Income taxes

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2020

Income Tax Disclosure [Abstract]

Income taxes

Income taxes

We generally estimate our annual effective tax rate for the full year and apply that rate to net income before tax in determining the provision for income taxes for interim periods. We record discrete items in each respective interim period as appropriate. However, for the three months ended March 31, 2020, we determined that the annual rate method would not provide for a reliable estimate due to volatility in the forecasting process as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, we have recorded the provision for income taxes for the three months ended March 31, 2020 using the actual effective rate for the three months ended March 31, 2020 (the “cut-off” method). The effective tax rate for the three months ended March 31, 2020 was calculated based on an actual effective tax rate plus discrete items.

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, President Donald Trump signed into law the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (the CARES Act) on March 27, 2020. The CARES Act provides numerous tax provisions and other stimulus measures, including refundable payroll tax credits, deferral of employer side social security payments, modifications to the net interest deduction limitations, expansions to the use and carryback of net operating losses, and a technical correction to the depreciation method applicable to qualified improvement property under the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.  We will benefit from the technical correction for qualified improvement property which allows for immediate deduction of any eligible leasehold improvements placed in service during 2018 and 2019. We will also benefit from the new depreciation method available for qualified improvement property which allows for an immediate retroactive deduction of certain eligible leasehold improvements previously placed in service. As a result, our 2020 tax payments are expected to be reduced by approximately $7 million. There is no change to tax expense or our first quarter effective income tax rate since the changes are payment deferrals only. We will continue to monitor the impact of the CARES Act on our business as conditions change.