Income Taxes

On December 22, 2017, the United States enacted comprehensive tax legislation, commonly referred to as the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (the "Tax Act"), which imposed a one-time transition tax in 2018 (the "Repatriation Tax") and, beginning in 2019, created a new minimum tax on certain foreign earnings (the "Foreign Minimum Tax"). SEC Staff Accounting Bulletin No. 118 ("SAB 118") allows the use of provisional amounts (reasonable estimates) if the analyses of the impacts of the Tax Act have not been completed when financial statements are issued. During the first quarter of 2019, we finalized the computations of the income tax effects of the Tax Act. As such, in accordance with SAB 118, our accounting for the effects of the Tax Act is complete.

Our income tax (provision) benefit consisted of the following:



	Quarter ended						Nine months ended
	May 30, 2019			May 31, 2018			May 30, 2019			May 31, 2018
Income tax (provision) benefit, excluding items below	$	125		$	(78	)	$	(469	)	$	(161	)
Utilization of and other changes in net deferred tax assets of MMJ, MMT, and MTTW	(32		)	(35		)	(162		)	(78		)
Repatriation Tax, net of adjustments related to uncertain tax positions	42			222			9			(1,113		)
Release of the valuation allowance on net deferred tax assets of our U.S. operations	—			—			—			1,337
Remeasurement of deferred tax assets and liabilities reflecting lower U.S. corporate tax rates	—			—			—			(133		)
	$	135		$	109		$	(622	)	$	(148	)

Our income tax benefit in the third quarter of 2019 was primarily due to reductions in our effective tax rate, profit before tax, and the Foreign Minimum Tax. In addition, in the third quarter of 2019, we recorded tax benefits related to our deferred tax liabilities on unremitted earnings due to Tax Act-related law changes made effective during the third quarter.

As of May 30, 2019, gross unrecognized income tax benefits were $390 million, substantially all of which would affect our effective tax rate in the future, if recognized. The amount accrued for interest and penalties related to uncertain tax positions was not material for any period presented.

We operate in a number of tax jurisdictions outside the United States, including Singapore, where we have tax incentive arrangements, which expire in whole or in part at various dates through 2034, that are conditional, in part, upon meeting certain business operations and employment thresholds. The effect of tax incentive arrangements reduced our tax provision by $71 million (benefiting our diluted earnings per share by $0.06) and $742 million ($0.65 per diluted share) for the third quarter and first nine months of 2019, respectively, and by $527 million ($0.43 per diluted share) and $1.35 billion ($1.10 per diluted share) for the third quarter and first nine months of 2018, respectively.