Income Taxes

3 Months Ended

Mar. 29, 2020

On March 27, 2020, the President signed into law the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act (the “CARES Act”), which, along with earlier issued IRS guidance, provides for the deferral of certain taxes. The CARES Act, among other things, removed the 80% limitation on the utilization of net operating losses in tax years 2018-2020, and contains numerous other provisions which may benefit the Company. The Company will continue to assess the impact of the CARES Act, as well as any ongoing government guidance related to COVID-19 that may be issued.

A reconciliation of the income tax expense (benefit) from continuing operations computed by applying the statutory federal income tax rate of 21% to income from continuing operations before income taxes to the provision for income taxes from continuing operations for the three months ended March 29, 2020 and March 31, 2019 was as follows (in millions):



	For the Three Months Ended
	March 29, 2020			March 31, 2019
Income tax expense (benefit) at federal statutory rate	$	(0.3	)	$	0.5
State and foreign taxes, net of federal tax benefit and valuation allowance	(0.3		)	0.2
Release of valuation allowance due to acquisitions	(0.9		)	(3.4		)
Nondeductible expenses and other	(0.1		)	0.1
Impact of deferred tax liabilities for indefinite-lived assets	—			0.1
Increase (decrease) in reserves for uncertain tax positions	(0.2		)	1.6
Increase (decrease) in federal valuation allowance	0.4			(0.6		)
Benefit for income taxes from continuing operations	$	(1.4	)	$	(1.5	)

In assessing the Company’s ability to realize deferred tax assets, management considers, on a periodic basis, whether it is more likely than not that some portion or all of its deferred tax assets will not be realized. In making this assessment, the Company has concluded that negative evidence, including cumulative losses in recent years, continues to outweigh the positive evidence. Accordingly, the Company has maintained a full valuation allowance against the Company’s U.S. federal, combined state and certain foreign net deferred tax assets. However, given the Company’s more recent earnings history, management believes that it is possible that within the next 12 months, sufficient positive evidence may become available to allow management to reach a conclusion that a significant portion of the valuation allowance will no longer be needed. Release of the valuation allowance would result in the recognition of certain deferred tax assets with a potential corresponding decrease to income tax expense for the period the release is recorded. The exact timing and amount of the valuation allowance release would be predicated on the basis of the level of profitability that the Company is able to actually achieve and believes that it would sustain.

Federal and state income tax laws impose restrictions on the utilization of net operating loss (“NOL”) and tax credit carryforwards in the event that an “ownership change” occurs for tax purposes, as defined by Section 382 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (“Section 382”). In general, an ownership change occurs when shareholders owning 5% or more of a “loss corporation” (a corporation entitled to use NOLs or other loss carryovers) have increased their ownership of stock in such corporation by more than 50 percentage points during any three-year period. The annual base Section 382 limitation is calculated by multiplying the loss corporation’s value at the time of the ownership change by the greater of the long-term tax-exempt rate determined by the Internal Revenue Service in the month of the ownership change or the two preceding months. This base limitation is subject to adjustments, including an increase for built-in gains recognized in the five-year period after the ownership change.

In March 2010, an “ownership change” occurred that will limit the utilization of NOL carryforwards. In July 2011, another “ownership change” occurred. The March 2010 ownership change limitation is more restrictive. In prior years, the Company acquired corporations with NOL carryforwards at the date of acquisition (“Acquired NOLs”). The Acquired NOLs are subject to separate limitations that may further restrict the use of Acquired NOLs. As a result, the Company’s federal annual utilization of NOL carryforwards was limited to $27.0 million a year for the five years succeeding the March 2010 ownership change and $11.6 million for each year thereafter subject to separate limitations for Acquired NOLs. If the entire limitation amount is not utilized in a year, the excess can be carried forward and utilized in future years.

For the three months ended March 29, 2020, there was no impact of such limitations on the income tax provision, since the amount of taxable income did not exceed the annual limitation amount. However, future equity offerings or acquisitions that have equity as a component of the purchase price could also cause an “ownership change.” If and when any other “ownership change” occurs, utilization of the NOLs or other tax attributes may be further limited.

As discussed elsewhere, deferred tax assets relating to the NOL and credit carryforwards are offset by a full valuation allowance. In addition, utilization of state tax loss carryforwards is dependent upon sufficient taxable income apportioned to the states.

The Company is subject to taxation in the U.S. and various state and foreign tax jurisdictions. The Company’s tax years for 2000 and later are subject to examination by the U.S. and state tax authorities due to the existence of the NOL carryforwards. Generally, the Company’s tax years for 2002 and later are subject to examination by various foreign tax authorities as well.

During 2018 the Company was notified by the Internal Revenue Service that its federal income tax return for the calendar year ending December 27, 2015 had been selected for examination. In February of 2020, the Company received notification from the IRS that the examination was completed with no changes to the taxes reported.

As of December 29, 2019, the Company had $24.0 million of unrecognized tax benefits that, if recognized, would impact the Company’s effective income tax rate, subject to possible offset by a change in the deferred tax asset valuation allowance. During the three months ended March 29, 2020, unrecognized tax benefits decreased by $0.3 million.

The Company recognizes interest and penalties related to unrecognized tax benefits in its provision for income taxes. For the three months ended March 29, 2020 and March 31, 2019, the Company recorded an expense for interest and penalties of $0.1 million. For the three months ended March 29, 2020 and March 31, 2019, there was no material benefit recorded related to the removal of interest and penalties. The Company believes that it is reasonably possible that as much as $0.1 million of the liabilities for uncertain tax positions will expire within the next twelve months due to the expiration of various applicable statutes of limitations.