Income Taxes

The effective tax rates for the three and nine-month periods ended September 30, 2017 and 2016 were:



	Three Months Ended				Nine Months Ended
	September 30,		September 30,		September 30,		September 30,
	2017		2016		2017		2016
Effective tax rate	31.1	%	68.3	%	30.0	%	43.2	%

Our effective income tax rate was 31.1% and 68.3% in the third quarter of 2017 and 2016, respectively, and 30.0% and 43.2% for the nine months ended September 30, 2017 and 2016, respectively. The tax rates for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2017 were lower than the U.S. statutory tax rate due primarily to tax benefits recorded upon vesting of restricted stock units, a release of valuation allowances recorded against realizable foreign NOLs, and favorable tax rates on foreign earnings, offset by the impact of state taxes, tax expense for withholding taxes on the anticipated distribution of earnings in China, and other various permanent items.

Our continuing practice is to recognize interest and/or penalties related to income tax matters as income tax expense. For the three months ended September 30, 2017, and 2016, we recorded $181 and $181, respectively, and for the nine months ended September 30, 2017 and 2016, we recorded $533 and $552, respectively, of interest or penalties in income tax expense.