Income tax expense and the effective tax rate for the three months ended March 31, 2019 and 2018 were as follows (dollar amounts in thousands):

The tax provisions for the three months ended March 31, 2019 and 2018 were computed using the estimated effective tax rates applicable to each of the domestic and international taxable jurisdictions for the full year. The Company estimates its effective tax rate to be between 17.0% to 20.0% for 2019. The Company’s tax rate is subject to management’s quarterly review and revision, as necessary.

The Company’s provision for income tax expense and effective income tax rate are significantly impacted by the mix of the Company’s domestic and foreign earnings (loss) before income taxes. In the foreign jurisdictions in which the Company has operations, the applicable statutory rates range from 0.0% to 34.6%, which is on average significantly lower than the U.S. federal and state combined statutory rate of approximately 24.9%.

Due to the enactment of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (“the Tax Act”) in December 2017, the Company is subject to a tax on global intangible low-taxed income (“GILTI”).  GILTI is a tax on foreign income in excess of a deemed return on tangible assets of foreign corporations. Companies subject to GILTI have the option to account for the GILTI tax as a period cost if and when incurred, or to recognize deferred taxes for temporary differences including outside basis differences expected to reverse as GILTI. The Company has elected to account for GILTI as a period cost, and therefore has included GILTI expense in its effective tax rate calculation for the three months ended March 31, 2019 and 2018.

For the three months ended March 31, 2019, the increase in the effective tax rate as compared to the three months ended March 31, 2018 was primarily due to the negative impact of $2.9 million in discrete items in the three months ended March 31, 2019 as compared to the positive impact of $10.5 million in discrete items in the three months ended March 31, 2018.

As of March 31, 2019, the Company had approximately $687.5 million in cash and cash equivalents, of which $469.5 million, or 68.3%, was held outside the U.S. Of the $469.5 million held by the Company’s non-U.S. subsidiaries, approximately $212.8 million is available for repatriation to the U.S. without incurring U.S. federal income taxes and applicable non-U.S. income and withholding taxes in excess of the amounts accrued in the Company’s condensed consolidated financial statements as of March 31, 2019.

The Company’s cash and cash equivalents held in the U.S. and cash provided from operations are sufficient to meet the Company’s liquidity needs in the U.S. for the next twelve months.  However, in anticipation of the needs of the Company’s share repurchase program and the need to provide payment of the Company’s provisional Transition Tax liability, the Company may repatriate certain funds held outside the U.S. for which U.S. federal and non-U.S. tax has been fully provided as of March 31, 2019. The Company has provided for the tax impact of expected distributions from its joint-venture in China as well as from its subsidiary in Chile to its intermediate parent company in Switzerland. Otherwise, because of the need for cash for operating capital and continued overseas expansion, the Company does not foresee the need for any of our other foreign subsidiaries to distribute funds up to an intermediate foreign parent company in any form of taxable dividend. Under current applicable tax laws, if the Company choses to repatriate some or all of the funds it has designated as indefinitely reinvested outside the U.S., the amount repatriated would not be subject to U.S. income taxes but may be subject to applicable non-U.S. income and withholding taxes, and to certain state income taxes.