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Income Taxes
9 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2020
Income Tax Disclosure [Abstract]  
Income Taxes Income Taxes
2020 Regulations and Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act (“CARES Act”) was signed into law in March 2020. The CARES Act lifts certain deduction limitations originally imposed by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 (“2017 Tax Act”). Corporate taxpayers may carryback net operating losses (NOLs) originating between 2018 and 2020 for up to five years, which was not previously allowed under the 2017 Tax Act. The CARES Act also eliminates the 80% of taxable income limitation by allowing corporate entities to fully utilize NOL carryforwards to offset taxable income in 2018, 2019 or 2020. Taxpayers may generally deduct interest up to the sum of 50% of adjusted taxable income plus business interest income (30% limit under the 2017 Tax Act) for 2019 and 2020. The CARES Act allows taxpayers with alternative minimum tax credits to claim a refund in 2020 for the entire amount of the credits instead of recovering the credits through refunds over a period of years, as originally enacted by the 2017 Tax Act.
In addition, the CARES Act raises the corporate charitable deduction limit to 25% of taxable income and makes qualified improvement property generally eligible for 15-year cost-recovery and 100% bonus depreciation. The enactment of the CARES Act did not result in any material adjustments to our income tax provision for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2020.
In July 2020, the U.S. Department of Treasury issued final tax regulations with respect to the global intangible low-taxed income (GILTI) proposed tax regulations originally published in 2019. Among other changes, these regulations now permit an election to exclude from the GILTI calculation items of income which are subject to a high effective rate of foreign tax. We have adopted these final regulations and recorded a discrete benefit of $16.1 million related to the 2018 - 2019 tax years and have reflected the 2020 benefit in the annual effective tax rate.
Effective Income Tax Rate and Income Tax Provision
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.
State income taxes, foreign earnings subject to higher tax rates and non-deductible expenses increase the Company's effective income tax rate compared to the U.S. statutory rate of 21.0%.
Our effective income tax rate was 11.7% and 21.5%, respectively, for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2020. For the three months ended September 30, 2020, the effective income tax rate was favorably impacted by GILTI regulations issued in the third quarter and the favorable resolution of specific uncertain tax positions. For the nine months ended September 30, 2020, the Company's effective income tax rate was positively impacted by recently issued GILTI regulations and the favorable resolution of specific uncertain tax positions.
Our effective income tax rate was 22.3% and 27.9% for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2019, respectively. The Company's effective income tax rate for the three month period ended September 30, 2019 was positively impacted by the benefit of U.S. Research and Development credits for current and prior periods and was negatively impacted by a U.S. audit assessment related to the valuation of an Intellectual Property transfer in 2011. For the nine month period ended September 30, 2019, the Company's effective income tax rate was negatively impacted by U.S. audit assessments associated with 2011 and 2012 transactions, which were partially offset by the benefits for the U.S. Research and Development credit for current and prior periods and the release of valuation allowance on deferred assets in Brazil related to improved profitability from Reinvent SEE initiatives.
There was a negligible change in our valuation allowances for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2020. There was a negligible change in valuation allowance for the three months ended September 30, 2019 and an $8.1 million decrease for the release of valuation allowance on deferred tax assets in Brazil for the nine months ended September 30, 2019.
We reported a net decrease in unrecognized tax positions in the three and nine months ended September 30, 2020 of $2.4 million and $8.1 million, respectively primarily related to the resolution of certain uncertain tax positions. We are not currently able to reasonably estimate the amount by which the liability for unrecognized tax positions may increase or decrease during the next 12 months as a result of the remaining items under IRS audit for those years. We reported a net increase in unrecognized tax positions in the three and nine months ended September 30, 2019 of $16.7 million and $26.4 million, respectively, primarily related to U.S. audit assessments and interest accruals on existing positions. Interest and penalties on tax assessments are included in income tax expense.
With respect to the 2014 tax year, the IRS has proposed to disallow the deduction of approximately $1.49 billion for the settlement payments made pursuant to the Settlement agreement, as defined in Note 19, "Commitments and Contingencies," of the Notes to Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements, and the reduction of our U.S. federal tax liability by approximately $525 million. Although we continue to believe that we have meritorious defenses to the proposed disallowance and are protesting it with the IRS, this matter will likely not be resolved in 2020. It is possible that future developments in this matter could have a material impact on the uncertain tax position balances and results of operations, including cash flow, within the next 12 months.
We have no outstanding liability with respect to Transition Tax associated with the U.S. Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017.