Income Taxes

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2019

Income Tax Disclosure [Abstract]

Income Taxes

Note 14 – Income Taxes

Our effective income tax rate was 18.6% and 31.0% for the three months ended September 30, 2019 and 2018, respectively. The decrease from the third quarter of 2018 was primarily due to the beneficial impact of the international tax provisions from U.S. tax reform as a result of administrative guidance issued during the second half of 2018, changes in valuation allowance related to R&D credits, changes in pretax mix across jurisdictions with disparate tax rates and a lower tax impact on unremitted foreign earnings and profits, partially offset by an increase in taxes on foreign distributions. Our effective income tax rate was 18.5% and 25.8% for the nine months ended September 30, 2019 and 2018, respectively. The decrease from the first nine months of 2018 was primarily due to the beneficial impact of the international tax provisions from U.S. tax reform as a result of administrative guidance issued during the second half of 2018, changes in valuation allowances related to R&D credits and a lower tax impact on unremitted foreign earnings and profits.

The total amount of unrecognized tax benefits as of September 30, 2019 was $9.2 million, of which $8.9 million would affect our effective tax rate if recognized.

We recognize interest and penalties related to unrecognized tax benefits through income tax expense. As of September 30, 2019, we had $0.6 million accrued for the payment of interest.

We are subject to taxation in the U.S. and various state and foreign jurisdictions. With few exceptions, we are no longer subject to examinations by tax authorities for years prior to 2014.