Income Taxes

6 Months Ended

Jun. 30, 2019

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 increased to $31.4 million for the three months ended June 30, 2019 from $29.6 million during the same period in 2018. The effective tax rate of 21.7% for the three months ended June 30, 2019 was flat compared to the same period in 2018.

The provision for income taxes decreased to $58.2 million for the six months ended June 30, 2019 from $60.8 million during the same period in 2018. The effective tax rate decreased to 20.7% for the six months ended June 30, 2019 compared to 22.8% during the same period in 2018 due to an increase in foreign tax credits as a result of U.S. Treasury proposed regulations issued related to Global Intangible Low-Taxed Income (“GILTI”), discrete income tax expense in first quarter 2018 related to IRS Revenue Procedure 2018-17 and IRS Notice 2018-26 as well as the mix of global pre-tax income among jurisdictions.

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 $0.8 million.