Income Taxes

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2021

Income Tax Disclosure [Abstract]

Income Taxes

Income Taxes

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

	Three Months Ended September 30,						Nine Months Ended  September 30,
	2021			2020			2021			2020
	(Dollars in thousands)
Income tax expense (benefit)	$	46,018		$	13,908		$	124,083		$	(90,226)
Effective tax rate	23		%	8		%	21		%	(16)		%

When compared to the statutory federal rate of 21%, the effective tax rates above reflect a lower effective tax rate on foreign income and excess tax benefits related to stock-based compensation, which are offset by state income taxes and U.S.

taxes on foreign earnings, net of foreign tax credits. The effective tax rate for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2020 also reflected the remeasurement of unrecognized tax benefits discussed below.

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 the 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.