Quarterly report pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d)

Income Taxes

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Income Taxes
9 Months Ended
Nov. 30, 2019
Income Tax Disclosure [Abstract]  
INCOME TAXES INCOME TAXES

Our effective tax rate for the nine months ended November 30, 2019, was 73.0% of tax benefit as compared with 15.5% of tax expense for the nine months ended November 30, 2018. Our effective tax rate for the three months ended November 30, 2019, was 225.3% of tax benefit as compared with 10.2% of tax expense for the three months ended November 30, 2018.

For the nine months and three months ended November 30, 2019, our effective tax rate was higher than the federal statutory rate of 21% primarily due to:

the recognition of a $547.4 million net income tax benefit resulting from the remeasurement of our deferred tax assets in connection with the September 2019 enactment of tax reform in Switzerland; and
a higher effective rate of tax benefit from our foreign businesses including the tax benefits recorded on the net unrealized loss from the changes in fair value of our investments in Canopy and the tax benefits recorded on the Canopy equity in earnings (losses) and related activities.

For the nine months and three months ended November 30, 2018, our effective tax rate was lower than the federal statutory rate of 21% primarily due to:

lower effective tax rates applicable to our foreign businesses;
the recognition of an income tax benefit for the three months ended November 30, 2018, associated with an adjustment to provisional amounts recognized for the year ended February 28, 2018, in connection with the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (the “TCJ Act”); and
the recognition of a net income tax benefit from stock-based compensation award activity.