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Income Taxes
9 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2015
Income Tax Disclosure [Abstract]  
Income Taxes

Note 14 Income Taxes

Effective Income Tax Rate and Income Tax Provision

Our effective income tax rate for the three months ended September 30, 2015 was 31.3% and for the nine months ended September 30, 2015 was 29.4%. Our effective income tax rates benefited from a favorable earnings mix with earnings in jurisdictions with lower tax rates. However, the effective tax rate for the nine months ended September 30, 2015 was negatively impacted by foreign currency exchange losses related to Venezuelan subsidiaries of approximately $31 million for which the Company will receive no tax benefits. As this loss was driven by the Company’s change to an alternative foreign exchange market, the tax impact of this loss was treated as a discrete item in the second quarter of 2015. In the third quarter of 2015, the Company recorded a net discrete income tax benefit of $15 million related to return to provision adjustments and the recognition of foreign tax credits. In addition, the Company recorded a discrete income tax expense of $17 million from changes to its unrecognized tax benefits including a new reserve related to the Settlement payment, and releases of certain reserves recorded at the time of the Diversey acquisition due to the expiration of the statute of limitations. Together, these items did not have a material impact on the tax expense for the three or nine months ended September 30, 2015.

Our effective income tax rate for the three months ended September 30, 2014 was 37.6% and for the nine months ended September 30, 2014 was 29.4%.  Our effective income tax rates for both periods benefited from a favorable earnings mix with earnings in jurisdictions with lower tax rates.  In addition, our effective tax rate for the nine months ended September 30, 2014 benefited from certain favorable discrete items totaling approximately $16 million, including $7 million from a favorable tax settlement and approximately $6 million from the release of reserves related to the statute of limitations and a successful judicial verdict.  Partially offsetting these items was a negative impact related to foreign currency exchange losses of Venezuelan subsidiaries of approximately $19 million from which the Company received no tax benefit, and the lapse of various U.S. tax provisions (the “Extenders”), including the research and development credit and certain foreign provisions.

Unrecognized Tax Benefits

As discussed above, during the nine months ended September 30, 2015, we increased our unrecognized tax benefits by $17 million, related to the recording of a reserve related to the Settlement payment, which was partially offset by the release of reserves related to the expiration of the statute of limitations. We have not changed our policy with regard to the reporting of penalties and interest related to unrecognized tax benefits.