Income Taxes

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2019

We recognized income tax expense of $5.6 million for the three months ended March 31, 2019, representing an effective tax rate of 18.3%. The effective tax rate was impacted by an income tax benefit of $0.8 million as a result of a change in our valuation allowance on foreign tax credits due to the restructuring of certain foreign operations.

We recognized income tax expense of $4.4 million for the three months ended April 1, 2018 representing an effective tax rate of 63.2%. The effective tax rate was impacted by the following significant factors:


•	We recognized income tax expense of $1.8 million in the three months ended April 1, 2018 as a result of a change in our valuation allowance on foreign tax credits associated with our euro debt refinancing during the quarter.


•	We also recognized income tax expense of $0.5 million in the three months ended April 1, 2018 as a result of changes in our valuation allowance for the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (the Act).

On December 22, 2017, the Act was signed into law, making significant changes to the Internal Revenue Code. Changes include, but are not limited to, a corporate tax rate decrease from 35% to 21% effective for tax years beginning after December 31, 2017, the transition of U.S. international taxation from a worldwide tax system to a territorial tax system, and a one-time transition tax on the mandatory deemed repatriation of cumulative foreign earnings as of December 31, 2017. Also on December 22, 2017, Staff Accounting Bulletin No. 118 (“SAB 118”) was issued to address the application of US GAAP in situations when a registrant does not have the necessary information available, prepared, or analyzed (including computations) in reasonable detail to complete the accounting for certain income tax effects of the Act. During the three months ended April 1, 2018, we obtained additional information affecting the provisional amount initially recorded for the valuation allowance on certain foreign tax credits in 2017, and as a result, recorded an adjustment to the valuation allowance on certain foreign tax credits at such time.

Our income tax expense and effective tax rate in future periods may be impacted by many factors, including our geographic mix of income and changes in tax laws.