The Tax Cut & Jobs Act law (TCJA) passed in a rush late last year is complicating how companies release their fourth quarter earnings data. The sweeping changes will significantly affect most large companies, and many of them took different approaches on how to explain the impact. These varying approaches make it difficult for analysts to separate the one-time impact of the tax cut on earnings versus other unusual adjustments that may affect business operations. The impact of TCJA will be positive or negative depending on whether companies have tax assets (which are losses companies can use to offset future earnings) or tax liabilities (which are taxes not yet due), as they need to be re-measured.