Income Taxes Income Taxes

9 Months Ended

Sep. 29, 2019

Income Tax Disclosure [Abstract]

Income Taxes

INCOME TAXES

The Company determines its provision for income taxes for interim periods using an estimate of its annual effective tax rate and records any changes affecting the estimated annual effective tax rate in the interim period in which the change occurs, including discrete tax items.

For the nine months ended September 29, 2019, the Company’s effective tax rate was 22.0%, as compared to 24.3% in the first nine months of 2018. The effective tax rate decreased due to the favorable impact of discrete items recognized during the period related to company-owned life insurance and the remeasurement of unrecognized tax benefits.

Accounting standards require that all tax positions be analyzed using a two-step approach. The first step requires an entity to determine if a tax position is more-likely-than-not to be sustained upon examination. In the second step, the tax benefit is measured as the largest amount of benefit, determined on a cumulative probability basis, that is more-likely-than-not to be realized upon ultimate settlement. In the first nine months of 2019, the Company decreased its liability for unrecognized tax benefits by $2.2 million. As of September 29, 2019, the Company had accrued approximately $25.9 million for unrecognized tax benefits. In accordance with applicable accounting standards, the Company’s deferred tax asset as of September 29, 2019 reflected a reduction of $2.8 million related to these unrecognized tax benefits.