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Income Taxes
9 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2019
Income Tax Disclosure [Abstract]  
Income Taxes
Note 15. Income Taxes

On August 6, 2019, Switzerland published changes to its Federal tax law in the Official Federal Collection of Laws. On September 27, 2019, the Zurich Canton published their decision on the September 1, 2019 Zurich Canton public vote regarding the Cantonal changes associated with the Swiss Federal tax law change. The intent of these tax law changes was to replace certain preferential tax regimes with a new set of internationally accepted measures that are hereafter referred to as "Swiss tax reform". Based on these Federal/Cantonal events, it is our position that enactment of Swiss tax reform for U.S. GAAP purposes has been met as of September 30, 2019, and we recorded the impacts in the third quarter 2019. The net impact is a benefit of $767 million, which consists of a $769 million reduction in deferred tax expense from an allowed step-up of intangible assets for tax purposes (recorded net of valuation allowance) and remeasurement of our deferred tax balances, partially offset by a $2 million indirect tax impact in selling, general and administrative expenses. The future rate impacts of these Swiss tax reform law changes are effective starting January 1, 2020.

As of the third quarter of 2019, our estimated annual effective tax rate, which excludes discrete tax impacts, was 25.4%. This rate reflected the impact of unfavorable foreign provisions under U.S. tax laws and our tax related to earnings from equity method investments (the earnings are reported separately on our statement of earnings and thus not included in earnings before income taxes), partially offset by favorable impacts from the mix of pre-tax income in various non-U.S. jurisdictions. Our 2019 third quarter effective tax rate of (92.5)% was significantly impacted by the $769 million net deferred tax benefit related to Swiss tax reform. Excluding this impact, our third quarter effective tax rate was 20.0% reflecting a discrete net tax benefit of $39 million. This discrete net tax benefit primarily consisted of a $17 million net benefit from the release of uncertain tax positions due to the expirations of statutes of limitations and audit settlements in several jurisdictions and a $12 million net benefit related to the release of valuation allowances in non-U.S. jurisdictions. Our effective tax rate for the nine months ended September 30, 2019 of (8.8)% was also impacted by the $769 million net deferred tax benefit related to Swiss tax reform. Excluding this impact, our effective tax rate for the nine months was 20.9%, which reflects discrete net tax benefits of $110 million. The discrete net tax benefits were primarily driven by a $101 million net benefit from the release of liabilities for uncertain tax positions due to expirations of statutes of limitations and audit settlements in several jurisdictions.

As of the third quarter of 2018, our estimated annual effective tax rate, which excluded discrete tax impacts, was 22.0%. This rate reflected our tax related to earnings from equity method investments (the earnings are reported separately on our statement of earnings and thus not included in earnings before income taxes), partially offset by favorable impacts from the mix of pre-tax income in various non-U.S. jurisdictions. Our 2018 third quarter effective tax rate of 46.3% was unusually high due to $184 million of deferred tax expense related to the $757 million gain on the KDP transaction reported as a gain on equity method transactions. Excluding this impact, our third quarter effective tax rate was 18.6%, which was favorably impacted by a discrete net tax benefit of $19 million. The discrete net tax benefit primarily consisted of a $26 million net benefit from the release of uncertain tax positions due to expirations of statutes of limitations and audit settlements in several jurisdictions. Our effective tax rate for the nine months ended September 30, 2018 of 31.9% and was also unusually high as a result of the KDP transaction. Excluding this impact, our effective tax rate for the nine months was 23.0%, which was unfavorably impacted by net tax expense of $22 million from discrete one-time events. The discrete net tax expense primarily consisted of $89 million of additional U.S. tax reform transition tax liability recognized as an adjustment to the prior provisional estimate, offset by a $70 million net benefit from the release of uncertain tax positions due to expirations of statutes of limitations and audit settlements in various jurisdictions.