INCOME TAXES (Notes)

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2019

Income Tax Disclosure [Abstract]

INCOME TAXES

We generally record our interim tax provision based upon a projection of the Company’s annual effective tax rate ("AETR"). This AETR is applied to the year-to-date consolidated pre-tax income to determine the interim provision for income taxes before discrete items. We update the AETR on a quarterly basis as the pre-tax income projections are revised and tax laws are enacted. The effective tax rate ("ETR") each period is impacted by a number of factors, including the relative mix of domestic and international earnings, adjustments to the valuation allowances and discrete items. The currently forecasted ETR may vary from the actual year-end due to the changes in these factors.

The Company’s global ETR for the three months ended March 31, 2019 and 2018 was 31% and (5)%, respectively, including discrete tax items. The increase in the ETR is primarily due to the change in the mix of earnings and the impact of non-recurring transactions.