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INCOME TAXES INCOME TAXES
3 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2018
Income Tax Disclosure [Abstract]  
INCOME TAXES
INCOME TAXES
The Company's tax provision for interim periods is determined using an estimate of its annual effective tax rate, adjusted for discrete items.
For the three months ended March 31, 2018, the Company recorded an income tax benefit from continuing operations of $2.3 million on a pretax loss from continuing operations of $5.1 million. For the three months ended March 31, 2017, the Company recorded income tax expense from continuing operations of $4.6 million on a pretax loss from continuing operations of $16.3 million.
The Company's U.S. Federal income tax rate is 21%. The effective tax rate for the three months ended March 31, 2018 reflected a $6.4 million income tax benefit resulting from the impact of adopting Topic 606 on intercompany activity in certain foreign jurisdictions, partially offset by pretax losses incurred in jurisdictions that have valuation allowances against their net deferred tax assets. The primary factor impacting the effective tax rate for the three months ended March 31, 2017 was the pretax losses incurred in jurisdictions that have valuation allowances against their net deferred tax assets.
The Company is currently undergoing income tax audits in multiple jurisdictions. There are many factors, including factors outside of the Company's control, which influence the progress and completion of those audits. During the fourth quarter 2017, the Company received an income tax assessment and a notification of proposed assessment from the tax authorities in two foreign jurisdictions, totaling $141.8 million in the aggregate. The Company believes that the assessments, which primarily relate to transfer pricing on transactions occurring from 2011 to 2014, are without merit and it intends to vigorously defend itself in those matters. In addition to any potential increases in its liabilities for uncertain tax positions from the ultimate resolution of those assessments, the Company believes that it is reasonably possible that reductions of up to $40.6 million in unrecognized tax benefits may occur within the 12 months following March 31, 2018 upon closing of income tax audits or the expiration of applicable statutes of limitations.
The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (the "Jobs Act") was signed into law on December 22, 2017. The Company has made provisional estimates for the impact of the Jobs Act related to the re-measurement of deferred income taxes, valuation allowances, uncertain tax positions, and its assessment of permanently reinvested earnings. Those estimates may be impacted by the need for further analysis and future clarification and guidance regarding available tax accounting methods and elections, earnings and profits computations and state tax conformity to federal tax changes. Additionally, while the Company does not expect to incur the deemed repatriation tax, it has not yet finalized the related calculations. The Jobs Act also establishes global intangible low-taxed income ("GILTI") provisions that impose a tax on foreign income in excess of a deemed return on intangible assets of foreign corporations. The Company is in the process of evaluating the impact of taxes on GILTI and has not yet determined whether its accounting policy will be to recognize deferred taxes for basis differences that are expected to affect the amount of GILTI inclusion upon reversal or to recognize taxes on GILTI as an expense in the period incurred.
In general, it is the practice and intention of the Company to reinvest the earnings of its non-U.S. subsidiaries in those operations. Additionally, while the Company does not expect to incur the deemed repatriation tax established by the Jobs Act, an actual repatriation from its non-U.S. subsidiaries could be subject to foreign and U.S. state income taxes. Aside from limited exceptions for which the related deferred tax liabilities recognized as of March 31, 2018 and December 31, 2017 are immaterial, the Company does not intend to distribute earnings of foreign subsidiaries for which it has an excess of the financial reporting basis over the tax basis of its investments and therefore has not recorded any deferred taxes related to such amounts. The actual tax cost resulting from a distribution would depend on income tax laws and circumstances at the time of distribution. Determination of the amount of unrecognized deferred tax liability related to the excess of the financial reporting basis over the tax basis of the Company's foreign subsidiaries is not practical due to the complexities associated with the calculation.