Income Tax Provision

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2020

Income Tax Disclosure [Abstract]

Income Tax Provision

Income Tax Provision

We had an effective income tax rate of negative 36.3% for the three months ended March 31, 2020, compared to 22.0% for the three months ended March 31, 2019. The change in the effective tax rate for the three months ended March 31, 2020, as compared to the same period in 2019, was principally driven by an increase in the excess tax benefits related to stock incentive awards.

The effective income tax rates for the periods presented were different from the statutory United States federal income tax rate of 21% due to excess tax benefits related to stock incentive awards, state income taxes, non-deductible business expenses, and the tax benefit of research tax credits. The excess tax benefits related to stock incentive awards realized was $22.1 million for the three months ended March 31, 2020, compared to $1.7 million for the three months ended March 31, 2019. Excluding the excess tax benefits, the effective rate was 27.0% for the three months ended March 31, 2020, compared to 26.8% for the three months ended March 31, 2019.

We made tax payments of $176,000 and $88,000 in the three months ended March 31, 2020, and 2019, respectively.

The Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security ("CARES") Act, which was signed into law on March 27, 2020, provides an estimated $2.2 trillion to fight the COVID-19 pandemic and stimulate the U.S. economy. The assistance includes tax relief and government loans, and investments and grants for entities in affected industries (e.g., health care, airlines). The business tax provisions of the CARES Act include temporary changes to income and non-income based tax laws, including the ability to utilize net operating losses, interest expense deductions, alternative minimum tax credit refunds, charitable contributions, and depreciation of qualified improvement property. Measures not related to income-based taxes include (1) allowing an employer to pay its share of Social Security payroll taxes that would otherwise be due from the date of enactment through December 31, 2020, over the following two years and (2) allowing eligible employers subject to closure due to the COVID-19 pandemic to receive a 50% credit on qualified wages against their employment taxes each quarter, with any excess credits eligible for refunds.

We evaluated the CARES Act provisions and the enactment resulted in no income tax adjustments. We do not believe that the income tax implications will be significant to our overall income tax liability.