ITT (ITT) Risk Factors

We operate in a number of countries throughout the world, including countries known to have a reputation for corruption. We are committed to doing business in accordance with applicable anti-corruption laws. However, we cannot provide assurance that our internal controls will always protect us from reckless or criminal acts committed by our employees, agents or business partners that would violate U.S. and/or applicable non-U.S. laws, including anti-bribery, competition, trade sanctions and regulation, and other laws including but not limited to, the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977 and the U.K. Bribery Act of 2010, as well as trade sanctions administered by the Office of Foreign Assets Control, the U.S. Department of State and the U.S. Department of Commerce. Any such violation could result in substantial fines, sanctions, civil and/or criminal penalties, suspension or debarment from government contracts or curtailment of operations in certain jurisdictions, and might adversely affect our business, financial condition or results of operations or financial position. Furthermore, detecting, investigating, and resolving actual or alleged violations is expensive and can consume significant time and attention of our senior management. Even the allegation or appearance of our employees, agents or business partners acting improperly or illegally could damage our reputation and result in significant expenditures in investigating and responding to such actions.

The Company is subject to taxes in the U.S. and in various foreign jurisdictions. We exercise significant judgment in calculating our provision for income taxes and other tax liabilities. In the ordinary course of our business, there are many transactions and calculations where the ultimate tax determination is uncertain. Changes in domestic or foreign tax laws and regulations, or their interpretation, could result in higher or lower tax rates assessed or changes in the taxability of certain income or the deductibility of certain expenses, thereby affecting our tax expense and profitability. Any significant increase in our future effective tax rates could reduce net income in future periods. Given the global nature of our business, a number of factors may increase our future effective tax rates, including changes in the geographic mix of our profits among jurisdictions with differing statutory income tax rates; sustainability of historical income tax rates in the jurisdictions in which we conduct business; changes in tax laws applicable to us; expiration, renewal or application of tax holidays; the resolution of issues arising from tax audits with various tax authorities; or changes in the valuation of our deferred tax assets, deferred tax liabilities and deferred tax asset valuation allowances. The amount of income taxes and other taxes we have paid are subject to ongoing audits by U.S. federal, state, and local tax authorities and by non-U.S. authorities. If these audits result in assessments different from amounts paid or reserved, future financial results may include unfavorable tax adjustments. We are currently under routine examination by the U.S. Internal Revenue Service and other U.S. and non-U.S. tax authorities, and we may be subject to additional examinations in the future. The tax authorities may disagree with our tax treatment of certain material items and thereby increase our tax liability. Failure to sustain our position in these matters could result in a material adverse effect on our financial statements. We are closely monitoring the potential passage of new U.S. and foreign tax legislation, which could result in substantial changes to the current U.S. or foreign tax systems, including changes to the statutory corporate tax rate. In October 2021, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and G20 Finance Ministers reached an agreement, known as Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) Pillar Two, which is a multi-jurisdictional plan of action to address base erosion and profit shifting. On December 20, 2021, the OECD released the Model GloBE Rules for Pillar Two defining a 15% global minimum tax rate for large multinational corporations. The OECD continues to release additional guidance and countries are implementing legislation with widespread adoption of the Model GloBE Rules for Pillar Two expected by calendar year 2024. We are continuing to evaluate the Model GloBE Rules for Pillar Two and related legislation, and their potential impact on future periods. Enactment of this regulation in its current form could increase the amount of global corporate income tax paid by the Company. These increases could have a material adverse effect on our effective tax rate. As the effects of a change in U.S. or foreign tax law must be recognized in the period in which the new legislation is enacted, should new legislation be signed into law, our financial results could be materially impacted. On August 16, 2022, the U.S. government enacted the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (the Inflation Reduction Act) into law. The Inflation Reduction Act includes a new corporate alternative minimum tax (the Corporate AMT) of 15% on the adjusted financial statement income (AFSI) of corporations with an average AFSI exceeding $1.0 billion over a three-year period. The Corporate AMT was effective for the Company beginning in 2023. Given the AFSI threshold, the Corporate AMT was not applicable to the Company in 2023, but the Corporate AMT may have potential impacts on our future U.S. tax expense, cash taxes and effective tax rate. Additionally, the Inflation Reduction Act imposes a 1% excise tax on the fair market value of net stock repurchases made after December 31, 2022. The impact of this provision was not material in 2023 and future impacts will be dependent on the extent of share repurchases made in future periods.