Income Taxes

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2016

Income Tax Disclosure [Abstract]

Income Taxes

Income Taxes

The Company’s provision for income taxes is based upon estimated annual tax rates for the year applied to federal, state and foreign income. The provision for income taxes decreased to $29.4 million in the third quarter of 2016 from $32.8 million in the same period of 2015. The effective tax rate increased to 29.6% for the third quarter of 2016 compared to 29.2% in the same period of 2015 due to the incurrence of an additional $5.2 million of foreign withholding taxes, tax expense as a result of the divestiture of the Hydra-Stop product line and the prior year divestiture of the Ismatec product line. These unfavorable items were offset by tax benefits as a result of the divestiture of Melles Griot KK, certain return-to-provision adjustments, the early adoption of ASU 2016-09 and the related tax effects of share based payments now recognized in income, the enactment of the Protecting Americans from Tax Hikes Act of 2015 on December 18, 2015 which, beginning in 2015, permanently extended the U.S. R&D credit, as well as the mix of global pre-tax income among jurisdictions.

The provision for income taxes decreased to $82.0 million in the nine months ended September 30, 2016 from $88.6 million in the same period of 2015. The effective tax rate decreased to 27.7% for the nine months ended September 30, 2016 compared to 29.2% in the same period of 2015 due tax benefits as a result of the divestiture of Melles Griot KK, certain return-to-provision adjustments, the early adoption of ASU 2016-09 and the related tax effects of share based payments now recognized in income, the enactment of the Protecting Americans from Tax Hikes Act of 2015 on December 18, 2015 which, beginning in 2015, permanently extended the U.S. R&D credit, as well as the mix of global pre-tax income among jurisdictions. These favorable items were offset by the incurrence of additional $5.2 million of foreign withholding taxes and tax expense as a result of the divestiture of the Hydra-Stop product line and the prior year divestiture of the Ismatec product line.

The Company and its subsidiaries file income tax returns in the U.S. federal jurisdiction, and various state and foreign jurisdictions. Due to the potential for resolution of federal, state and foreign examinations, and the expiration of various statutes of limitation, it is reasonably possible that the Company’s gross unrecognized tax benefits balance may change within the next twelve months by a range of zero to $2.7 million.