XML 29 R18.htm IDEA: XBRL DOCUMENT v3.10.0.1
INCOME TAXES
9 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2018
Income Tax Disclosure [Abstract]  
INCOME TAXES

NOTE 10.  INCOME TAXES

 

Due to our history of losses and uncertainty of future taxable income, we established valuation allowances sufficient to fully offset net operating loss (“NOL”) carryforwards and other deferred tax assets.  These valuation allowances will be maintained until positive evidence exists to support a conclusion that the benefit from certain of our NOL carryforwards and foreign tax credits may be realized.

 

We record income tax expense for interim periods on the basis of an estimated annual effective tax rate.  The estimated annual effective tax rate is recomputed on a quarterly basis and may fluctuate due to changes in forecasted annual operating income, positive or negative changes to the valuation allowance for net deferred tax assets, and changes to actual or forecasted permanent book to tax differences. 

 

In December 2017, the U.S. enacted the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 (the “Act”), which significantly changed U.S. tax law.  The Act lowered the U.S. statutory federal income tax rate from 35% to 21% effective January 1, 2018, while also imposing a deemed repatriation tax on previously deferred foreign income.  The Act also created a new minimum tax on certain future foreign earnings.  In addition, the SEC has issued Staff Accounting Bulletin 118, which allows a measurement period, not to exceed one year, to finalize the accounting for the income tax aspects of the Act.  

 

Our effective tax rates were (5.7)% and (16.4)% for the three months ended September 30, 2018 and 2017, respectively, and (0.2)% and (22.3)% for the nine months ended September 30, 2018 and 2017, respectively. The changes in our effective tax rates and the primary reason why these effective tax rates differ from the applicable federal statutory rates are the fluctuations in earnings among the various jurisdictions in which we operate, increases in valuation allowances and foreign tax rate differentials.

 

We consider our foreign earnings to be permanently reinvested in operations outside the U.S. and have not provided for U.S. income taxes on these unrepatriated foreign earnings. We have provisionally recorded no tax expense in connection with the transition tax on the mandatory deemed repatriation of our foreign earnings based upon the aggregate tax losses of our foreign subsidiaries.  

 

We are currently evaluating the impact of the Act on our unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements and, as a result, have not included a provisional estimate of the impact.  However, we do not expect any impact from the remeasurement of certain deferred tax assets due to our full valuation allowance.