Income Taxes

On December 22, 2017, the U.S. Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 (the “Tax Reform Act”) was signed, which includes a broad range of tax reform proposals affecting businesses, including corporate tax rates, business deductions, and international tax provisions.

On April 2, 2018, the Internal Revenue Service issued Notice 2018-26 ("Notice 2018-26") which provides guidance on how to determine, report and pay the repatriation tax on deemed repatriated earnings of foreign subsidiaries provided in the Tax Reform Act and included in the consolidated financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2017. Notice 2018-26 is not expected to have a significant impact on the Company’s consolidated financial statements.

Income tax expense



	Three Months Ended June 30,						Six Months Ended June 30,
(in thousands, except percentages)	2018			2017			2018			2017
Effective tax rate	27.2		%	37.2		%	25.4		%	32.2		%
Provision for income taxes	$	16,476		$	16,712		$	23,729		$	24,392

Income tax expense decreased $0.2 million for the three months ended June 30, 2018, compared to the same period in 2017, primarily due to the U.S. Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, which reduced the United States statutory federal corporate tax rate from 35% to 21% on a 35% increase in income before taxes. Income tax expense decreased $0.7 million for the six months ended June 30, 2018, compared to the same period in 2017, primarily due to the U.S. Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, which reduced the United States statutory federal tax rate from 35% to 21% on a 23% increase in income before taxes. In addition, the effective income tax rate for the six months ended June 30, 2017 was reduced by a nonrecurring bargain purchase gain related to the Gbo Fastening Systems acquisition (see Note 1), which was not taxable.