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Income Taxes
6 Months Ended
Feb. 28, 2018
Income Taxes [Abstract]  
Income Taxes

Note 12.  Income Taxes 



The Company uses an estimated annual effective tax rate, which is based on expected annual income, statutory tax rates and tax planning opportunities available in the various jurisdictions in which the Company operates, to determine its quarterly provision for income taxes. Certain significant or unusual items are separately recognized in the quarter in which they occur and can be a source of variability in the effective tax rates from quarter to quarter.  



On December 20, 2017 the United States House of Representatives and the Senate passed the “Tax Cuts and Jobs Act” (the “Tax Act”), which was signed into law on December 22, 2017 and became effective beginning January 1, 2018. Due to the complexity of the Tax Act, the SEC issued guidance in SAB 118 which clarifies the accounting for income taxes under ASC 740 if information is not yet available, prepared or analyzed in reasonable detail to complete the accounting for income tax effects of the Tax Act. SAB 118 provides for a measurement period of up to one year after the enactment of the Tax Act, during which time the required analyses and accounting must be completed. During the measurement period, (i) income tax effects of the Tax Act must be reported if the accounting has been completed; (ii) provisional amounts must be reported for income tax effects of the Tax Act for which the accounting is incomplete but a reasonable estimate can be determined; and (iii) provisional amounts are not required to be reported for income tax effects of the Tax Act for which a reasonable estimate cannot be determined. During the second quarter of fiscal year 2018, the Company recorded provisional amounts for the income tax effects of the changes in tax law and tax rates, as reasonable estimates were determined by management during this period. These estimates include the remeasurement of the deferred income tax balance on the Company’s consolidated balance sheets due to the reduction in the corporate federal statutory tax rate from 35% to 21%, as well as the application of a mandatory one-time “toll tax” on unremitted foreign earnings.  



The remeasurement of the Company’s net deferred income tax liability was recorded as a provisional amount during the second quarter of fiscal year 2018 and resulted in a reduction of the liability of $6.9 million.  The reduction is a non-cash benefit to the Company’s provision for income taxes which resulted in a one-time benefit to earnings.  This benefit was almost entirely offset by the estimated toll tax to be applied to unremitted foreign earnings, mandated by the Tax Act. The Company has paid taxes on earnings outside the United States at tax rates which have been on average below the historical U.S. corporate federal statutory rate of 35%. As a result, the Company’s estimate of the deemed toll tax created a significant tax impact on the Company’s provision for income taxes of $6.8 million, also recorded as a provisional amount during the second quarter of fiscal year 2018.  The Company recorded both of these provisional amounts as discrete items in the second quarter of fiscal year 2018. Since the Tax Act allows companies to pay the toll tax over an eight year period with the larger payments coming due in the latter years, the Company recorded $6.3 million of the $6.8 million in other long-term liabilities and income taxes payable on its consolidated balance sheets. The determination of the impact of the income tax effects of the items reflected as provisional amounts may change, possibly materially, following review of historical records, refinement of calculations, modifications of assumptions and further interpretation of the Tax Act based on U.S. Treasury regulations and guidance from the Internal Revenue Service and state tax authorities. The Company will report revised provisional amounts in accordance with SAB 118 when additional information and guidance has become available.



Management will continue to review the Tax Act and is still in the process of determining the full impacts of the Tax Act on the Company.  Management expects that the Company will lose the benefit from the Qualified Production Deduction in fiscal year 2019 but also expects to acquire certain benefits from the Foreign Derived Intangible Income section of the Tax Act.  Other significant sections of the new tax law, including the Global Intangible Low Tax Income (“GILTI”) and the Base Erosion Anti-Abuse Tax (“BEAT”) do not apply to the Company’s fiscal year 2018.  In addition the Company will continue to monitor for any significant impact on the Company’s consolidated financial statements in future periods with respect to GILTI and BEAT.



The provision for income taxes was 18.7% and 32.8% of income before income taxes for the three months ended February 28, 2018 and 2017, respectively. The decrease in the effective income tax rate from period to period was primarily due to the favorable impact of the reduced tax rate resulting from the Tax Act. In addition, the effective income tax rate was higher in the second quarter of last fiscal year due to the unfavorable impact of a non-reoccurring immaterial out-of-period correction that the Company recorded during the quarter associated with the tax impacts from certain unrealized foreign currency exchange losses. The Tax Act became effective on January 1, 2018, during the second quarter of the Company’s fiscal year, thus impacting the Company’s fiscal year 2018 effective tax rate.  Since the Company has a fiscal year which ends on August 31st, the Company is subject to a “blended” corporate federal statutory rate in its fiscal year 2018 which is calculated based on the applicable tax rates before and after passage of the Tax Act and the number of days in the fiscal year.  As a result of this calculation, the Company’s blended federal statutory tax rate for fiscal year 2018 is 25.7% which is more than 9 percentage points lower than the statutory rate of 35% in the prior fiscal year.



The provision for income taxes was 21.1% and 30.7% of income before income taxes for the six months ended February 28, 2018 and 2017, respectively. The decrease in the effective income tax rate from period to period was primarily due to the favorable impact of the reduced tax rate resulting from the Tax Act, which became effective on January 1, 2018. In addition, the effective income tax rate in the first half of fiscal year 2017 was higher due to the unfavorable impact of a non-reoccurring immaterial out-of-period correction that the Company recorded in the second quarter associated with the tax impacts from certain unrealized foreign currency exchange losses.  The decrease in the effective income tax rate from period to period was also driven in part by the adoption of ASU 2016-09, “Improvements to Employee Share-Based Payment Accounting”, in the first quarter of the Company’s fiscal year 2018 which resulted in excess tax benefits from settlements of stock-based equity awards being recognized in the provision for income taxes, whereas such benefits were recognized as an increase to additional paid-in capital in prior periods. This resulted in a decrease to the Company’s provision for income taxes of $0.8 million for the six months ended February 28, 2018.



The Company is subject to taxation in the U.S. and in various state and foreign jurisdictions. Due to expired statutes and prior audit examinations, the Company’s federal income tax returns for years prior to fiscal year 2016 are not subject to examination by the U.S. Internal Revenue Service. The Company is also currently under audit in various international jurisdictions for fiscal years 2014 through 2015. Generally, for the majority of state and foreign jurisdictions where the Company does business, periods prior to fiscal year 2014 are no longer subject to examination. The Company has estimated that up to $0.2 million of unrecognized tax benefits related to income tax positions may be affected by the resolution of tax examinations or expiring statutes of limitation within the next twelve months. Audit outcomes and the timing of settlements are subject to significant uncertainty.