Income Taxes


A.	Taxes on Income

On December 22, 2017, the Tax Act was enacted which, among other changes, reduced the U.S. federal corporate tax rate from 35% to 21% effective January 1, 2018. The Tax Act made broad and complex changes to the U.S. tax code and it will take time to fully analyze the impact of the changes. Based on the information available at that time, and the current interpretation of the Tax Act, for the year ended December 31, 2017 the company was able to make a reasonable estimate and recorded an initial provisional net tax expense of $212 million related to the one-time mandatory deemed repatriation tax, payable over eight years, partially offset by the remeasurement of the deferred tax assets and liabilities, as of the date of enactment, due to the reduction in the U.S. federal corporate tax rate. Pursuant to the Staff Accounting Bulletin published by the SEC on December 22, 2017, addressing the challenges in accounting for the effects of the Tax Act in the period of enactment, companies must report provisional amounts for those specific income tax effects of the Tax Act for which the accounting is incomplete but a reasonable estimate can be determined. Those provisional amounts will be subject to adjustment during a measurement period of up to one year from the enactment date (measurement-period adjustment). Pursuant to this guidance, the estimated impact of the Tax Act was based on a preliminary review of the new tax law and projected future financial results and is subject to revision based upon further analysis and interpretation of the Tax Act and to the extent that future results differ from currently available projections.

Our accounting for the following elements of the Tax Act is incomplete. However, we were able to further refine our initial reasonable estimate and adjusted the initial provisional net tax expense of $212 million and recorded the following measurement-period adjustments during the first quarter of 2018:

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One-Time Mandatory Deemed Repatriation Tax: The one-time mandatory deemed repatriation tax is a tax on certain previously untaxed accumulated and current earnings and profits (E&P) of our foreign subsidiaries. We were able to reasonably estimate the one-time mandatory deemed repatriation tax and recorded an initial provisional tax obligation, with a corresponding adjustment to income tax expense for the year ended December 31, 2017. We are continuing to gather additional information to more precisely compute the amount of the one-time mandatory deemed repatriation tax, and our accounting for this item is not yet complete due to the fact that the non-U.S. subsidiaries are on a fiscal year ending November 30, and this tax liability will not become a fixed obligation until November 30, 2018. The estimated impact of the Tax Act is based on a preliminary review of the new law and projected future financial results and is subject to revision based upon further analysis and interpretation of the Tax Act and to the extent that future results differ from currently available projections. However, on the basis of revised E&P computations that were calculated during the reporting period, we recognized a measurement-period adjustment of $2 million as a decrease to the one-time mandatory deemed repatriation tax obligation, with a corresponding adjustment to income tax benefit during the period. The effect of the measurement-period adjustment to the first quarter 2018 effective tax rate was a reduction to the rate of approximately 0.6%. In addition, we reclassified the one-time mandatory deemed repatriation tax from Noncurrent deferred tax liabilities to Income taxes payable and Other taxes payable. We expect to complete our accounting within the prescribed measurement period.

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Reduction of U.S. Federal Corporate Tax Rate: The Tax Act reduced the corporate tax rate to 21%, effective January 1, 2018. Consequently, we recorded a decrease related to deferred tax assets and liabilities with a corresponding net adjustment to deferred income tax benefit for the year ended December 31, 2017. We have not made any measurement-period adjustments related to this item during the first quarter of 2018. Since the company has recorded provisional amounts related to certain portions of the Tax Act, any corresponding deferred tax remeasurement is also provisional. However, we are continuing to gather additional information to complete our accounting for this item and expect to be completed within the prescribed measurement period.

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Valuation Allowances: The company must assess whether its valuation allowance analyses are affected by the various aspects of the Tax Act (e.g., one-time mandatory deemed repatriation of deferred foreign income, global intangible low-taxed income inclusions, and new categories of foreign tax credits). We have not made any measurement-period adjustments related to this item during the first quarter of 2018. Since the company has recorded provisional amounts related to certain portions of the Tax Act, any corresponding determination of the need for or change in a valuation allowance is also provisional. However, we are continuing to gather additional information to complete our accounting for this item and expect to be completed within the prescribed measurement period.

