Income Taxes (Tables)

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2017

Schedule of Components of Income Tax Expense (Benefit) [Table Text Block]

The provision for income taxes for the years ended December 31 consists of the following:



	2017			2016			2015
Current:
Federal	$	119,883		$	45,314		$	82,532
State	(6,156		)	7,022			18,022
International	134,987			110,208			85,310
	248,714			162,544			185,864
Deferred:
Federal	31,168			29,973			12,127
State	13,534			7,161			(1,828		)
International	(6,290		)	(9,004		)	(4,466		)
	38,412			28,130			5,833
	$	287,126		$	190,674		$	191,697

Schedule of Effective Income Tax Rate Reconciliation [Table Text Block]

The principal causes of the difference between the U.S. federal statutory tax rate of 35% and effective income tax rates for the years ended December 31 are as follows:



	2017			2016			2015
United States	$	115,850		$	235,256		$	281,579
International	578,438			480,141			410,604
Income before income taxes	$	694,288		$	715,397		$	692,183

Provision at statutory tax rate	$	243,001		$	250,389		$	242,264
State taxes, net of federal benefit	5,184			9,219			10,526
International effective tax rate differential	(88,444		)	(64,002		)	(56,132		)
Change in valuation allowance	1,408			7,174			(205		)
Other non-deductible expenses	12,700			3,516			3,530
Changes in tax accruals	(7,973		)	(3,679		)	(7,423		)
Tax credits	(8,170		)	(14,510		)	—
Tax Act's transition tax (a)	196,010			—			—
Tax Act's impact on deferred taxes (b)	(71,261		)	—			—
Other	4,671			2,567			(863		)
Provision for income taxes	$	287,126		$	190,674		$	191,697

On December 22, 2017, the U.S. government enacted comprehensive tax legislation (the “Tax Act”), which significantly revises the ongoing U.S. corporate income tax law by lowering the U.S. federal corporate income tax rate from 35% to 21%, implementing a territorial tax system, imposing one-time tax on foreign unremitted earnings and setting limitations on deductibility of certain costs (e.g., interest expense), among other things.

Due to the complexities involved in accounting for the recently enacted Tax Act, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s Staff Accounting Bulletin (“SAB”) 118 requires that the company include in its financial statements the reasonable estimate of the impact of the Tax Act on earnings to the extent such reasonable estimate has been determined. Accordingly, the company recorded the following reasonable estimates of the tax impact in its earnings for the year ended December 31, 2017.


(a)	For the year ended December 31, 2017, the company accrued a reasonable estimate of $196,010 of tax expense for the Tax Act’s one-time transition tax on the foreign subsidiaries’ accumulated, unremitted earnings going back to 1986.


(b)	For the year ended December 31, 2017, the company accrued $71,261 in provisional tax benefit related to the net change in deferred tax liabilities stemming from the Tax Act’s reduction of the U.S. federal tax rate from 35% to 21%, and disallowance of certain incentive based compensation tax deductibility under Internal Revenue Code Section 162(m).

The Tax Act also includes a provision to tax global intangible low-taxed income (“GILTI”) of foreign subsidiaries and a base erosion anti-abuse tax (“BEAT”) measure that taxes certain payments between a U.S. corporation and its subsidiaries. The company will be subject to the GILTI and BEAT provisions effective beginning January 1, 2018 and is in the process of analyzing their effects, including how to account for the GILTI provision from an accounting policy standpoint.

Reconciliation of Unrecognized Tax Benefits [Table Text Block]

A reconciliation of the beginning and ending amount of unrecognized tax benefits for the years ended December 31 is as follows:



	2017			2016			2015
Balance at beginning of year	$	31,534		$	36,935		$	44,701
Additions based on tax positions taken during a prior period	2,342			2,356			2,568
Reductions based on tax positions taken during a prior period	(1,242		)	(6,305		)	(9,482		)
Additions based on tax positions taken during the current period	6,543			3,935			8,440
Reductions related to settlement of tax matters	(2,921		)	(2,795		)	(4,143		)
Reductions related to a lapse of applicable statute of limitations	(11,895		)	(2,592		)	(5,149		)
Balance at end of year	$	24,361		$	31,534		$	36,935

Summary of Open Tax Years by Major Jurisdiction [Table Text Block]

In many cases the company's uncertain tax positions are related to tax years that remain subject to examination by tax authorities. The following describes the open tax years, by major tax jurisdiction, as of December 31, 2017:



United States - Federal		2014 - present
United States - States		2007 - present
Germany (c)		2010 - present
Hong Kong		2010 - present
Italy (c)		2012 - present
Sweden		2012 - present
United Kingdom		2015 - present

Schedule of Deferred Tax Assets and Liabilities [Table Text Block]

The deferred tax assets and liabilities consist of the following at December 31:



	2017			2016
Deferred tax assets:
Net operating loss carryforwards	$	113,327		$	102,710
Inventory adjustments	42,376			56,890
Allowance for doubtful accounts	12,368			14,526
Accrued expenses	28,229			40,179
Interest carryforward	15,964			19,073
Stock-based compensation awards	12,982			24,505
Other comprehensive income items	—			10,859
Integration and restructuring	6,726			2,970
Other	17,015			17,830
	248,987			289,542
Valuation allowance	(13,915		)	(15,323		)
Total deferred tax assets	$	235,072		$	274,219

Deferred tax liabilities:
Goodwill	$	(109,994	)	$	(142,541	)
Depreciation	(116,725		)	(94,838		)
Intangible assets	(18,760		)	(21,118		)
Other comprehensive income items	(5,542		)	—
Total deferred tax liabilities	$	(251,021	)	$	(258,497	)
Total net deferred tax assets (liabilities)	$	(15,949	)	$	15,722