INCOME TAXES

6 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2020

Income Tax Disclosure [Abstract]

INCOME TAXES

INCOME TAXES

The income tax provision for interim periods is comprised of tax on ordinary income provided at the most recent estimated annual effective tax rate, adjusted for the tax effect of discrete items.  We estimate the annual effective tax rate quarterly based on the forecasted pretax results of our U.S. and non-U.S. operations. Items unrelated to current year ordinary income are recognized entirely in the period identified as a discrete item of tax.  These discrete items generally relate to changes in tax laws, adjustments to the actual liability determined upon filing tax returns, excess tax benefits related to share-based compensation and adjustments to previously recorded reserves for uncertain tax positions. For discussion of income tax accounting policies and other income tax related information, see Notes 2 and 16 of our 2019 Form 10-K.

Effective tax rate

Our effective income tax rate was 26.9% for the six months ended March 31, 2020, which was higher than the 24.8% effective tax rate for fiscal year 2019. The increase in the effective tax rate was primarily due to the unfavorable impact in the current period of non-deductible valuation losses associated with our company-owned life insurance policies.

Uncertain tax positions

We anticipate that the uncertain tax position liability balance will not change significantly over the next twelve months.