Income Taxes

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2020

Income Tax Disclosure [Abstract]

Income Taxes

The effective income tax rate for the three months ended March 31, 2020 was 62.5%, compared to 14.7% for the three months ended March 31, 2019. The liability for uncertain tax positions was $19.5 million and $17.0 million at March 31, 2020 and December 31, 2019, respectively. We record penalties and interest related to unrecognized tax benefits in Provision for income taxes and Net interest expense, respectively, on the Condensed Consolidated Statements of Income and Comprehensive Income, which is consistent with our past practices.

Valuation allowances are recorded to reduce the amount of deferred tax assets in jurisdictions where, based on the weight of information available to us, we determine that it is more likely than not the related tax benefits will not be realized. In the three-month period ended March 31, 2020, as a result of the assessment of the available information, we established a valuation allowance of $19.4 million on certain foreign deferred tax assets.

In April 2020, the U.S. Treasury finalized regulations which limit the availability of certain tax deductions we currently claim related to interest expense (the “Regulations”), and those Regulations have retroactive effect to January 1, 2019. Based on the effective timing of the Regulations, we expect to record a non-recurring tax expense of approximately $6 million during the second quarter (period of enactment) to account for the retrospective impact of the Regulations.