XML 30 R18.htm IDEA: XBRL DOCUMENT v3.5.0.2
Income Taxes
9 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2016
Income Tax Disclosure [Abstract]  
Income Taxes
Income Taxes
The effective tax rate for the three months ended September 30, 2016 and 2015 was 24.8% and 31.3%, respectively, and the effective tax rate for the nine months ended September 30, 2016 and 2015 was 32.7% and 30.2%, respectively. The effective tax rate for both the three and nine months ended September 30, 2016 includes $15 million of benefits from the resolution of tax examinations and a $5 million charge from the establishment of a valuation allowance on tax attribute carryovers.  The effective tax rate for the nine months ended September 30, 2015 also includes a $20 million benefit resulting from the disposition of Imagitas.
As is the case with other large corporations, our tax returns are examined each year by tax authorities in the U.S. and other global taxing jurisdictions in which we have operations. As a result, it is reasonably possible that the amount of our unrecognized tax benefits will decrease in the next 12 months, and we expect this change could be up to 25% of our unrecognized tax benefits.
The IRS examinations of our consolidated U.S. income tax returns for tax years prior to 2012 are closed to audit. Additionally, various post-2006 U.S. state and local tax returns are subject to examination. In Canada, the examination of our tax filings prior to 2011 are closed to audit, except for the pending application of legal principles to specific issues arising in earlier years. Other significant jurisdictions in which we have, or have recently completed, tax examinations include France, closed through the end of 2012, Germany closed through the end of 2011 and except for an item under appeal, the U.K. is closed through the end of 2011. We have other less significant tax fillings currently subject to examination.