Eaton Provides Guidance on the Impact of Newly-Signed U.S. Tax Legislation

On December 22, 2017, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) was signed into law, significantly changing U.S. corporate tax law. This release outlines the expected impact of the TCJA on Eaton Corporation plc (NYSE:ETN).

For the fourth quarter of 2017, Eaton expects the TCJA to result in a one-time tax expense of between $90 and $110 million. About half of this expense is related to remeasurement of U.S. deferred tax balances and the other half is related to taxation of unremitted earnings of non-U.S. subsidiaries owned directly or indirectly by U.S. subsidiaries of Eaton. The taxation of unremitted earnings will be paid over 8 years, as required by the TCJA. The above estimate is preliminary, as the exact expense in the fourth quarter can only be determined once fourth quarter activities have been concluded.

For 2018, Eaton anticipates that its effective tax rate, factoring in the impact of the TCJA, will be between 14% - 16%, which represents an increase of 3 percentage points over its prior estimate of 11% - 13% before the impact of the TCJA.

Eaton will provide further details on the impact of the TCJA when it announces earnings for the fourth quarter of 2017. Eaton will announce fourth quarter 2017 earnings on Thursday, February 1, 2018, before the opening of the New York Stock Exchange. The Company will host a conference call at 10 a.m. U.S. Eastern time that day to discuss fourth quarter 2017 earnings results and its guidance for 2018 earnings with securities analysts and institutional investors.

The conference call will be available through a live webcast that can be accessed via the Eaton Fourth Quarter 2017 Earnings Results link on Eaton’s home page, which is www.eaton.com. The call replay and news release will also be available from this web link.

Eaton is a power management company with 2016 sales of $19.7 billion. We provide energy-efficient solutions that help our customers effectively manage electrical, hydraulic and mechanical power more efficiently, safely and sustainably. Eaton is dedicated to improving the quality of life and the environment through the use of power management technologies and services. Eaton has approximately 96,000 employees and sells products to customers in more than 175 countries. For more information, visit www.eaton.com.

This news release contains forward-looking statements concerning the fourth quarter 2017 one-time charges related to the TCJA and full-year 2018 tax rates. These statements should be used with caution and are subject to various risks and uncertainties, many of which are outside the company’s control. The following factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements: unanticipated changes in our worldwide markets, changes to margins for the company’s business segments, unanticipated changes to the geographic mix of our expected 2018 sales, changes in tax laws or tax regulations, and new laws or governmental regulations. We do not assume any obligation to update these forward-looking statements.