Income Taxes

The following table provides details of income taxes (in millions, except percentages):



	Three Months Ended
	October 27, 2018			October 28, 2017
Income before provision for income taxes	$	3,909		$	2,962
Provision for income taxes	$	360		$	568
Effective tax rate	9.2		%	19.2		%

The effective tax rate for the first quarter of fiscal 2019 includes a $152 million tax benefit relating to indirect effects from the adoption of ASC 606 at the beginning of our first quarter of fiscal 2019.

On December 22, 2017, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (the "Tax Act") was enacted. The Tax Act significantly revises the U.S. corporate income tax by, among other things, lowering the statutory corporate income tax rate (“federal tax rate”) from 35% to 21% effective January 1, 2018, implementing a modified territorial tax system, and imposing a mandatory one-time transition tax on accumulated earnings of foreign subsidiaries. The enactment of the Tax Act resulted in us recording a provisional tax expense of $10.4 billion in fiscal 2018.

In December 2017, the Securities and Exchange Commission staff issued Staff Accounting Bulletin No. 118, which addresses how a company recognizes provisional estimates when a company does not have the necessary information available, prepared or analyzed (including computations) in reasonable detail to complete its accounting for the effect of the changes in the Tax Act. The measurement period ends when a company has obtained, prepared, and analyzed the information necessary to finalize its accounting, but cannot extend beyond one year. The final impact of the Tax Act may differ from the above provisional estimates due to changes in interpretations of the Tax Act, any legislative action to address questions that arise because of the Tax Act, by changes in accounting standard for income taxes and related interpretations in response to the Tax Act, and any updates or changes to estimates used in the provisional amounts. We have determined that the $8.1 billion of tax expense for the U.S. transition tax on accumulated earnings of foreign subsidiaries, the $1.2 billion of foreign withholding tax, and the $1.1 billion of tax expense for DTA re-measurement were each provisional amounts and reasonable estimates as of October 27, 2018. Estimates used in the provisional amounts include: the anticipated reversal pattern of the gross DTAs; and earnings, cash positions, foreign taxes and withholding taxes attributable to foreign subsidiaries. The provisional tax expense related to the U.S. transition tax on accumulated earnings in foreign subsidiaries includes an $863 million benefit related to the U.S. taxation of deemed foreign dividends in the transition fiscal year. This benefit may be reduced or eliminated in future legislation. If such legislation is enacted, we will record the impact of the legislation in the quarter of enactment.

The Tax Act includes a Global Intangible Low-Taxed Income ("GILTI") provision that imposes U.S. tax on certain foreign subsidiary income in the year it is earned. Our accounting policy is to treat tax on GILTI as a current period cost included in tax expense in the year incurred.

As of October 27, 2018, we had $1.9 billion of unrecognized tax benefit, of which $1.7 billion, if recognized, would favorably impact the effective tax rate. We regularly engage in discussions and negotiations with tax authorities regarding tax matters in various jurisdictions. We believe it is reasonably possible that certain federal, foreign and state tax matters may be concluded in the next 12 months. Specific positions that may be resolved include issues involving transfer pricing and various other matters. We estimate that the unrecognized tax benefits at October 27, 2018 could be reduced by approximately $200 million in the next 12 months.