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INCOME TAXES (Notes)
3 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2018
Income Tax Disclosure [Abstract]  
Income Taxes
INCOME TAXES

Tax Law Changes

On December 22, 2017, the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (the “Act”) was signed into law. The Act made broad and complex changes to the U.S. tax code and it will take time to fully interpret the changes. The Act significantly impacted our first quarter 2018 earnings, and will impact earnings in future periods; however, we have not fully completed the accounting under Income Taxes (Topic 740) for certain of the Act’s new provisions. In accordance with Topic 740, to the extent the accounting for certain income tax effects of the Act was incomplete, but we were able to determine a reasonable estimate of those effects, a provisional amount (“provisional amount”) has been included in our financial statements. Conversely, where a reasonable estimate of the tax effects of the Act cannot be determined, no related provisional amounts have been included in the financial statements. We intend to adjust the tax effects for the relevant items during the allowed 2018 measurement period.

The Act also requires companies to pay a one-time transition tax on unremitted earnings of certain foreign subsidiaries that had not been subject to U.S. income tax and creates new taxes on certain foreign earnings. We included a $33 million provisional estimate for the transition tax in the December 31, 2017, financial statements. On April 2, 2018, the Internal Revenue Service issued Notice 2018-26, which will require us to increase the provisional estimate related to the one-time transition tax. We currently estimate the additional tax provision to be approximately $30 million in the second quarter. The estimate will be further adjusted during the measurement period as we refine our determination of historical earnings and profits and the amount of cash and cash equivalents held in foreign entities.

As of March 31, 2018, we have alternative minimum tax (AMT) credit carryforwards of $23 million, which do not expire and can be used to offset regular income taxes in future years. Under the Act, the AMT was repealed and taxpayers may claim a refund of 50% of their remaining AMT credit carryforwards (to the extent the credits exceed regular tax for the year) in 2018, 2019 and 2020. Any AMT credits remaining after 2020 will be refunded in 2021. Pursuant to the requirements of the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985, refundable AMT credits may be subject to sequestration, which is currently 6.2% for refunds after 2019, and during the first quarter of 2018, the Internal Revenue Service clarified sequestration would apply to refundable AMT credits under the Act. We reclassified our credits to a receivable and recorded a charge of $1 million to account for the sequestration reduction. The reclassification and provision for sequestration are adjustments to provisional estimates of the tax effects of the Act.

Uncertain Tax Positions

We are subject to tax audits in numerous jurisdictions in the U.S. and foreign countries. Tax audits by their very nature are often complex and can require several years to complete. In the normal course of business, we are subject to challenges from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and other tax authorities regarding amounts of taxes due. These challenges may alter the timing or amount of taxable income or deductions, or the allocation of income among tax jurisdictions. As part of our calculation of the provision for income taxes on earnings, we recognize the tax benefit from uncertain tax positions that are at least more likely than not of being sustained upon audit, based on the technical merits of the tax position. The tax benefit to be recognized is measured as the largest amount of benefit that is greater than fifty percent likely of being realized upon ultimate settlement. Such calculations require management to make estimates and judgments with respect to the ultimate outcome of a tax audit. Actual results could vary materially from these estimates. We reevaluate uncertain tax positions each quarter based on factors including, but not limited to, changes in facts or circumstances, expiration of statutes of limitations, changes in tax law, effectively settled issues under audit, and new audit activity. Depending on the jurisdiction, such a change in recognition or measurement may result in the recognition of a tax benefit or an additional charge to the tax provision in the period.

The following is a summary of tax years that are no longer subject to examination:
Federal — audits of our U.S. federal income tax returns are closed through fiscal year 2008.
State — for the majority of states, tax returns are closed through fiscal year 2011.
Foreign — we are no longer subject to foreign tax examinations by tax authorities for tax years before 2010 in Canada, 2012 in Brazil, 2012 in Mexico and 2013 in the U.K., which are our major foreign tax jurisdictions.

At March 31, 2018 and December 31, 2017, the total amount of gross unrecognized tax benefits (including interest and penalties, excluding the federal benefit on state issues) was $65 million and $68 million, respectively. During the first quarter of 2018, we determined that reserves for certain uncertain tax positions should have been reversed in prior periods when the



statutes of limitations expired. As the amounts were not material to our consolidated financial statements in any individual period, and the cumulative amount is not material to 2018 results, we recognized a one-time $3 million benefit in our provision for income taxes related to this reversal.

Effective Tax Rate

Our effective income tax rate from continuing operations for the first quarter of 2018 was 29.5% compared with 36.4% in the same period of the prior year reflecting lower taxable earnings, the $3 million reversal of reserves for certain uncertain tax positions and a net benefit to the effective income tax rate from the Act. The decrease in the effective income tax rate was offset by the impact of the $16 million non-deductible goodwill impairment charge related to our FMS Europe reporting unit and the $1 million sequestration reduction for expected refundable AMT credits resulting from the Act.