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Income Taxes
6 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2017
Income Tax Disclosure [Abstract]  
Income Taxes

12. Income Taxes

On December 22, 2017, the U.S. government enacted comprehensive tax legislation, commonly known as the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, or the Act, which significantly reforms the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended.  The Act contains broad and complex changes to corporate taxation, including in part reduction of the U.S. federal corporate tax rate from 35% to 21%, requires companies to pay a one-time transition tax on earnings of certain foreign subsidiaries that were previously considered permanently reinvested, and creates new taxes on certain foreign sourced earnings. As our accounting and tax year is the fiscal period ending on the last Saturday in June, U.S. federal tax law requires that taxpayers with a fiscal year that spans the effective date of a rate change to calculate a blended tax rate based on the pro rata number of days in the fiscal year before and after the effective date.  As a result, our U.S. federal tax rate for fiscal 2018 is a days-weighted blended tax rate of 28.17%. For fiscal 2019 and subsequent tax years, our U.S. federal tax rate will be 21%.

As of December 31, 2017, we have not fully completed our accounting for the tax effects of the Act; however, in certain cases, we have made a reasonable estimate of the effects of the enactment. In cases where we have not been able to make a reasonable estimate, we continue to account for those items based on our existing accounting policies. For the items for which we were able to determine a reasonable estimate, namely the one-time transition tax and the remeasurement of deferred tax at the new tax rate, we recognized provisional tax expense of $46.5 million, which is included as a component of provision for income tax expenses in the three and six months ended December 31, 2017. Of the $46.5 million provisional tax expense, $54.4 million was for discrete tax expense items consisting of the one-time transition tax and the remeasurement of the beginning balance of U.S. federal deferred tax assets, partially offset by a non-discrete tax benefit of $7.9 million, which has an impact of 12.6% on our annual effective tax rate. As of December 31, 2017, we remeasured our U.S. federal deferred tax assets and liabilities based on the tax rates at which they are expected to reverse in the future and recorded a discrete tax provision of $5.1 million.  

The one-time transition tax is based on our post-1986 foreign earnings and profits, or E&P, which we have previously excluded from U.S. income taxes due to our position that we would permanently reinvest future earnings. The one-time transition tax is applied at a 15.5% tax rate on cash assets and an 8% tax rate for other specified assets.  We recorded a provisional amount for our one-time transition tax liability for our foreign subsidiaries, resulting in an increase in income tax expense of $49.3 million, net of foreign tax credits. We also expect to fully utilize all of our federal research tax credit carryforwards generated from previous years.

We have not yet completed our calculation of the total post-1986 foreign E&P for these foreign subsidiaries. This amount may change when we finalize the determination of our E&P previously deferred from U.S. federal taxation and finalize the amounts held in cash or other specified assets. No additional income taxes have been provided for any remaining undistributed foreign earnings not subject to the transition tax and any additional outside basis difference inherent in these entities as these amounts continue to be indefinitely reinvested in foreign operations. We did not have the necessary information prepared or analyzed to develop a reasonable estimate of the tax liability, if any, for our remaining outside basis difference including any deferred tax accounting that may be required due to other provisions in the Act beyond the one-time transition tax, including how that accounting may be affected by our ongoing accounting position to indefinitely reinvest unremitted foreign earnings.

We account for income taxes under the asset and liability method. The provision for income taxes recorded in interim periods is recorded by applying the estimated annual effective tax rate to year-to-date income before provision for income taxes, excluding the effects of significant unusual or infrequently occurring discrete items.  The tax effects of discrete items are recorded in the same period that the related discrete items are reported and results in a difference between the actual effective tax rate and the estimated annual effective tax rate.

The provision for income taxes of $53.3 million and $6.6 million for the three months ended December 31, 2017 and 2016, respectively, represented estimated federal, foreign, and state income taxes. The effective tax rate for the three months ended December 31, 2017 diverged from the combined U.S. federal and state statutory tax rate primarily because of the impact of the one-time transition tax on E&P, the impact of the reduction in the U.S. federal tax rate on our net deferred tax assets, foreign withholding taxes, nondeductible amortization, the impact of accounting for qualified stock options, and foreign income taxed at higher tax rates, partially offset by benefits from research credits. The effective tax rate for the three months ended December 31, 2016, diverged from the combined U.S. federal and state statutory tax rate, primarily because of foreign income taxed at lower tax rates and research credits, partially offset by foreign withholding taxes, nondeductible amortization, and the impact of accounting for qualified stock options.  

The provision for income taxes of $56.5 million and $7.6 million for the six months ended December 31, 2017, and 2016, respectively, represented estimated federal, foreign, and state income taxes. The effective tax rate for the three months ended December 31, 2017 diverged from the combined U.S. federal and state statutory tax rate primarily because of the impact of the one-time transition tax on E&P, the impact of the reduction in the U.S. federal tax rate on our net deferred tax assets, foreign withholding taxes, nondeductible amortization, the impact of accounting for qualified stock options, and foreign income taxed at higher tax rates, partially offset by benefits from research credits. The effective tax rate for the three months ended December 31, 2016, diverged from the combined U.S. federal and state statutory tax rate, primarily because of foreign income taxed at lower tax rates and research credits, partially offset by foreign withholding taxes, nondeductible amortization, and the impact of accounting for qualified stock options.  

The total liability for gross unrecognized tax benefits related to uncertain tax positions increased $2.8 million during the six months ended December 31, 2017, to $18.0 million from $15.2 million at June 30, 2017, and was included in other long-term liabilities on our condensed consolidated balance sheets. If recognized, the total gross unrecognized tax benefits would reduce the effective tax rate on income from continuing operations. Accrued interest and penalties related to unrecognized tax benefits as of December 31, 2017 were $1.3 million; this balance increased by $0.1 million compared to June 30, 2017. We classify interest and penalties as components of income tax expense. It is reasonably possible that the amount of the liability for unrecognized tax benefits may change within the next twelve months and an estimate of the range of possible changes may include an increase in our liability of up to $2.4 million.

In July 2015, the U.S. Tax Court issued an opinion in Altera Corp. v. Commissioner related to a treasury regulation addressing the treatment of stock-based compensation in a cost-sharing arrangement with a related party.  The U.S. Department of the Treasury has not withdrawn the requirement in its regulations related to the treatment of stock-based compensation.  The Commissioner filed an appeal to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in February 2016.  While we determined no adjustment to our financial statements is required due to the uncertainties with respect to the ultimate resolution, we will continue to monitor developments in this case.

Our major tax jurisdictions are the United States, Hong Kong SAR, and Japan. From fiscal 2010 onward, we remain subject to examination by one or more of these jurisdictions. We are currently under an income tax examination by the IRS for fiscal years 2014 and 2015, which is in the early stages. No issues have been raised during the examination so far.

During the three months ended September 30, 2017, we early adopted the new ASU on Income Taxes: Intra-Entity Transfers of Assets Other Than Inventory, which reduces the complexity in the accounting standards by allowing the recognition of current and deferred income taxes for an intra-entity asset transfer, other than inventory, when the transfer occurs. Historically, recognition of the income tax consequence of an intra-entity asset transfer was deferred and recognized either upon the disposition of the asset or over the economic life of the asset. We applied this amendment on a modified retrospective basis through a cumulative-effect adjustment of $8.3 million directly to retained earnings as of the beginning of fiscal 2018.