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10. Income Taxes
9 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2016
Income Tax Disclosure [Abstract]  
Income Taxes 10.    INCOME TAXES
 
Our effective income tax rate was 19% and 32% for the three months ended September 30, 2016 and 2015, respectively. Our effective income tax rate was 30% and 31% for the first nine months of 2016 and 2015, respectively. The effective tax rate for the third quarter and the first nine months of 2016 was lower primarily due to adjustments related to U.S. foreign tax credits. The effective tax rate for the first nine months of 2016 and 2015 included a tax benefit from the release of U.S. tax liabilities as a result of lapses of statutes of limitations.

Our foreign taxes result primarily from income earned in France and Switzerland. Many jurisdictions in which we operate including Switzerland, Russia, the U.K. and Singapore have statutory tax rates that are significantly lower than the U.S. statutory tax rate of 35%. Our effective tax rate may be impacted in the future, either favorably or unfavorably, by many factors including, but not limited to, changes to statutory tax rates, changes in tax laws or regulations, tax audits and settlements, and generation of tax credits.


Our income tax returns are audited by U.S. federal, state and foreign tax authorities. We are currently under examination by many of these tax authorities. There are differing interpretations of tax laws and regulations, and as a result, significant disputes may arise with these tax authorities involving issues of the timing and amount of deductions and allocations of income among various tax jurisdictions. We evaluate our exposures associated with our tax filing positions on a quarterly basis.
We record liabilities for unrecognized tax benefits related to uncertain tax positions. We do not believe any currently pending uncertain tax positions will have a material adverse effect on our condensed consolidated financial statements, although an adverse resolution of one or more of these uncertain tax positions in any period may have a material impact on the results of operations for that period.

As of September 30, 2016, based on the expected outcome of certain examinations or as a result of the expiration of statutes of limitations for certain jurisdictions, we believe that within the next 12 months it is reasonably possible that our previously unrecognized tax benefits could decrease by approximately $3.1 million. Substantially all such amounts will impact our effective income tax rate.