Note K – Income Taxes

The Company’s effective income tax rate is calculated as the amount of income tax expense (benefit) divided by income from continuing operations before income taxes. For the three-month periods ended March 31, 2018 and 2017, the Company’s effective income tax rates were as follows:



	Three Months Ended
	March 31,
	2018	2017
Effective income tax rate	(73.8)%	62.9%

The effective tax rates for most periods where earnings are generated, generally exceed the U.S. statutory tax rate (21% in 2018, 35% in 2017) due to several factors, including: the effects of income generated in foreign tax jurisdictions, certain of which have income tax rates that are higher than the U.S. Federal rate; U.S. state tax expense; and certain expenses, including exploration and other expenses in certain foreign jurisdictions, for which no income tax benefits are available or are not presently being recorded due to a lack of reasonable certainty of adequate future revenue against which to utilize these expenses as deductions. Conversely, the effective tax rates for most periods where losses are incurred generally are lower than U.S. statutory tax rate of 21% due to similar reasons.

Due to uncertainty related to language in Section 965(n) of the 2017 Tax Act, and specifically whether current operating losses from 2017 were required to be applied to offset a company’s deemed taxable repatriation of foreign earnings under the 2017 Tax Act, the Company’s provisional tax expense recorded in the Company’s December 31, 2017 financial statements reflected use of all the estimated 2017 tax operating loss against the deemed repatriation. This resulted in no loss carryover from 2017 into 2018 and foreign tax credits considered to be of no value given the Company’s offsetting $228.2 million valuation allowance. On April 2, 2018, the Internal Revenue Service issued new guidance related to the Section 965(n) election. This guidance resolved the ambiguity and allowed the Company to preserve the 2017 tax net operating loss as a carryforward by allowing the crediting of the previously unused foreign tax credits against all but $36 million of current income tax on the deemed inclusion of foreign earnings. The preservation of the tax loss carryforward reduced the deferred tax expense for the quarter by $156 million and resulted in a $36 million charge to taxes payable relating to the deemed inclusion. The Company anticipates paying this $36 million tax payable over eight years as permitted by the 2017 Tax Act.

Note K – Income Taxes (Contd.)

The effective tax rate for the three-month period ended March 31, 2018 was below the U.S. statutory tax rate of 21% primarily due to the discrete tax effect of the new guidance relating to Section 965(n) and non-taxable foreign exchange gains from Malaysia. These impacts were partially offset by higher tax rates in certain foreign tax jurisdictions and expenses in foreign jurisdictions not fully deductible from income at the U.S. statutory tax rate. The effective tax rate for the three-month period ended March 31, 2017 was above the U.S. statutory tax rate primarily due to a tax expense recorded in the period related to undistributed foreign earnings partially offset by income tax benefit on investment in foreign areas.

The Company’s tax returns in multiple jurisdictions are subject to audit by taxing authorities. These audits often take years to complete and settle. Although the Company believes that recorded liabilities for unsettled issues are adequate, additional gains or losses could occur in future years from resolution of outstanding unsettled matters. As of March 31, 2018, the earliest years remaining open for audit and/or settlement in our major taxing jurisdictions are as follows: United States – 2014; Canada – 2012; Malaysia – 2011; and United Kingdom – 2016.