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

For purposes of interim reporting, our annual effective income tax rate is estimated in accordance with ASC 740-270, "Interim Reporting." This rate is applied to the pre-tax book income of the entities expected to be benefited during the year. Discrete items that impact the tax provision are recorded in the period incurred.

For the three and nine months ended September 30, 2019, we recorded a provision for income taxes of $2.9 million and $3.4 million, respectively, resulting in an effective income tax rate of 14.0% and 7.8% for those periods. For the three and nine months ended September 30, 2018, we recorded a benefit from income taxes of $9.1 million and $10.4 million, respectively, resulting in an effective income tax rate of 54.2% and (327.1)% for those periods. Our effective tax rates were different from the statutory rate primarily due to the tax windfall benefits from employee stock-based payment transactions, foreign derived intangible income deduction and research and development tax credits claimed, partially offset by the impact of non-deductible meal and entertainment expenses and state taxes.

We recognize a valuation allowance if, based on the weight of available evidence, both positive and negative, it is more likely than not that some portion, or all, of net deferred tax assets will not be realized. Due to the uncertainty of realization of certain deferred tax assets related to our Canadian net operating losses and research and development tax credits, we established a valuation allowance of $0.3 million during the second quarter of 2019, which remained at $0.3 million as of September 30, 2019. As of December 31, 2018, based on our historical and expected future taxable earnings, we believed it was more likely than not that we would realize all of the benefit of the existing deferred tax assets. Accordingly, we did not record a valuation allowance as of December 31, 2018.

We apply guidance for uncertainty in income taxes that requires the application of a more likely than not threshold to the recognition and de-recognition of uncertain tax positions. If the recognition threshold is met, this guidance permits us to recognize a tax benefit measured at the largest amount of the tax benefit that, in our judgment, is more likely than not to be realized upon settlement. We recorded a reduction to the unrecognized tax benefits of $0.2 million for research and development tax credits claimed during each of the nine months ended September 30, 2019 and 2018.

As of September 30, 2019 and December 31, 2018, we accrued $0.1 million of total interest expense related to unrecognized tax benefits. We recognize interest and penalties related to unrecognized tax benefits as a component of income tax expense.