Income Taxes

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2019

Income Taxes [Abstract]

Income Taxes

Income Taxes

Our effective tax rate for the nine months ended September 30, 2019 increased period-over-period to 26.0% from 25.4%. The effective tax rate for 2019 reflects a benefit of $10.8 million primarily from the net favorable settlements of uncertain tax positions in certain jurisdictions, which resulted in the recognition of net deferred tax assets in the second quarter of 2019. The effective tax rate for 2018 reflects a decrease of $19 million related to the successful resolution of foreign tax claims, partially offset by a net increase in income tax expense of $3.9 million recorded in the third quarter of 2018 related to the net gain on disposition of subsidiaries, the tax benefit on the repositioning actions, and the adjustment to the provisional amounts related to the Tax Act.

At September 30, 2019, our unrecognized tax benefits were $176.3 million. Of this amount, approximately $169.8 million would affect our effective tax rate upon resolution of the uncertain tax positions.