Income Taxes

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2020

Income Tax Disclosure [Abstract]

INCOME TAXES

INCOME TAXES

Our effective tax rate was 11% for the three months ended March 31, 2020, compared to an effective tax rate of 2% for the same period last year. The effective tax rates for the periods presented are primarily comprised of U.S. federal and state taxes, withholding taxes, foreign taxes and excess tax benefits from stock-based compensation expense. The tax rates for the three months ended March 31, 2020 and March 31, 2019 were impacted by U.S. federal and state taxes, withholding taxes and foreign taxes that were $28.3 million and $17.5 million, respectively, which were offset by excess tax benefits from stock-based compensation expense of $15.2 million and $16.0 million, respectively. U.S. federal and state taxes were lowered by a tax benefit of $4.8 million from the foreign-derived intangible income deduction for the three months ended March 31, 2020.

As of March 31, 2020 and December 31, 2019, unrecognized tax benefits were $65.6 million and $67.5 million, respectively. If recognized, $60.4 million of the unrecognized tax benefits would favorably affect our effective tax rate. It is our policy to include accrued interest and penalties related to uncertain tax benefits in income tax expense. As of March 31, 2020 and December 31, 2019, accrued interest and penalties were $14.5 million and $14.1 million, respectively. It is reasonably possible that our gross unrecognized tax benefits will decrease by up to $10.4 million in the next 12 months, due to the lapse of the statute of limitations. This decrease, if recognized, would positively impact our effective tax rate, and would be recognized as additional tax benefits.

We file income tax returns in the U.S. federal jurisdiction and in various U.S. state and foreign jurisdictions. Generally, we are no longer subject to U.S. state and foreign income tax examinations by tax authorities for tax years prior to 2010. We are no longer subject to examination by U.S federal income tax authorities for tax years prior to 2015. We currently have ongoing tax audits in the United Kingdom, Canada and several other foreign jurisdictions. The focus of these audits is the inter-company profit allocation.

On June 7, 2019, the Ninth Circuit overturned the U.S. Tax Court’s decision in Altera Corporation and Subsidiaries vs. Commissioner of Internal Revenue (“Altera”) and ruled in favor of the Commissioner, validating the regulations requiring stock-based compensation to be included in a cost sharing arrangement. Due to the uncertainty surrounding the status of the current regulations and questions related to the scope of potential benefits or obligations, we incurred an unrecognized tax benefit of $8.5 million as of March 31, 2020 related to the Ninth Circuit’s Altera decision regarding stock-based compensation in cost sharing arrangements. We continue to monitor developments in this case and any impact it could have on our tax provision.

On March 27, 2020, the President signed into law the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (the “CARES” Act). The CARES Act provides numerous tax provisions and other stimulus measures, including temporary changes regarding the prior and future utilization of net operating losses, temporary changes to the prior and future limitations on interest deductions, temporary suspension of certain payment requirements for the employer portion of Social Security taxes, technical corrections from prior tax legislation for tax depreciation of certain qualified improvement property and the creation of certain refundable employee retention credits. The Company does not expect there to be a material tax impact on its consolidated financial statements at this time and will continue to assess the implications of the CARES Act and its continuing developments and interpretations.