Income Taxes

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2022

Income Tax Disclosure [Abstract]

Income Taxes

Income Taxes

Accounting rules governing income taxes require that deferred tax assets and liabilities be recognized using enacted tax rates for the effect of temporary differences between the book and tax bases of recorded assets and liabilities. These rules also require that deferred tax assets be reduced by a valuation allowance if it is more likely than not that some portion or the entire deferred tax asset will not be realized.

The company evaluates the realizability of its deferred tax assets by assessing its valuation allowance and by adjusting the amount of such allowance, if necessary. The realization of the company’s net deferred tax assets as of September 30, 2022 is primarily dependent on the ability to generate sustained taxable income in various jurisdictions. Judgment is required to estimate forecasted future taxable income, which may be impacted by future business developments, actual results, strategic

operational and tax initiatives, legislative, and other economic factors and developments. Any increase or decrease in the valuation allowance would result in additional or lower income tax expense in that period and could have a significant impact on that period’s earnings. As a result of its projections of future taxable income, the company has determined that a portion of its non-U.S. net deferred tax assets no longer requires a valuation allowance as of September 30, 2022. The release of the valuation allowance for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2022 was approximately $10.4 million and $12.1 million, respectively, primarily in the United Kingdom and other European jurisdictions.

A full valuation allowance is currently maintained for all U.S. and certain foreign deferred tax assets in excess of deferred tax liabilities. The company will record a tax provision or benefit for those international subsidiaries that do not have a full valuation allowance against their net deferred tax assets. Any profit or loss recorded for the company’s U.S. operations will have no provision or benefit associated with it due to such valuation allowance, except with respect to withholding taxes not creditable against future taxable income. As a result, the company’s provision or benefit for taxes may vary significantly depending on the geographic distribution of income.

A corporation’s ability to deduct its federal net operating loss (NOL) carryforwards and utilize certain other available tax attributes can be substantially constrained under the general annual limitation rules of Section 382 of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code (Section 382) if it undergoes an “ownership change” as defined in Section 382 (generally where cumulative stock ownership changes among material shareholders exceed 50 percent during a rolling three-year period). Similar rules may apply under state tax laws. A future tax “ownership change” pursuant to Section 382 or future changes in tax laws that impose tax attribute utilization limitations may severely limit or effectively eliminate the company’s ability to utilize its NOL carryforwards and other tax attributes.