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Income Taxes
3 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2021
Income Tax Disclosure [Abstract]  
Income Taxes Income Taxes
U.S. Legislation

The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (“Rescue Act”) was signed into law on March 11, 2021. The enactment of the Rescue Act did not result in any material adjustments to our income tax provision for the three months ended March 31, 2021.
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”). Taxpayers may generally deduct interest up to the sum of 50% (30% limit under the 2017 Tax Act) of adjusted taxable income plus business interest income for 2019 and 2020.
The enactment of the CARES Act did not result in any material adjustments to our income tax provision for the three months ended March 31, 2021 or March 31, 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 have reflected the 2021 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%. Research and development credits decrease the Company's effective tax rate compared to the U.S. statutory rate of 21.0%.
Our effective income tax rate was 34.0% for the three months ended March 31, 2021. In addition to the above referenced items, the Company's effective income tax rate for the three months ended March 31, 2021 was unfavorably impacted by legislative and administrative changes to enacted foreign statutes.
Our effective income tax rate was 22.2% for the three months ended March 31, 2020. In addition to the above referenced items, the Company's effective income tax rate for the three months ended March 31, 2020 was positively impacted by the effective settlement of specific uncertain tax positions associated with the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) audit.
There was a negligible change in our valuation allowances for the three months ended March 31, 2021 and 2020.
We reported a net increase in unrecognized tax positions for the three months ended March 31, 2021 of $5.0 million, primarily related to interest accruals on existing 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 decrease in unrecognized tax positions in the three months ended March 31, 2020 of $10.0 million, primarily related to certain settlements with respect to the ongoing IRS audit for the 2011- 2014 tax years. Interest and penalties on tax assessments are included in income tax expense.
The IRS completed its field examination of the U.S. federal income tax returns for the years 2011-2014 in the third quarter of 2020. As previously disclosed, the IRS has proposed to disallow, for the 2014 taxable year, the entirety of the deduction of the approximately $1.49 billion settlement payment made pursuant to the Settlement agreement (as defined in Note 17, “Commitments and Contingencies”) and the resulting reduction of our U.S. federal tax liability by approximately $525.0 million. We continue to believe that we have meritorious defenses to the proposed disallowance and have filed a protest with the IRS. Although we expected to enter the IRS administrative appeals process in late 2020 or early 2021, upon receipt of our protest, the IRS determined that it needed additional information before transferring the matter to the IRS administrative appeals process. We have responded to requests for further information from the IRS and do not know if additional information will be requested or when the IRS will respond to our protest. At this time, we cannot predict when we will enter the IRS administrative appeals process, when such process will conclude, or the outcome of such process. It is possible that future developments in this matter could have a material impact to the uncertain tax position balances and results of operations, including cash flow, within the next twelve months.
We have no outstanding liability with respect to the one-time mandatory tax on previously deferred foreign earnings of foreign subsidiaries provision (“Transition Tax”) associated with the 2017 Tax Act.