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Global Intangible Low-Taxed Income (GILTI) Policy Election: The GILTI provisions of the Tax Act do not apply to the company until 2019, due to the fact that the non-U.S. subsidiaries are on a fiscal year ending November 30, and we are still evaluating its impact. The FASB allows companies to adopt an accounting policy to either recognize deferred taxes for GILTI or treat such tax cost as a current-period expense when incurred. We have not yet determined our accounting policy because determining the impact of the GILTI provisions requires analysis of our existing legal entity structure, the reversal of our U.S. GAAP and U.S. tax basis differences in the assets and liabilities of our foreign subsidiaries, and our ability to offset any tax with foreign tax credits. As such, we have not made a policy decision whether to record deferred taxes on GILTI or treat such tax cost as a current-period expense.

The effective tax rate was 16.1% for the three months ended March 31, 2018, compared with 29.1% for the three months ended April 2, 2017. The lower effective tax rate for the three months ended March 31, 2018, was primarily attributable to:


•	the reduction of the U.S. federal corporate income tax rate from 35% to 21%, effective January 1, 2018, pursuant to the Tax Act;


•	changes in the jurisdictional mix of earnings, which includes the impact of the location of earnings from operations and repatriation costs. The jurisdictional mix of earnings can vary as a result of repatriation decisions and operating fluctuations in the normal course of business and the impact of non-deductible items;


•	an $8 million and $5 million discrete tax benefit recorded in the first quarter of 2018 and 2017, respectively, related to the excess tax benefits for share-based payments;


•	an $8 million and $3 million discrete tax benefit recorded in the first quarter of 2018 and 2017, respectively, related to a remeasurement of deferred taxes as a result of a change in non-U.S. statutory tax rates; and


•	a $2 million net discrete tax benefit recorded in the first quarter of 2018, associated with a measurement-period adjustment related to the provisional one-time mandatory deemed repatriation tax on the company's undistributed non-U.S. earnings pursuant to the Tax Act enacted on December 22, 2017.


B.	Deferred Taxes

As of March 31, 2018, the total net deferred income tax liability of $166 million is included in Noncurrent deferred tax assets ($80 million) and Noncurrent deferred tax liabilities ($246 million).

As of December 31, 2017, the total net deferred income tax liability of $300 million is included in Noncurrent deferred tax assets ($80 million) and Noncurrent deferred tax liabilities ($380 million).

The change in Noncurrent deferred tax liabilities was primarily due to the reclassification of the one-time mandatory deemed repatriation tax from Noncurrent deferred tax liabilities to Income taxes payable and Other taxes payable to properly reflect the liability, which became a fixed obligation in 2018 payable over eight years.


C.	Tax Contingencies

As of March 31, 2018, the tax liabilities associated with uncertain tax positions of $191 million (exclusive of interest and penalties related to uncertain tax positions of $12 million) are included in Noncurrent deferred tax assets ($4 million) and Other taxes payable ($187 million).

As of December 31, 2017, the tax liabilities associated with uncertain tax positions of $164 million (exclusive of interest and penalties related to uncertain tax positions of $11 million) are included in Noncurrent deferred tax assets ($3 million) and Other taxes payable ($161 million).

Our tax liabilities for uncertain tax positions relate primarily to issues common among multinational corporations. Any settlements or statute of limitations expirations could result in a significant decrease in our uncertain tax positions. Substantially all of these unrecognized tax benefits, if recognized, would impact our effective income tax rate. We do not expect that within the next twelve months any of our uncertain tax positions could significantly decrease as a result of settlements with taxing authorities or the expiration of the statutes of limitations. Our assessments are based on estimates and assumptions that have been deemed reasonable by management, but our estimates of uncertain tax positions and potential tax benefits may not be representative of actual outcomes, and any variation from such estimates could materially affect our financial statements in the period of settlement or when the statutes of limitations expire, as we treat these events as discrete items in the period of resolution. Finalizing audits with the relevant taxing authorities can include formal administrative and legal proceedings, and, as a result, it is difficult to estimate the timing and range of possible changes related to our uncertain tax positions, and such changes could be significant.