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Income Taxes
6 Months Ended
Jun. 30, 2018
Income Tax Disclosure [Abstract]  
Income Taxes

17.     INCOME TAXES

On December 22, 2017, the U.S. government enacted comprehensive tax legislation commonly referred to as the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (Tax Act).  The Tax Act made broad and complex changes to the U.S. tax code.  For various reasons that are discussed more fully below, we have not completed our accounting for the income tax effects of certain elements of the Tax Act.  If we were able to make reasonable estimates of the effects of elements for which our analysis is not yet complete, we recorded provisional adjustments.  If we were not yet able to make reasonable estimates of the impact of certain elements, we have not recorded any adjustments related to those elements and have continued accounting for them in accordance with ASC 740 on the basis of the tax laws in effect before the Tax Act.

 

Our accounting for the Tax Act is incomplete.  As noted at year-end, we were able to reasonably estimate certain effects and, therefore, recorded the provisional adjustments related to the following:

 

Reduction of U.S. federal corporate tax rate: The Tax Act reduced the corporate tax rate to 21 percent, effective January 1, 2018.  We recorded a provisional adjustment for certain of our deferred tax assets and liabilities associated with the tax rate reduction for the year ended December 31, 2017.  

 

We have not made any additional measurement-period adjustments in the first six months of 2018 because such adjustments may be affected by other analyses related to the Tax Act, including, but not limited to, our calculation of deemed repatriation of deferred foreign income and the state tax effect of adjustments made to federal temporary differences.  However, we are continuing to gather additional information to complete our accounting for this item and expect to complete our accounting within the prescribed measurement period.

 

Deemed Repatriation Transition Tax: The Transition Tax is a tax on previously untaxed accumulated and current earnings and profits of certain of our foreign subsidiaries.  We recorded a provisional Transition Tax obligation for the year ended December 31, 2017.  

 

We have not made any additional measurement-period adjustments in the quarter because we are continuing to gather additional information to more precisely compute the amount of the Transition Tax.  However, we expect to complete our accounting within the prescribed measurement period.

 

 

Our accounting for the Tax Act is incomplete.  As noted at year-end, we were not yet able to reasonably estimate the effects for the items set forth below.  Therefore, no provisional adjustments were recorded:

 

Global intangible low taxed income (GILTI): The Tax Act requires the Company to include certain income (GILTI) of its foreign subsidiaries in gross income.  The amount of this inclusion is determined under complex rules, and depends, in part, on the character of income earned by the foreign subsidiaries, the tax bases of those subsidiaries’ assets and the amount of certain interest expenses.

 

 

Under GAAP, we are allowed to make an accounting policy choice of either (1) treating taxes due on future income inclusions related to GILTI as a current-period expense when incurred (the period cost method) or (2) accounting for such amounts in measuring deferred taxes (the deferred method).  Our selection of an accounting policy with respect to the new GILTI tax rules will depend, in part, on analyzing our global income to determine whether we expect to have future income inclusions related to GILTI and, if so, what the impact is expected to be.  These determinations depend not only on our current structure and estimated future results of global operations but also our intent and ability to modify our structure and/or our business.  Therefore, we have not made any adjustments or estimates related to any potential deferred tax liabilities related to GILTI in our financial statements and have not made a policy decision regarding whether to record deferred tax liabilities related to GILTI.

 

Deductibility of Executive Compensation: The Tax Act amended certain aspects of Section 162(m) of the Internal Revenue Code (Section 162(m)), which generally disallows a tax deduction for annual compensation paid to “covered employees” in excess of $1 million, including eliminating an exception to the deduction limit for “qualified performance-based compensation,” effective for tax years beginning after December 31, 2017.  The Tax Act provides for a grandfather provision, pursuant to which remuneration that is provided pursuant to a written binding contract in effect on November 2, 2017, and which has not been modified in any material respect on or after that date, will not be subject to the amendments made to Section 162(m) by the Tax Act and will remain eligible for deduction as qualified performance-based compensation. To the extent available, we intend to continue to treat “qualified performance-based compensation” that is grandfathered under the Tax Act as deductible compensation. We have not yet completed our evaluation of our existing compensation arrangements to determine whether any amounts payable to our Section 162(m) covered employees may continue to constitute qualified performance-based compensation under Section 162(m) and qualify under the grandfather provision. Therefore, we have not made any adjustments or estimates related to any potential tax liabilities in our financial statements related to the amendments to Section 162(m).

 

Cost recovery: We have not yet completed all of the computations necessary or completed an inventory of our 2017 expenditures that qualify for immediate expensing.  Therefore, we have not made any adjustments or estimates related to any potential tax liabilities in our financial statements related to immediate expensing.

 

Valuation allowances: The Company must assess whether valuation allowances assessments are affected by various aspects of the Tax Act (e.g., GILTI inclusions and new categories of foreign tax credits).  Because, as discussed herein, the Company has recorded no amounts related to certain portions of the Tax Act, any corresponding determination of the need for or change in a valuation allowance has not been completed and no changes to valuation allowances as a result of the Tax Act have been recorded.