BENCHMARK ELECTRONICS INC Income Taxes Disclosure

Note 8—Income Taxes

Certain jurisdictions in which the Company operates has enacted legislation implementing the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development's (OECD) Pillar Two global minimum tax framework, effective for the Company beginning in 2024. The Company evaluated the impact of enacted legislation and reflected appropriate accruals in its consolidated financial statements. The impact was not material to the Company's financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2025, primarily due to withholding taxes incurred on distributions during the year. For the year-ended December 31, 2024, the Company recorded approximately $1.0 million of incremental income tax expense related to enacted Pillar Two legislation.

During 2025, 2024 and 2023, the Company repatriated $182.5 million, $55.0 million and $70.0 million, respectively, of foreign earnings to the United States. As of December 31, 2025, the Company has approximately $633.1 million in cumulative undistributed foreign earnings related to its foreign subsidiaries. These earnings would not be subject to U.S. federal income tax if distributed to the United States. A certain amount of earnings from specific foreign subsidiaries are permanently reinvested, and certain foreign earnings from other specific foreign subsidiaries are considered to be non-permanently reinvested and are available for immediate distribution to the United States. In 2025, the Company changed its assertion with respect to unremitted earnings in China after determining that current and projected cash balances in China exceeded the levels required to fund local business activities. As a result, management changed its assertion with respect to remaining unremitted earnings from China to consider them now available for distribution and has accrued $3.6 million of deferred tax liabilities in relation to these undistributed earnings in China. The Company estimates that it has approximately $10.4 million of unrecognized deferred tax liabilities related to any remaining undistributed permanently reinvested foreign earnings that have not already been subject to applicable foreign income tax or local withholding tax on distributions.

The amount of cash income taxes paid by the Company during the years ended December 31, 2024 and 2023 was $46.7 million and $37.7 million, respectively.

All of the Company's deferred tax assets and liabilities are classified as long-term on the consolidated balance sheets as of December 31, 2025 and 2024. Deferred tax assets and liabilities are offset for each tax jurisdiction and presented as a single net long-term amount on the consolidated balance sheet.

Changes to U.S. tax law enacted on July 4, 2025, allow for immediate expensing of domestic research and experimentation expenses, accelerated depreciation on eligible capital expenditures, and other tax law changes impacting 2025 with certain changes effective in 2026. These changes are reflected in our results for the year ended December 31, 2025.

As of December 31, 2025, the Company has $27.2 million of U.S. state operating loss carryforwards expiring from 2029-2045, and $0.5 million with no expiration. Foreign operating loss carryforwards total $84.6 million expiring through 2035, plus $13.0 million with indefinite lives. Use of all loss carryforwards is limited to the income in their respective jurisdictions. The Company also has $0.5 million of state tax credits expiring beginning in 2034, $8.6 million of federal R&D credits expiring from 2039-2045, and $13.7 million of Section 163(j) interest carryforwards with no expiration.

The net change in the Company's valuation allowance for 2025, 2024 and 2023 was a $0.7 million increase, $7.7 million increase, and a $0.2 million decrease, respectively. In assessing the realizability of deferred tax assets, management considers whether it is more likely than not that some portion or all of the deferred tax assets will not be realized. The Company maintains a partial valuation allowance of $1.5 million, on certain of its U.S. state deferred tax assets relating to operating loss and credit carryforwards, and a full valuation of $25.4 million on the Company's foreign operating loss carryforwards. For all remaining deferred tax assets, as of December 31, 2025, based upon the level of historical taxable income and projections for future taxable income over the periods which the deferred tax assets are deductible, management believes it is more likely than not the Company will realize the benefits of these deductible differences, net of the existing valuation allowances. The ultimate realization of deferred tax assets is dependent upon the generation of future taxable income during the periods in which those temporary differences become deductible. Management

considers the scheduled reversal of deferred tax liabilities, projected future taxable income and tax planning strategies in making this assessment.

The Company has been granted certain tax incentives, including tax holidays, for its subsidiaries in Thailand and China that expire at various dates, unless extended or otherwise renegotiated and are subject to certain conditions with which the Company expects to comply. The tax incentives in Thailand will expire on December 31, 2030. The tax incentives in China will expire on December 31, 2026. In the fourth quarter of 2024, the Company was awarded a China tax holiday retroactive to January 1, 2024 through December 31, 2026. The tax holiday reduces the statutory tax rate from 25% to 15%. The net impact of the current tax incentives was to lower income tax expense for 2025, 2024, and 2023 by approximately $7.6 million (approximately $0.21 per diluted share), $5.8 million (approximately $0.16 per diluted share) and $6.3 million (approximately $0.17 per diluted share), respectively, as follows:

The Company must determine whether it is “more-likely-than-not” that a tax position will be sustained upon examination, including resolution of any related appeals or litigation processes, based on the technical merits of the position. Once it is determined that a position meets the more-likely-than-not recognition threshold, the position is measured to determine the amount of benefit to recognize in the consolidated financial statements. As of December 31, 2025, the total amount of the reserve for uncertain tax benefits, including interest and penalties, was $13.9 million.

During 2025, there were increases of current year tax positions due to a new reserve related to foreign income taxes deemed paid with distributions and the current year federal research and development credit generated. There were also increases of prior year tax positions due to the completion of an R&D Study that resulted in an increase in the overall R&D Credit generated for prior years. During 2024, there were decreases of prior year tax positions due to settlements of tax examinations. During 2023, there were no uncertain tax position changes.

The reserves are classified as either a reduction to income tax receivable or deferred tax assets on the consolidated balance sheet because the underlying uncertain tax positions relate to amounts that would otherwise decrease tax refunds or deferred tax assets. The Company records interest expense and penalties accrued in relation to uncertain tax benefits as a component of current income tax expense. As of December 31, 2025, the Company did not have any accrued interest on unrecognized tax benefits included in the reserves.

The Company is currently under IRS examination for the 2018 tax year. Other than for 2018, tax years prior to 2022 are generally not subject to examination by the IRS. For state tax returns, the Company is generally not subject to income tax examinations for tax years prior to 2021. With respect to jurisdictions outside the U.S., the Company is generally not subject to tax examination for tax years prior to 2015.