Income taxes

Following is the total income (loss) before income taxes and the provision for income taxes for the three years ended December 31, 2016.



Year ended December 31,	2016			2015			2014
Income (loss) before income taxes
United States	$	(88.3	)	$	(130.6	)	$	(19.9	)
Foreign	108.8			71.8			165.4
Total income (loss) before income taxes	$	20.5		$	(58.8	)	$	145.5
Provision for income taxes
Current
United States	$	6.7		$	1.0		$	2.1
Foreign	47.7			42.2			59.4
State and local	—			0.3			1.0
Total	54.4			43.5			62.5
Deferred
United States	—			—			—
Foreign	2.8			0.9			23.7
Total provision for income taxes	$	57.2		$	44.4		$	86.2

Following is a reconciliation of the provision for income taxes at the United States statutory tax rate to the provision for income taxes as reported:



Year ended December 31,	2016			2015			2014
United States statutory income tax provision (benefit)	$	7.2		$	(20.6	)	$	50.9
Income and losses for which no provision or benefit has been recognized	65.5			69.1			35.7
Foreign rate differential and other foreign tax expense	(21.1		)	(15.9		)	(22.0		)
Income tax withholdings	22.8			12.5			17.1
Permanent items	(4.7		)	(1.9		)	1.1
Enacted rate changes	3.5			9.1			—
Change in uncertain tax positions	0.4			1.5			0.2
Change in valuation allowances due to changes in judgment	(16.4		)	(5.4		)	7.0
Income tax credits, U.S.	—			(4.0		)	(3.9		)
Other	—			—			0.1
Provision for income taxes	$	57.2		$	44.4		$	86.2

The 2016 and 2015 provision for income taxes included $3.5 million and $9.1 million due to a reduction in the UK income tax rate. The rate reductions were enacted in the third quarter of 2016 and the fourth quarter of 2015 and reduced the rate from 18% to 17% and from 20% to 18% effective April 1, 2020 and 2017, respectively. The tax provision was principally caused by a write down of the UK company’s net deferred tax assets.

The tax effects of temporary differences and carryforwards that give rise to significant portions of deferred tax assets and liabilities at December 31, 2016 and 2015 were as follows:



As of December 31,	2016			2015
Deferred tax assets
Tax loss carryforwards	$	889.6		$	854.5
Postretirement benefits	728.9			695.7
Foreign tax credit carryforwards	317.6			263.2
Other tax credit carryforwards	91.4			86.7
Deferred revenue	81.0			65.7
Employee benefits and compensation	49.1			49.9
Purchased capitalized software	32.6			39.5
Depreciation	28.3			36.8
Warranty, bad debts and other reserves	16.1			14.1
Capitalized costs	10.9			13.0
Capitalized research and development	—			3.2
Other	27.7			39.7
	2,273.2			2,162.0
Valuation allowance	(2,084.6		)	(2,024.9		)
Total deferred tax assets	$	188.6		$	137.1
Deferred tax liabilities
Capitalized research and development	$	20.3		$	—
Other	28.4			22.7
Total deferred tax liabilities	$	48.7		$	22.7
Net deferred tax assets	$	139.9		$	114.4

At December 31, 2016, the company has tax effected U.S. Federal ($455.5 million), state and local ($199.3 million), and foreign ($234.8 million) tax loss carryforwards, the total of which is $889.6 million. These carryforwards will expire as follows: 2017, $9.0; 2018, $4.8; 2019, $6.6; 2020, $20.4; 2021, $17.9; and $830.9 thereafter. The company also has available tax credit carryforwards of $408.9 million, which will expire as follows (in millions): 2017, $48.1; 2018, $21.0; 2019, $19.7; 2020, $45.9; 2021, $41.4; and $232.8 thereafter.

Failure to achieve forecasted taxable income might affect the ultimate realization of the company’s net deferred tax assets. Factors that may affect the company’s ability to achieve sufficient forecasted taxable income include, but are not limited to, the following: increased competition, a decline in sales or margins, loss of market share, the impact of the economic environment, delays in product availability and technological obsolescence.

Cumulative undistributed earnings of foreign subsidiaries, for which no U.S. income or foreign withholding taxes have been recorded, approximated $1.5 billion at December 31, 2016. As the company currently intends to indefinitely reinvest all such earnings, no provision has been made for income taxes that may become payable upon distribution of such earnings, and it is not practicable to determine the amount of the related unrecognized deferred income tax liability.

Cash paid for income taxes, net of refunds, during 2016, 2015 and 2014 was $46.4 million, $59.7 million and $73.9 million, respectively.

A reconciliation of the beginning and ending amount of unrecognized tax benefits is as follows:



Year ended December 31,	2016			2015			2014
Balance at January 1	$	27.7		$	35.0		$	26.3
Additions based on tax positions related to the current year	2.7			3.4			14.4
Changes for tax positions of prior years	2.0			(4.0		)	(1.4		)
Reductions as a result of a lapse of applicable statute of limitations	(2.8		)	(3.4		)	(1.6		)
Settlements	(0.1		)	(0.9		)	(0.9		)
Changes due to foreign currency	(3.7		)	(2.4		)	(1.8		)
Balance at December 31	$	25.8		$	27.7		$	35.0

The company recognizes penalties and interest accrued related to income tax liabilities in the provision for income taxes in its consolidated statements of income. At December 31, 2016 and 2015, the company had an accrual of $1.2 million and $1.0 million, respectively, for the payment of penalties and interest.

At December 31, 2016, all of the company’s liability for unrecognized tax benefits, if recognized, would affect the company’s effective tax rate. Within the next 12 months, the company believes that it is reasonably possible that the amount of unrecognized tax benefits may significantly change; however, various events could cause this belief to change in the future.

The company and its subsidiaries file income tax returns in the U.S. federal jurisdiction, and various states and foreign jurisdictions. Several U.S. state and foreign income tax audits are in process. The company is under an audit in India, for which years prior to 2006 are closed. For Brazil and the United Kingdom, which are the most significant jurisdictions outside the U.S., the audit periods through 2010 are closed. All of the various ongoing income tax audits throughout the world are not expected to have a material impact on the company’s financial position.

Internal Revenue Code Sections 382 and 383 provide annual limitations with respect to the ability of a corporation to utilize its net operating loss (as well as certain built-in losses) and tax credit carryforwards, respectively ("Tax Attributes"), against future U.S. taxable income, if the corporation experiences an “ownership change.” In general terms, an ownership change may result from transactions increasing the ownership of certain stockholders in the stock of a corporation by more than 50 percentage points over a three-year period. The company regularly monitors ownership changes (as calculated for purposes of Section 382). The company has determined that, for purposes of the rules of Section 382 described above, an ownership change occurred in February 2011. Any future transaction or transactions and the timing of such transaction or transactions could trigger additional ownership changes under Section 382.

As a result of the February 2011 ownership change, utilization for certain of the company’s Tax Attributes, U.S. net operating losses and tax credits, is subject to an overall annual limitation of $70.6 million. The cumulative limitation as of December 31, 2016 is approximately $307.0 million. This limitation will be applied first to any recognized built in losses, then to any net operating losses, and then to any other Tax Attributes. Any unused limitation may be carried over to later years. Based on presently available information and the existence of tax planning strategies, the company does not expect to incur a U.S. cash tax liability in the near term. The company maintains a full valuation allowance against the realization of all U.S. deferred tax assets as well as certain foreign deferred tax assets in excess of deferred tax liabilities.