Income Taxes

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2020

The following table presents Income tax expense (benefit) and the effective tax rate:


	Three Months Ended September 30,									Nine Months Ended September 30,
	2020			2019			2020			2019
	(Dollars in thousands)
Income tax expense (benefit)	$	13,908		$	39,568		$	(90,226)		$	109,825
Effective tax rate	8		%	20		%	(16)		%	19		%

The effective tax rate for each of the periods in the table above differed from the statutory federal rate of 21% due to a lower foreign effective tax rate and excess tax benefits related to stock-based compensation, offset by state income taxes and U.S. taxes on foreign earnings, net of foreign tax credits.

Additionally, the Company remeasured certain previously unrecognized income tax benefits, which resulted in the recognition of $24.0 million and $191.8 million of income tax benefits in the three and nine months ended September 30, 2020, respectively. The most significant portion of these tax benefits related to the worthless stock deduction taken in 2013, which resulted in the recognition of a $167.8 million benefit in the first quarter of 2020. These remeasurements were based on written confirmations from Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”), received in the first and third quarters of 2020, indicating no examination adjustments would be proposed related to the worthless stock deduction or certain other matters reviewed as part of the audit of the Company’s federal income tax returns for 2010 through 2014. Notwithstanding these written confirmations, the Company’s U.S. federal income tax returns for those years remain under examination by the IRS.