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Income Taxes
3 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2017
Income Taxes  
Income Taxes

10.   Income Taxes

 

During the quarter ended December 31, 2017, President Trump signed what is commonly referred to as The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (Tax Act) into law. The Tax Act reduces the Company’s U.S. federal corporate tax rate from 35% to a blended tax rate of 24.5% for the Company’s fiscal year ending September 30, 2018 and 21% for fiscal years thereafter, requires companies to pay a one-time transition tax on accumulated earnings of foreign subsidiaries, creates new taxes on certain foreign sourced earnings and eliminates or reduces certain deductions.

 

Given the significance of the Tax Act, the SEC staff issued Staff Accounting Bulletin No. 118 (SAB 118), which allows registrants to record provisional amounts during a one year “measurement period” similar to that used when accounting for business combinations. However, the measurement period is deemed to have ended earlier when the registrant has obtained, prepared and analyzed the information necessary to finalize its accounting. During the measurement period, impacts of the law are expected to be recorded at the time a reasonable estimate for all or a portion of the effects can be made, and provisional amounts can be recognized and adjusted as information becomes available, prepared or analyzed.

 

At December 31, 2017, the Company has not completed its accounting for the tax effects of enactment of the Tax Act; however, the Company made a reasonable estimate of the effects on its existing deferred tax balances and certain other assets and liabilities and the one-time transition tax. The Company has not been able to make a reasonable estimate of the impact on its indefinite reinvestment of earnings of certain foreign subsidiaries and therefore will continue to account for those items based on its existing accounting under ASC 740.  As further guidance and accounting interpretations are expected over the next 12 months, the Company’s analysis is considered incomplete.

 

Other significant provisions include a base erosion anti-abuse tax (BEAT) on excessive amounts paid to foreign related parties and a minimum tax on global intangible low-taxed income (GILTI).  The Company has not elected a method of accounting for BEAT and GILTI and will only do so after completion of the analysis of the provisions and the impact to the Company.

 

The Company’s effective tax rate was (60.9)% and 27.4% for the three months ended December 31, 2017 and 2016, respectively. The most significant items contributing to the difference between the statutory U.S. federal income tax rate of 24.5% and the Company’s effective tax rate for the three month period ended December 31, 2017 were a $41.7 million net benefit related to one-time U.S. federal tax law changes, a benefit of $11.2 million related to changes in uncertain tax positions primarily in the U.S. and Canada, and a benefit of $8.4 million related to income tax credits and incentives. These items are not expected to have a continuing impact on the effective tax rate for the remainder of the fiscal year except for the benefits related to income tax credits and incentives.

 

The Company remeasured certain deferred tax assets and liabilities based on the rates at which they are expected to reverse in the future, which is generally 21%. However, the Company is still analyzing certain aspects of the Tax Act and refining its calculations which could potentially affect the measurement of these balances. The provisional amount recorded related to the remeasurement of the Company’s deferred tax balance was a $36.1 million tax benefit. In addition, the Company released the deferred tax liability and recorded a tax benefit of $77.0 million related to certain foreign subsidiaries for which the undistributed earnings are not intended to be reinvested indefinitely and accrued current tax on these earnings as part of the one-time transition tax.

 

The Company recorded a provisional amount for the one-time transition tax liability for its foreign subsidiaries resulting in an increase in income tax expense of $71.4 million. The Company has not yet completed its calculation of the total foreign earnings and profits of its foreign subsidiaries. Further, the transition tax is based in part on the amount of those earnings held in cash and other specified assets at the end of the fiscal year. This amount may change when the Company finalizes the calculation of foreign earnings and finalize the amounts held in cash or other specified assets.

 

The Company is utilizing the annual effective tax rate method under ASC 740 to compute its interim tax provision. The Company’s effective tax rate fluctuates from quarter to quarter due to various factors including the change in the mix of global income and expenses, outcomes of administrative audits, changes in the assessment of valuation allowances due to management’s consideration of new positive or negative evidence during the quarter, and changes in enacted tax laws and their interpretations which upon enactment include possible tax reform around the world arising from the result of the base erosion and profit shifting project undertaken by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation Development which, if finalized and adopted, could have a material impact on the Company’s income tax expense and deferred tax balances.

 

The Company believes the outcomes which are reasonably possible within the next twelve months, including lapses in statutes of limitations, could result in a decrease of approximately $15 million in the liability for uncertain tax positions.

 

Generally, the Company does not provide for U.S. taxes or foreign withholding taxes on gross book-tax differences in its non-U.S. subsidiaries because such basis differences of approximately $1.7 billion are able to and intended to be reinvested indefinitely. At December 31, 2017 the Company has not determined whether it will continue to indefinitely reinvest the earnings of certain foreign subsidiaries and therefore will continue to account for these undistributed earnings based on existing accounting under ASC 740 and not accrue additional tax outside of the one-time transition tax described above. There may also be additional U.S. or foreign income tax liability upon repatriation, although the calculation of such additional taxes is not practicable.