Quarterly report pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d)

Income Taxes

v3.8.0.1
Income Taxes
3 Months Ended
Dec. 30, 2017
Income Tax Disclosure [Abstract]  
Income Taxes
of Contents
Note K—Income Taxes
On December 22, 2017, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 (the “New Tax Legislation”) was enacted. The New Tax Legislation significantly revised the U.S. corporate income tax code by, among other things, lowering federal corporate income tax rates, implementing a modified territorial tax system and imposing a repatriation tax on deemed repatriated cumulative earnings of foreign subsidiaries. During the three-month period ended December 30, 2017, we recognized provisional amounts totaling $10.6 million of tax expense. We have made reasonable estimates of the effects on our existing deferred tax balances and the one-time transition tax; however, these amounts may change as more information becomes available. We accounted for the $10.6 million provisional amount as a discrete item for tax provision purposes, recording tax expense on our best estimate of the effect of the New Tax Legislation. Excluding the effect of this discrete item, the effective tax rate on operations for the three-month period ended December 30, 2017, was (46.4%). This tax benefit relates to stock option excess benefits as a result from our adoption of ASU 2016-09. This compares to an effective income tax rate of 27.0% for the same period in the prior year, and 5.9% for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2017.
We benefit from having income in foreign jurisdictions that are either exempt from income taxes or have tax rates that are lower than those in the United States. Based on our current projected pre-tax income and the anticipated amount of U.S. taxable income compared to profits in the offshore taxable and tax-free jurisdictions in which we operate, our estimated annual income tax rate for the fiscal year ending September 29, 2018, excluding the discrete tax expense associated with the New Tax Legislation, is currently expected to be approximately 12%-13%. The change in the federal statutory rate from 34% to 21% as a result of the New Tax Legislation is effective at the beginning of our fiscal year. As such, the blended federal statutory tax rate for the fiscal year is anticipated to be approximately 24.3%. However, changes in the mix of U.S. taxable income compared to profits in tax-free or lower-tax jurisdictions can have a significant impact on our overall effective tax rate. In addition, the impact of the New Tax Legislation may differ from our initial provisional estimates, possibly materially, due to, among other things, changes in interpretations and assumptions made regarding the New Tax Legislation, guidance that may be issued and actions we may take as a result of the New Tax Legislation.
Provisional amounts
As noted above we consider the estimate of the effects on our existing deferred tax balances and the one-time transition tax to be provisional.
Deferred tax assets and liabilities: We remeasured our deferred tax assets and liabilities based on an estimated scheduling of when we anticipate these amounts will reverse and by applying estimated rates based on the period we believe they will reverse. However, we are still analyzing certain aspects of the New Tax Legislation and refining our scheduling and calculations, which could potentially affect the remeasurement of these balances. The provisional amount of expense related to the remeasurement of our deferred tax balance was approximately $1.1 million which was recognized during the quarter.
Transition tax: Our current estimate of the one-time transition tax is based on an estimate of our total earnings and profits (E&P) from our foreign subsidiaries which were previously deferred from US income taxes. A deferred tax liability for such undistributed earnings was not previously recognized since the earnings are considered to be permanently reinvested. We recorded a provisional amount related to this one-time transition tax of $9.5 million during the quarter which will be paid over eight years. We anticipate that the benefit resulting from the reduction of the federal tax rate from 34% to 21% will offset the future payments of the transition tax, resulting in minimal cash flow impact. We have not completed our analysis of the total E&P or the split between liquid and illiquid assets for our foreign subsidiaries. As such this amount may change when we finalize our analysis.
State tax effect: We continued to apply ASC 740 based on the provisions of the state tax laws that were in effect immediately prior to the New Tax Legislation being enacted. It is currently impractical to determine the changes to our state provision resulting from the New Tax Legislation; however, we believe the impact will not be material.
We file income tax returns in the U.S. federal jurisdiction and various state, local and foreign jurisdictions. Tax years 2014, 2015 and 2016, according to statute and with few exceptions, remain open to examination by various federal, state, local and foreign jurisdictions.