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Income Taxes
 9 Months Ended
Jul. 31, 2019
Income Tax Disclosure [Abstract]  
Income Taxes Income Taxes
Recent Tax Legislation
The 2017 Act was enacted into law on December 22, 2017 and significantly changed existing U.S. tax law. The 2017 Act adopted a territorial tax system, imposed a mandatory one-time transition tax on earnings of foreign subsidiaries that were previously indefinitely reinvested, and reduces the U.S. federal statutory tax rate from 35% to 21%. For third quarter of fiscal 2019, the Company has utilized the enacted U.S. federal statutory tax rate of 21%.
The 2017 Act includes several provisions that are effective for our fiscal 2019: (i) tax on global intangible low-taxed income (GILTI) of foreign subsidiaries, (ii) tax on certain payments between a U.S. corporation and its foreign subsidiaries referred to as the base erosion and anti-abuse tax (BEAT), (iii) limitation on the tax deduction for interest payments, and (iv) expanded limitation on the tax deduction for compensation paid to certain executives.

The 2017 Act was effective in the first quarter of fiscal 2018. During the first quarter of fiscal 2019, we recorded tax benefit of $4.4 million in our financial statements to finalize the tax effects of the 2017 Act pursuant to SAB 118. The Company is no longer asserting that earnings from our foreign subsidiaries are indefinitely reinvested.

The 2017 Act imposes a new tax on foreign earnings and profits in excess of a deemed return on tangible assets of foreign subsidiaries referred to as GILTI which is effective in fiscal 2019. In accordance with FASB Staff Q&A, Topic 740, No. 5, Accounting for Global Intangible Low-Taxed Income, the Company made an accounting policy election to recognize the tax expense related to GILTI in the year the tax is incurred.
Effective Tax Rate
The Company's effective tax rates were an expense of 5.4% and a benefit of 11.5% for the third quarter of fiscal 2019 and fiscal 2018, respectively, and an expense of 0.9% and 82.1% for the first nine months of fiscal 2019 and 2018, respectively. The increase in our effective tax rate for the third quarter of fiscal 2019 compared to fiscal 2018 was primarily due to the inclusion of earnings from our foreign subsidiaries pursuant to the GILTI provisions that became effective in fiscal 2019. The decrease in our effective tax rate for the first nine months of fiscal 2019 compared to fiscal 2018 was primarily due to the provisional charge of $196.7 million relating to the 2017 Act that was recorded in fiscal 2018. Our effective tax rate for the first nine months of fiscal 2019 was lower than the U.S. statutory rate because of discrete tax benefits and a favorable mix of income from our foreign jurisdictions with lower tax rates. Total discrete tax benefits for the first nine months of fiscal 2019 were $26.7 million primarily relating to settlement of tax audits, revisions to the provisional tax charges relating to the 2017 Act, and excess tax benefits from share-based compensation. Our effective tax rate for the first nine months of fiscal 2018 was higher than the U.S. statutory rate because of the discrete tax expense relating to the 2017 Act, which was partially offset by a favorable mix of income from our foreign jurisdictions with lower tax rates and an excess tax benefit from share-based compensation.

We recognize the benefit from a tax position only if it is more likely than not that the position would be sustained upon audit based solely on the technical merits of the tax position. As of July 31, 2019, and October 31, 2018, Cooper had unrecognized tax benefits of $50.7 million and $68.9 million, respectively. The decrease is primarily related to settling prior year tax audits, partially offset by additions to current period transfer pricing reserves. It is our policy to recognize interest and penalties directly related to income taxes as additional income tax expense. It is reasonably possible that $8.1 million of unrecognized tax benefits could be settled during the next twelve months.

The Company is subject to U.S. Federal income tax examinations for fiscal 2015 through 2018 and the Internal Revenue Service is currently auditing our U.S. Consolidated Corporation Income Tax Returns for fiscal 2015 and 2016. The Company remains subject to income tax examinations in other significant tax jurisdictions including the United Kingdom, Japan, France and Australia for the tax years 2015 through 2018.