Income Taxes

Our estimated annual effective tax rate, adjusted for discrete tax items, is applied to interim periods’ pretax earnings. We believe that our recorded assets and liabilities are reasonable; however, tax laws and regulations are subject to interpretation and tax litigation is inherently uncertain, and therefore our assessments can involve a series of complex judgments about future events and rely heavily on estimates and assumptions.

The effective tax rates for the three- and nine-month periods ended September 30, 2015 were 0.9% and 4.0%, respectively. The effective tax rates for the three- and nine-month periods ended September 30, 2014 were 28.3% and 26.5%, respectively. The variance was primarily attributable to the earnings mix between our higher and lower tax rate jurisdictions.

Income taxes have been provided based on the U.S. statutory rate of 35% and at the local statutory rate for each foreign jurisdiction. The primary differences between the U.S. statutory rate and our effective rate are as follows:



	Three Months Ended September 30,				Nine Months Ended September 30,
	2015		2014		2015		2014

U.S. statutory rate	35.0	%	35.0	%	35.0	%	35.0	%
Foreign provision	(35.3	)	(7.2	)	(32.9	)	(7.8	)
Other	1.2		0.5		1.9		(0.7	)
Effective rate	0.9	%	28.3	%	4.0	%	26.5	%