INCOME TAXES

At the end of each interim period, the Company makes its best estimate of the annual expected effective income tax rate and applies that rate to its ordinary year-to-date earnings or loss. The income tax provision or benefit related to unusual or infrequent items, if applicable, that will be separately reported or reported net of their related tax effects are individually computed and recognized in the interim period in which those items occur. In addition, the effect of changes in enacted tax laws or rates, tax status, judgment on the realizability of a beginning-of-the-year deferred tax asset in future years or income tax contingencies is recognized in the interim period in which the change occurs.

The computation of the annual expected effective income tax rate at each interim period requires certain estimates and assumptions including, but not limited to, the expected pre-tax income (or loss) for the year, projections of the proportion of income (and/or loss) earned and taxed in respective jurisdictions, permanent and temporary differences, and the likelihood of the realizability of deferred tax assets generated in the current year. Jurisdictions with a projected loss for the year or a year-to-date loss for which no tax benefit or expense can be recognized due to a valuation allowance are excluded from the estimated annual effective tax rate. The impact of such an exclusion could result in a higher or lower effective tax rate during a particular quarter, based upon the composition and timing of actual earnings compared to annual projections. The estimates used to compute the provision or benefit for income taxes may change as new events occur, additional information is obtained or as our tax environment changes. To the extent that the expected annual effective income tax rate changes, the effect of the change on prior interim periods is included in the income tax provision in the period in which the change in estimate occurs.

The Company’s income tax expense and effective tax rate for the six months ended June 30, 2018 and 2017 were as follows:



	Six Months Ended June 30,
	2018			2017

	(dollars in millions)
Income tax expense	$	42		$	53
Effective tax rate	18		%	24		%

The Company’s tax rate is affected by the fact that Delphi Technologies PLC, its parent entity, is a U.K. resident taxpayer, the tax rates in the other jurisdictions in which the Company operates, the relative amount of income earned by jurisdiction and the relative amount of losses or income for which no tax benefit or expense was recognized due to a valuation allowance.

The Company’s effective tax rate for the six months ended June 30, 2018 was impacted by favorable changes in geographic income mix in 2018 as compared to 2017. This was primarily due to changes in the underlying business operations and the receipt of certain tax incentives and holidays that reduced the effective tax rate for certain subsidiaries below the statutory rate. The Company’s effective tax rate for the six months ended June 30, 2018 includes net discrete tax expense of $2 million. The effective tax rate for the six months ended June 30, 2017 was impacted by losses for which no benefit was recognized due to a valuation allowance and net discrete tax expense of $9 million.

Additionally, the Company’s tax rate was impacted by the enactment of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (the “Act”) in the United States on December 22, 2017, which provided for a reduction of the U.S. corporate income tax rate from 35% to 21% effective January 1, 2018. We consider our effective tax rate calculation, to the extent related to the effects of the Act, to be provisional pursuant to the guidance in SEC Staff Accounting Bulletin No. 118, primarily due to lack of clarity at the balance sheet date related to the state tax impacts of federal tax reform, which resulted in our use of estimates to compute our future blended tax rate, as well as to the lack of clarity regarding the tax treatment of certain of our intercompany transactions. If we are required to change the taxes we have provided related to our U.S. business based on further analysis and regulatory guidance at the federal and state level issued subsequent to the issuance of these statements, we will record such adjustments to income tax expense in the period that the amounts are determined. The Company was not affected by the Transition Tax provisions of the Act, which impose a U.S. tax upon unremitted earnings of non-U.S. subsidiaries which would have been subject to U.S. tax when remitted under the law in effect prior to the Act. The Company’s U.S. subsidiary does not hold any investments in non-U.S. operations.

Delphi Technologies PLC is a U.K. resident taxpayer and as such is generally not subject to U.K. tax on remitted foreign earnings.

Cash paid or withheld for income taxes was $51 million and $24 million for the six months ended June 30, 2018 and 2017 respectively.