A report that Boeing CEO W. James McNerney Jr.’s $18.2 million in compensation exceeded Boeing’s federal tax bill is incorrect, a company spokesman said this week.

Boeing’s federal taxes, including taxes deferred to future years, totaled some $1.3 billion last year, said Boeing spokesman Chas Bickers.

A study by the liberal Institute for Policy Studies contended 26 large U.S. companies paid their chief executives more last year than they paid in taxes. Among those companies, said the institute, was Boeing.

While Boeing last year received a $605 million tax refund, it’s net tax obligations were $1.3 billion, said Bickers.

Boeing took advantage of federal tax credits for research and development expenses last year. That R&D spending created some 11,000 jobs, said a Boeing spokesman.