would decrease their DTA carrying value to $23.5b for the following year. That is the simple form of explanation.