STI 2018 Annual Report

72 In the fourth quarter of 2018, we recorded a provision for income taxes of $136 million compared to a benefit of $74 million in the fourth quarter of 2017. The tax provision for the current quarter included $10 million of discrete tax benefits. The tax provision for the fourth quarter of 2017 was impacted by a $303 million income tax benefit for the remeasurement of our December 31, 2017 DTAs and DTLs and other tax reform- related items due to the enactment of the 2017 Tax Act. The effective tax rate for the fourth quarter of 2018 was 17% compared to (11)% in the fourth quarter of 2017. In addition to the discrete items noted above, the year-over-year change in the effective tax rate was also impacted by the reduction in the U.S. federal corporate income tax rate from 35% to 21%.