Income Taxes

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2019

Income Tax Disclosure [Abstract]

Income Taxes

INCOME TAXES

The Company uses a full year projected effective tax rate approach to calculate year-to-date taxes. In addition, certain items impacting total income tax expense are recorded in the periods in which they occur. The projected effective tax rate is the ratio of projected “Income tax expense (benefit)” divided by projected “Income (loss) from operations before income taxes”. The interim period tax expense (or benefit) is the difference between the year-to-date income tax provision and the amounts reported for the previous interim periods of the fiscal year.

The Company's income tax provision amounted to an income tax expense of $21 million, or (2.37)% of income (loss) from operations before income taxes in the first three months of 2019, compared to $156 million, or 19.73%, in the first three months of 2018. The Company’s current and prior effective tax rates differed from the U.S. statutory rate of 21% primarily due to non-taxable investment income and tax credits.