Income Taxes



	Three Months Ended March 31,
	2015	2014
	(In percentages)
Effective income tax rate	24	29

The lower effective income tax rate for the three months ended March 31, 2015 is equally attributable to changes in jurisdictional earnings related to the Company creating a centralized European operating company and changes in earnings in jurisdictions in which current year results do not have a corresponding tax impact due to valuation allowances, primarily in Asia.

In February 2015, the Company established a centralized European operating company for the purpose of improving the operational efficiencies and profitability of our European operations and certain global product lines. These activities will directly impact the Company's mix of earnings and product flows and will result in both favorable and unfavorable tax rate impacts in the jurisdictions in which the Company operates.

For the three months ended March 31, 2015, the Company's uncertain tax positions decreased $6 million primarily due to exchange rate fluctuations of $23 million, partially offset by a $17 million increase in interest and changes in uncertain tax positions in certain jurisdictions.

The Company's US tax returns for the years 2009 through 2012 are currently under audit by the US Internal Revenue Service and certain of the Company's subsidiaries are under audit in jurisdictions outside of the US. In addition, certain statutes of limitations are scheduled to expire in the near future. It is reasonably possible that a further change in the unrecognized tax benefits may occur within the next twelve months related to the settlement of one or more of these audits or the lapse of applicable statutes of limitations. Such amounts have been reflected in the current portion of uncertain tax positions (Note 6).