Accounting for Income Taxes

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2020

Notes To Financial Statements [Abstract]

Accounting for Income Taxes

Accounting for Income Taxes

During the nine months ended September 30, 2020, we completed an intra-entity transfer of certain intellectual property rights and fixed assets to our Swiss subsidiary, where our Europe, Middle East and Africa (“EMEA”) regional headquarters is located beginning January 1, 2020. The transfer of intellectual property rights did not result in a taxable gain; however, it did result in a step-up of the Swiss tax deductible basis in the transferred assets, and accordingly, created a temporary difference between the book basis and the tax basis of such intellectual property rights. Consequently, this transaction resulted in the recognition of a deferred tax asset and related one-time tax benefit of approximately $1,493.5 million during the nine months ended September 30, 2020, which is the net impact of the deferred tax asset recognized as a result of the additional Swiss tax deductible basis in the transferred assets and certain costs related to the transfer of fixed assets and inventory.

Our provision for income taxes was $45.2 million and $25.9 million for the three months ended September 30, 2020 and 2019, representing effective tax rates of 24.5% and 20.2%, respectively. Our benefit from income taxes was $1,452.5 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2020 and our provision for income taxes was $77.8 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2019, representing effective tax rates of (883.5)% and 19.1%, respectively. Our effective tax rate differs from the statutory federal income tax rate of 21% for the three months ended September 30, 2020 primarily due to the recognition of additional tax expense resulting from state tax and non-deductible expenses in the U.S., partially offset by the recognition of a tax benefit for the release of certain unrecognized tax benefits following the settlement of an Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) income tax audit for years 2015 and 2016. Our effective tax rate differs from the statutory federal income tax rate of 21% for the nine months ended September 30, 2020 mainly as a result of the recognition of tax benefits related to the intra-entity transfer of certain intellectual property rights and fixed assets mentioned above. Our effective tax rate differs from the statutory federal income tax rate of 21% for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2019 mainly as a result of certain foreign earnings, primarily from the Netherlands and Costa Rica, being taxed at lower tax rates and the recognition of excess tax benefits related to stock-based compensation, partially offset by non-deductible officers’ compensation.

The increase in our effective tax rate for the three months ended September 30, 2020 compared to the same period in 2019 is primarily attributable to reduced tax benefit of certain foreign earnings being taxed at lower tax rates and tax benefits recorded last year related to certain statute of limitations expirations and adjustments for prior years that did not recur in 2020, offset in part by a tax benefit recorded this quarter for the release of certain unrecognized tax benefits following the settlement of an IRS income tax audit for years 2015 and 2016. The decrease in our effective tax rate for the nine months ended

September 30, 2020 compared to the same period in 2019 is primarily attributable to the recognition of a deferred tax asset related to the intra-entity transfer of certain intellectual property rights during the nine months ended September 30, 2020.

We exercise significant judgment in regards to estimates of future market growth, forecasted earnings and projected taxable income in determining the provision for income taxes and for purposes of assessing our ability to utilize any future benefit from deferred tax assets. We continue to assess the realizability of the deferred tax assets as we take into account new information.

We file U.S. federal, U.S. state, and non-U.S. income tax returns. Our major tax jurisdictions include U.S. federal, the State of California and Switzerland. We are no longer subject to U.S. federal tax examination for years before 2017 and U.S. state tax examination for years before 2015. With few exceptions, we are no longer subject to examination by foreign tax authorities for years before 2013.

Our total gross unrecognized tax benefits, excluding interest and penalties, were $47.0 million and $46.7 million as of September 30, 2020 and December 31, 2019, respectively, a material amount of which would impact our effective tax rate if recognized. Total interest and penalties accrued as of September 30, 2020 was not material. We have elected to recognize interest and penalties related to unrecognized tax benefits as a component of income taxes. The timing and resolution of income tax examinations is uncertain, and the amounts ultimately paid, if any, upon resolution of issues raised by the taxing authorities may differ materially from the amounts accrued for each year. During the three months ended September 30, 2020, we recognized $8.7 million of previously unrecognized tax benefits through our effective tax rate due to the settlement of the IRS audit for tax years 2015 and 2016. We do not anticipate the total unrecognized tax benefits will change significantly within the next 12 months due to settlement of audits nor expiration of statutes of limitations.

Our total deferred tax liabilities were $36.8 million as of September 30, 2020, which were primarily related to the intangible assets from our exocad acquisition. Our deferred tax liabilities as of December 31, 2019 were not material.

As of December 31, 2019, undistributed earnings of our foreign subsidiaries totaled $452.6 million and substantially all of the earnings previously determined to be not indefinitely reinvested have been repatriated. Under the Global Intangible Low-Taxed Income provisions of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, U.S. income taxes have already been provided on the undistributed earnings that is indefinitely reinvested in our international operations; therefore, the tax impact upon distribution is limited to mainly state income and withholding taxes and is not significant.