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Income Taxes
3 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2018
Income Tax Disclosure [Abstract]  
INCOME TAXES
INCOME TAXES
For the first quarter of 2018, we recorded tax expense of $33 million on income before income taxes of $113 million. Income tax expense for the three months ended March 31, 2018 included a charge of $7 million to increase our provisional tax obligation for the one-time transition tax imposed by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (the "Tax Act") that was enacted on December 22, 2017 in the United States.
The one-time transition tax is a tax on certain previously untaxed accumulated earnings and profits of our foreign subsidiaries. We were able to reasonably estimate the one-time transition tax and record an initial provisional tax obligation of $77 million at December 31, 2017. The increase to our provisional tax obligation during the first quarter of 2018 is a consequence of revised guidance requiring the one-time transition tax to be calculated using year-end exchange rates as opposed to average exchange rates. Accordingly, as of March 31, 2018, we have now recorded a transition tax obligation totaling $84 million. We also have established a provisional reserve of $20 million related to foreign withholding taxes that we would incur should we repatriate certain earnings. We continue to consider new guidance for these provisional amounts and are in the process of gathering and analyzing additional information with respect to our 2017 earnings and profits to more precisely compute the amount of the one-time transition tax.
For the first quarter of 2017, we recorded tax expense of $70 million on income before income taxes of $239 million. Income tax expense for the three months ended March 31, 2017 was favorably impacted by $2 million of various discrete tax adjustments.
We record taxes based on overall estimated annual effective tax rates. The difference between our effective tax rate for the three months ended March 31, 2018 and the U.S. statutory rate of 21% primarily relates to the impact of the change in the amount of our provisional one-time transition tax and an overall higher effective tax rate in the foreign jurisdictions in which we operate, partially offset by a benefit from our foreign derived intangible income deduction provided for in the Tax Act. The difference between our effective tax rate for the three months ended March 31, 2017 and the then applicable U.S. statutory rate of 35% was primarily attributable to an overall lower effective tax rate in the foreign jurisdictions in which we operate.
The Tax Act subjects a U.S. parent to the base erosion minimum tax ("BEAT") and a current tax on its global intangible low-taxed income ("GILTI"). We have elected to recognize the resulting tax on GILTI as a period expense in the period the tax is incurred. We estimate that the effect from the BEAT and GILTI taxes on our estimated annual effective tax rate will not be material.
Our losses in various foreign taxing jurisdictions in recent periods represented sufficient negative evidence to require us to maintain a full valuation allowance against certain of our net deferred tax assets. Each reporting period we assess available positive and negative evidence and estimate if sufficient future taxable income will be generated to utilize these existing deferred tax assets. If recent positive evidence provided by the profitability in our Brazilian subsidiary continues, it will provide us the opportunity to apply greater significance to our forecasts in assessing the need for a valuation allowance. We believe it is reasonably possible that sufficient positive evidence required to release all, or a portion, of its valuation allowance will exist within the next twelve months. This may result in a reduction of the valuation allowance and a one-time tax benefit of up to $25 million.
For the three months ending March 31, 2018, changes to our unrecognized tax benefits did not, and for the full year of 2018 are not expected to, have a significant impact on our financial position or results of operations.
We are open to examination in the United States for 2017 and in Germany from 2013 onward. Generally, for our remaining tax jurisdictions, years from 2012 onward are still open to examination.