INCOME TAXES

The worldwide effective income tax rates for the fiscal nine months of 2018 and 2017 were 17.6% and 20.5%, respectively. The U.S. Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) was enacted into law effective January 1, 2018. This law reduces the U.S. statutory corporate tax rate from 35% to 21%, eliminates or reduces certain corporate income tax deductions and introduces a tax on global intangible low-taxed income (GILTI). In December 2017, the Company recorded a provisional tax cost of $13.0 billion related to the enactment of the TCJA. Under the guidance in SEC Staff Accounting Bulletin 118 (SAB 118), the provisional amount was a reasonable estimate based on the most recent information and guidance available related to the calculation of the tax liability and the impact to its deferred tax assets and liabilities, including those recorded for foreign local and withholding taxes as of the 2017 assessment date of January 18, 2018. As noted below, the Company has made adjustments through the third quarter of 2018. All amounts recorded remain provisional and may require further adjustments and changes to the Company’s estimates as new guidance is made available. The estimate is subject to the finalization of management’s analysis related to certain matters, such as developing interpretations of the provisions of the TCJA, changes to certain estimates and amounts related to the earnings and profits of certain subsidiaries and the filing of tax returns. Revisions to the provisional charge may be material to the Company's future financial results. See Note 8 to the Consolidated Financial Statements in the Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2017 for further details on the TCJA and SAB 118.

The Company completed its acquisition of AMO in the first fiscal quarter of 2017, and incurred incremental tax costs that were discretely recorded in the first quarter of 2017, which had increased the effective tax rate by 1.4% for the first nine months of 2017 compared to the same period in 2018. Additionally, in 2018 the Company had more income in higher tax jurisdictions relative to lower tax jurisdictions as compared to 2017. Tax benefits received from stock-based compensation during the fiscal nine months of 2018 and 2017, reduced the effective tax rate by 1.2% and 2.1%, respectively. The reduction of the U.S. statutory corporate tax rate including the effects of tax elections which resulted in the acceleration of certain deductions into the 2017 tax return ⁽¹⁾, offset by the elimination of the corporate income tax deductions, measurement period adjustments ⁽²⁾and the GILTI tax ⁽³⁾, decreased the Company’s worldwide effective rate as compared to the same period of the prior year. As previously disclosed, the Company has elected to provisionally treat the GILTI tax as a period expense, pending further analysis by management of this new tax provision which will be completed in the fourth quarter of 2018.

⁽¹⁾The impact of the accelerations of these deductions on the effective tax rate through the fiscal nine months of 2018 was a decrease of approximately 2.0%.

⁽²⁾The following adjustments were made to the provisional tax amounts through the fiscal third quarter of 2018 due to issued Treasury guidance and revisions to the Company’s estimates since the assessment date:


•	$0.1 billion increase to the transition tax on previously undistributed foreign earnings as of December 31, 2017 due to U.S. Treasury Department’s issuance of Notice 2018-13 on January 19, 2018, Notice 2018-26 on April 2, 2018, Notice 2018-78 on October 1, 2018 and updates to prior estimates


•	$0.3 billion decrease to the deferred tax liability for foreign withholding and local taxes, partially offset by a decrease of $0.2 billion in deferred tax assets for U.S. foreign tax credits due to updated estimates from the amounts recorded in 2017.

These measurement period adjustments decreased the Company’s effective tax rate by approximately 0.4% through the first fiscal nine months of 2018 as compared to the same period of the prior year.

⁽³⁾ The impact of GILTI on the effective tax rate through the first fiscal nine months of 2018 was an increase of 2.5%.

In 2017, the Company provisionally recorded the TCJA transition tax and foreign local and withholding taxes on substantially all of the Company’s foreign earnings. The Company has currently designated a portion of its 2018 foreign earnings as indefinitely reinvested in certain foreign jurisdictions and, as such, has not accrued for the impact of foreign local and withholding taxes in its financial results related to these earnings. The estimated impact of these taxes would have been an increase of approximately 2.5% to the year-to-date effective tax rate. As of September 30, 2018, the Company has no plans or intention to repatriate these designated earnings to the United States. However, the Company is continuing to evaluate its reinvestment plans based on the enacted provisions of the TCJA and related guidance issued to-date in 2018 by the U.S. Department of Treasury, specifically related to the eligibility of these earnings to utilize foreign tax credits. As further Treasury guidance is provided, the Company may re-evaluate its reinvestment plans and strategies for all of its foreign earnings.

As of September 30, 2018, the Company had approximately $3.2 billion of liabilities from unrecognized tax benefits. The Company believes it is possible that audits may be completed by tax authorities in some jurisdictions over the next twelve months. The Company is not able to provide a reasonably reliable estimate of the timing of any future tax payments relating to uncertain tax positions. The IRS has completed its audit for the tax years through 2009 and is currently auditing the tax years 2010 through 2012. The Company currently expects completion of this audit during 2019. Final conclusion of the tax audit may result in an outcome that is different than the Company’s estimates and may result in a material impact on the Company’s current and future operating results or cash flows in the period that the audit is concluded.