Income Taxes

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2019

Income Tax Disclosure [Abstract]

Income Taxes

Income Taxes

The Company's provision for income taxes is based upon an estimated annual tax rate for the year applied to federal, state and foreign income. On a quarterly basis, the annual effective tax rate is adjusted, as appropriate, based upon changed facts and circumstances, if any, as compared to those forecasted at the beginning of the fiscal year and each interim period thereafter.

The Company's effective tax rate for the nine months ended September 30, 2019 was 29.2%. This rate includes reductions of income tax expense of $11 million related to restructuring expense, $6 million related to other postretirement expense, and $13 million related to other one-time adjustments. This rate also includes an increase in income tax expense of $22 million due to the U.S. Department of the Treasury's issuance of the final regulations in the first quarter of 2019 related to the calculation of the one-time transition tax.

The Company's effective tax rate for the nine months ended September 30, 2018 was 20.7%. This rate includes income tax expense of $1 million related to a commercial settlement gain, and reductions of income tax expense of $10 million related to restructuring expense, $20 million related to adjustments to measurement period provisional estimates associated with the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, $22 million related to an increase to our deferred tax asset due to the Company's ability to record a tax benefit for certain foreign tax credits now available due to actions the Company took during the year, and $11 million for other one-time tax adjustments, primarily due to changes in tax filing positions.

The annual effective tax rates differ from the U.S. statutory rate primarily due to foreign rates which differ from those in the U.S., U.S. taxes on foreign earnings, the realization of certain business tax credits, including foreign tax credits, and favorable permanent differences between book and tax treatment for certain items, including equity in affiliates' earnings.