Income Taxes

5 Months Ended

Feb. 09, 2019

Note O – Income Taxes

The Company’s effective income tax rate was 17.8% of pretax income for the twelve weeks ended February 9, 2019. The effective tax rate was lower than the U.S. statutory federal rate primarily due to $14.0 million of tax benefits associated with stock option

exercises

and $8.8

million of provisional tax benefits (discussed in further detail below) associated with Staff Accounting Bulletin No. 118 (“SAB 118”). The Company’s effective income tax rate was (74.7%) of pretax income for the twelve weeks ended February 10, 2018, primarily due to a $111.9 million provisional tax benefit resulting from the enactment of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (“Tax Reform”); $32.1 million of tax benefits from stock option exercises; a $35.3 million benefit from the previously reported first quarter tax expense due to the reduction of the US statutory tax rate from 35% to approximately 25.9%; and a second quarter tax benefit of $24.2 million due to the reduction of the US statutory rate from 35% to approximately 25.9%.

The Company’s effective income tax rate on pretax income for the twenty-four weeks ended February 9, 2019, was 20.0% and 4.2% for the comparable prior year period. The increase in the tax rate was primarily due to the one-time benefits recognized in the prior period related to the re-measurement of the Company’s U.S. federal deferred tax liability at the lower rate upon enactment of Tax Reform, net of tax expense related to the mandatory one-time transition tax, which resulted in a net tax benefit of $111.9 million. The tax impact of stock option exercises was $25.2 million for the twenty-four weeks ended February 9, 2019 and $26.8 million for the comparable prior period.

The SEC staff issued SAB 118 to address the application of GAAP in situations where a registrant does not have the necessary information available, prepared, or analyzed (including computations) in reasonable detail to complete the accounting for certain income tax effects of Tax Reform. To the extent that a company’s accounting for certain income tax effects of Tax Reform is incomplete but it is able to determine a reasonable estimate, it must record a provisional estimate in the financial statements. If a company cannot determine a provisional estimate to be included in the financial statements, it should continue to apply ASC 740 on the basis of the provisions of the tax laws that were in effect immediately before the enactment of Tax Reform. The ultimate impact may differ from provisional amounts recorded, possibly materially, due to, among other things, additional analysis, changes in interpretations and assumptions the Company has made, and additional regulatory guidance that may be issued. The accounting for these items has been completed within one year from the enactment date of Tax Reform and recognized within the consolidated financial statements.

For the twelve weeks ended February 9, 2019, the Company recorded $8.8 million of provisional benefit adjustments, a reduction to tax expense, in the Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements primarily related to the mandatory one-time transition tax and re-measurement of the U.S. federal deferred tax liability. During the preceding year ended August 25, 2018, the Company recorded provisional estimates for the mandatory one-time transition tax as an increase in tax expense of

$25.8 million and for the re-measurement of our net U.S. federal deferred tax liability at the lower rate, a reduction to tax expense of $157.3

million. Additional provisions from Tax Reform are effective for fiscal 2019, and the Company’s analysis has concluded the recognition of these provisions will not have a material impact on the Company’s consolidated financial statements.