TAX REFORM
On December 22, 2017, the U.S. enacted H.R.1, or the Tax Act that lowered the statutory tax rate on U.S. earnings to 21%, taxed historic foreign earnings at a reduced rate of tax, established a territorial tax system and enacted new taxes associated with global operations. In 2018, we completed our determination of the accounting implications of the Tax Act. As part of the Tax Act, the U.S. has enacted GILTI, created a base erosion anti-abuse tax (“BEAT”) and established a deduction for foreign-derived intangible income (“FDII”).
The impact of the Tax Act was recorded in 2017 with refinements in 2018 as the legislation provided for additional guidance to be issued by the U.S. Department of the Treasury on several provisions including the computation of the transition tax. The Tax Act requires complex computations to be performed that were not previously required by U.S. tax law, significant judgments to be made in interpretation of the provisions of the Tax Act, significant estimates in calculations, and the preparation and analysis of information not previously relevant or regularly produced. The U.S. Treasury Department, the IRS, and other standard-setting bodies will continue to interpret or issue guidance on how provisions of the Tax Act will be applied or otherwise administered. As future guidance is issued, we may make adjustments to amounts that we have previously recorded that may materially impact our provision for income taxes in the period in which the adjustments are made.
With the enactment of U.S. tax reform, we recorded, for the year ended December 31, 2018, tax expense of $122,120 thousand to reflect our provisional estimate of both the transition tax $(1,005,808) thousand and the revaluation of deferred taxes $883,688 thousand. For the year ended December 31, 2019, we finalized our provisional estimate of the enactment of U.S. tax reform and recorded an additional tax expense of $14,675 thousand related to the revaluation of deferred taxes resulting from the filing of the 2018 tax return.
During 2020, 2019, and 2018 we assessed the tax impact of GILTI, BEAT and FDII. We have recorded benefits of $2,704 thousand, $23,925 thousand, and $13,634 thousand for 2020, 2019, and 2018 respectively, relating to the FDII deduction. An additional $21,005 thousand and $10,542 thousand related to the 2019 and 2018 FDII deduction as part of filing the 2019 and 2018 tax return were recorded in 2020 and 2019, respectively. We do not believe the GILTI and BEAT provisions will have a significant impact on our tax provision.
NOTE 18. PENSION AND POSTRETIREMENT BENEFIT PLANS
Certain employees are covered under GE’s retirement plans (e.g. pension, retiree health and life insurance). The Business is allocated relevant participation costs for these GE retirement benefit plans by GE. As such, we have not recorded any liability associated with our participation in these plans in our Combined Statements of Financial Position as of December 31, 2020 and 2019.
Expenses associated with our employees’ participation in the US GE pension retirement plans were $2,084 thousand, $2,868 thousand, and $4,102 thousand for the years ended December 31, 2020, 2019 and 2018, respectively. The service-related cost of this expense was $2,084 thousand, $2,868 thousand, and $3,722 thousand, respectively, for the years ended December 31, 2020, 2019 and 2018, and was recorded in Selling, general and administrative expense in the Combined Statements of Earnings. The non-service related cost of this expense was $0, $0, and $380 thousand, for the years ended December 31, 2020, 2019 and 2018, respectively, and was recorded in Other expense in the Combined Statements of Earnings.
In addition to the GE employee benefit plans, certain of our employees are covered by a defined benefit plan sponsored by GECAS. The Business uses a December 31 measurement date for this plan. The Business also operates defined contribution pension plans for the employees who do not fall under the defined benefit plan. All defined contribution plans, individually and on an aggregate basis, do not have a material impact on our Combined Statements of Financial Position or Combined Statements of Earnings. We recognize an expense for contributions to the defined contribution plans in Selling, general and administrative expense in the Combined Statements of Earnings in the period the contributions are made.
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GECAS COMBINED CARVE-OUT FINANCIAL STATEMENTS | | 41 |