Income Taxes



	Nine Months Ended September 30,
	2014	2013
Effective tax rate	23.7%	20.0%

The effective tax rate on pre-tax income from continuing operations for the nine months ended September 30, 2014 was 23.7%. The effective tax rate on pre-tax income from continuing operations for the nine months ended September 30, 2014 includes tax costs of $35 million on PPG's portion of the gain on the sale of PGW's insurance and services business and $8 million on the gain on the sale of substantially all of the assets of PPG's former Mt. Zion glass facility, and includes tax benefits of $52 million for environmental remediation, $4 million for certain acquisition-related costs and $2 million for pension plan settlement charges (see Note 10).

The effective tax rate on pretax income from continuing operations for the nine months ended September 30, 2013 was approximately 20.0%. The effective tax rate on pretax income from continuing operations for the nine months ended September 30, 2013 included tax benefits of $37 million for environmental remediation; $25 million for business restructuring charges; $5 million for the settlement loss related to certain legacy pension plans and $10 million for certain acquisition-related costs. The tax rate for the first nine months of 2013 also includes an after-tax benefit of $10 million for the retroactive impact of U.S. tax law changes that were enacted in early 2013.

The effective tax rate for each period presented is lower than the U.S. federal statutory rate primarily due to earnings in foreign jurisdictions which are taxed at rates lower than the U.S. statutory rate, the U.S. tax benefit on foreign dividends paid and the impact of certain U.S. tax incentives.

The Company files federal, state and local income tax returns in numerous domestic and foreign jurisdictions. In most tax jurisdictions, returns are subject to examination by the relevant tax authorities for a number of years after the returns have been filed. The Company is no longer subject to examinations by tax authorities in any major tax jurisdiction for years before 2006. In addition, the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) has completed its examination of the Company’s U.S. federal income tax returns filed for years through 2011. The IRS is currently conducting its examination of the Company's U.S. federal income tax return for 2012.