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Income Taxes
3 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2018
Income Tax Disclosure [Abstract]  
Income Taxes [Text Block]
Income Taxes

We estimate the effective tax rate expected to be applicable for the full fiscal year and use that rate to provide for income taxes in interim reporting periods. We also recognize the tax impact of certain unusual or infrequently occurring items, including changes in judgment about valuation allowances and effects of changes in tax laws or rates, in the interim period in which they occur.

We have generally not recognized tax benefits on losses generated in several entities where the recent history of operating losses does not allow us to satisfy the “more likely than not” criterion for the recognition of deferred tax assets. Consequently, there is no income tax expense or benefit recognized on the pre-tax income or losses in these jurisdictions as valuation allowances are adjusted to offset the associated tax expense or benefit. We believe that it is reasonably possible that a valuation allowance of up to $8 related to a subsidiary in Argentina will be released in the next twelve months.

We record interest and penalties related to uncertain tax positions as a component of income tax expense. Net interest expense for the periods presented herein is not significant.

In December 2017, the U.S. government introduced broad ranging tax reform with the passage of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (the "Act"). Among the tax reforms was a reduction of the corporate tax rate from 35% to 21%. Other provisions in the Act include changes in the taxation of dividends of foreign source earnings, including the taxation of potential deemed dividends as described below.

We reported income tax expense related to operations of $48 and $30 for the quarters ended March 31, 2018 and 2017. Our effective tax rates were 31% and 29% in the first three months of 2018 and 2017. Our effective income tax rates vary from the U.S. federal statutory rates of 21% and 35% due to establishment, release and adjustment of valuation allowances in several countries, nondeductible expenses and deemed income, local tax incentives in several countries outside the U.S., different statutory tax rates outside the U.S. and withholding taxes related to repatriations of international earnings. The effective income tax rate may vary significantly due to fluctuations in the amounts and sources, both foreign and domestic, of pretax income and changes in the amounts of non-deductible expenses. Although the tax reform in the U.S. reduced the statutory tax rate to 21% for 2018, the effects of the lower rate were offset in part by the effects of increased nondeductible expenses and the global intangible low taxes income provisions which result in a certain amount of foreign earnings being subjected to U.S. tax.

Prior to implementing the tax reform provisions of the Act, we provided for U.S. federal income and non-U.S. withholding taxes on the earnings of our non-U.S. operations that are not considered to be permanently reinvested. Due to passage of the Act, dividends of earnings from non-U.S. operations are generally no longer subjected to U.S. income tax. We continue to analyze and adjust the estimated tax impact of the income and non-U.S. withholding tax liabilities based on the amounts and sources of these earnings. As part of the annual effective tax rate, we recognized net expense of $2 and $2 in the first three months of 2018 and 2017 related to future income taxes and non-U.S. withholding taxes on repatriations from operations that are not permanently reinvested. We also paid withholding taxes of $3 and $2 during 2018 and 2017 related to the actual transfer of funds to the U.S. and transfers of funds between foreign subsidiaries.

Beginning in 2018, the Act may also trigger a taxable deemed dividend to the extent that the annual earnings of our foreign subsidiaries exceed a specified threshold, based on the value of tangible foreign operating assets. The deemed dividend, if any, from this global intangible low-taxed income (GILTI) may be offset by the use of other tax attributes. Staff Accounting Bulletin 118 (SAB 118), issued by the staff of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in December 2017, provides up to one year for a company to make and disclose a policy election as to whether it is recognizing deferred taxes for basis differences expected to reverse as GILTI or recognizing the effect of GILTI as a period cost when incurred. We intend to finalize our GILTI accounting policy during the prescribed measurement period, but the policy was pending as of March 31, 2018. Accordingly, as permitted by SAB 118, we accounted for the tax effect of GILTI as a period cost and included an estimate for GILTI in our effective tax rate for the first quarter of 2018.