Income Taxes

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2019

Income Tax Disclosure [Abstract]

Income Taxes

Income Taxes

Our effective income tax rates were 7.9% and 12.8% for the three months ended March 31, 2019 and 2018. The effective tax rate for the three months ended March 31, 2019 was lower than the comparable prior period primarily due to a higher benefit attributable to applying a lower U.S. tax rate to intangible income derived from serving non-U.S. markets and higher excess tax benefits related to share-based payments.

Federal income tax audits have been settled for all years prior to 2015. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) began the 2015-2017 federal tax audit in the first quarter of 2019. We are also subject to examination in major state and international jurisdictions for the 2001-2017 tax years. We believe appropriate provisions for all outstanding tax issues have been made for all jurisdictions and all open years.

Audit outcomes and the timing of audit settlements are subject to significant uncertainty. It is reasonably possible that within the next 12 months unrecognized tax benefits related to state matters under audit may decrease by up to $465 based on current estimates.