Income Taxes

6 Months Ended

Jun. 30, 2019

Income Tax Disclosure [Abstract]

Income Taxes

Income Taxes

Effective Income Tax Rate and Income Tax Provision

On December 22, 2017, the TCJA was enacted into law. TCJA significantly changes existing U.S. tax law and includes numerous provisions that affect our business such as imposing a one-time transition tax on deemed repatriation of deferred foreign income ("Transition Tax"), reducing the U.S. federal statutory tax rate, and adopting a territorial tax system. The TCJA includes a provision to tax global intangible low-taxed income (“GILTI”), thereby requiring us to include in our U.S income tax return foreign subsidiary earnings in excess of an allowable return on the foreign subsidiary’s tangible assets. The GILTI provision is complex and subject to continuing regulatory interpretation by the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”). We are required to make an accounting policy election to either (1) treat taxes due on future U.S. inclusions in taxable income related to GILTI as a current period expense when incurred (the “period cost method”) or (2) factor such amounts into the Company’s measurement of its deferred taxes (the “deferred method”). We have elected to recognize the GILTI as a period expense in the period the tax is incurred. Under this policy, we have not provided deferred taxes related to temporary differences that upon their reversal will affect the amount of income subject to GILTI in the period.

For interim tax reporting, we estimate one annual effective tax rate for tax jurisdictions not subject to a valuation allowance and apply that rate to the year-to-date ordinary income/(loss). Tax effects of significant unusual or infrequently occurring items are excluded from the estimated annual effective tax rate calculation and recognized in the interim period in which they occur.

Our effective income tax rate was 32.5% and 32.2% for the three and six months ended June 30, 2019, respectively. In comparison to the U.S. statutory rate of 21.0%, the Company's effective income tax rate is negatively impacted by foreign earnings taxed at a higher rate, the effect of GILTI and other foreign income inclusions in the U.S. tax base, a U.S. audit assessment associated with foreign tax credit utilization in 2011, state income taxes and non-deductible expenses, and is positively impacted by the benefits for the release of valuation allowance on foreign deferred assets in Brazil related to improved profitability from Reinvent SEE initiatives and the U.S. Research and Development credit.

Our effective income tax rate was 28.7% and 154.1% for the three and six months ended June 30, 2018, respectively. In comparison to the U.S. statutory rate of 21.0%, the Company’s effective tax rate was negatively impacted by the Transition Tax

and GILTI provisions associated with the TCJA, withholding taxes, non-deductible expenses and state income taxes, offset by the benefits from lapses in statute of limitations on foreign unrecognized tax benefits.

The decrease in valuation allowances for the three and six months ended June 30, 2019 was $8.1 million. The change in valuation allowances for the three and six months ended June 30, 2018 was not material.

We reported a net increase in unrecognized tax benefits in the three and six months ended June 30, 2019 of $7.7 million and $9.7 million, respectively, primarily related to a U.S. audit assessment and interest accruals on existing positions. We reported a net decrease in unrecognized tax benefits in the three months and six months ended June 30, 2018 of $10.7 million and $14.0 million, respectively, primarily related to statute of limitations lapses in foreign jurisdictions. Interest and penalties on tax assessments are included in income tax expense.