Note M. Commitments

TJX is committed under long-term leases related to its continuing operations for the rental of real estate and fixtures and equipment. Most of TJX’s leases are store operating leases with ten-year terms and options to extend for one or more five-year periods in the U.S. and Canada and ten to fifteen year terms in Europe, some of which have options to extend. Many of the Company’s leases contain escalation clauses and we have the right to terminate some of the leases before the expiration date under specified circumstances and some with specified payments. In addition, TJX is generally required to pay insurance, real estate taxes and other operating expenses including, in some cases, rentals based on a percentage of sales. These expenses in the aggregate were approximately one-third of the total minimum rent in fiscal 2017, fiscal 2016 and fiscal 2015 and are not included in the table below.

The following is a schedule of future minimum lease payments for continuing operations as of January 28, 2017:


In thousands	Operating Leases
Fiscal Year
2018	$	1,455,642
2019		1,382,818
2020		1,246,618
2021		1,089,046
2022		908,624
Later years		2,438,338
Total future minimum lease payments	$	8,521,086

Rental expense under operating leases for continuing operations amounted to $1,435.2 million for fiscal 2017, $1,365.6 million for fiscal 2016 and $1,321.6 million for fiscal 2015. Rental expense includes contingent rent and is reported net of sublease income. Contingent rent paid was $14.7 million in fiscal 2017, $15.7 million in fiscal 2016 and $15.2 million in fiscal 2015. Sublease income was $1.2 million in fiscal 2017, $0.9 million in fiscal 2016 and $0.8 million in fiscal 2015.

As of January 28, 2017 we have a number of lease agreements for facilities and stores that resulted in TJX being considered the owner of the property for accounting purposes (see Lease Accounting within Note A). The assets related to these properties are included in “land and buildings” and the related liabilities of $176.2 million are included in “other long-term liabilities.”

TJX had outstanding letters of credit totaling $41.2 million as of January 28, 2017 and $29.3 million as of January 30, 2016. Letters of credit are issued by TJX primarily for the purchase of inventory.