INCOME TAXES

The following table reflects the provision for income taxes and the effective tax rate for the three months ended December 30, 2017 and December 31, 2016:



	Three months ended
(dollar amounts in thousands)	December 30, 2017			December 31, 2016
Income tax expense	$	109,633		$	2,608
Effective tax rate	272.1		%	14.3		%

For the three months ended December 30, 2017, the effective income tax rate differed from the federal statutory tax rate primarily due to tax expense related to the enactment of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (the “Act”), foreign withholding taxes, and tax liabilities from foreign operations, partially offset by tax benefits from profits generated in foreign operations subject to a lower statutory tax rate than the federal rate, tax benefits from domestic research expenditures, foreign tax credit, and the impact of tax holidays.

For the three months ended December 31, 2016, the effective income tax rate differed from the federal statutory tax rate primarily due to tax benefits from profits in foreign operations subject to a lower statutory tax rate than the federal rate, tax benefits from domestic research expenditures, and the impact of tax holidays, partially offset by an increase for deferred taxes on unremitted earnings, foreign withholding taxes, and an increase in valuation allowance against certain foreign deferred tax assets.

The increase in tax expense for the three months ended December 30, 2017 of $109.6 million from the tax expense for the three months ended December 31, 2016 of $2.6 million, of which $105.0 million was due to the enactment of the Act and the remaining amount primarily due to higher worldwide profits in the quarter.

The Company's future effective tax rate would be affected by the enactment of the Act, by decrease in earnings in countries where it has lower statutory rates or increase in earnings in countries where it has higher statutory rates, by changes in the valuation of its deferred tax assets and liabilities, or by changes in tax laws, regulations, accounting principles, or interpretations thereof.

It is reasonably possible that the amount of the unrecognized tax benefit with respect to certain unrecognized tax positions will increase or decrease during the next 12 months due to the expected lapse of statutes of limitation and / or settlements of tax examinations. The Company is under income tax examination by tax authorities in domestic and certain foreign jurisdictions.

In the first quarter of fiscal 2018, excess tax benefits from stock based compensation of $5.4 million, previously offset against deferred tax assets, were reflected in the consolidated balance sheets as a component of retained earnings as a result of the adoption of ASU 2016-09. Please refer to Note 11 for more details regarding the adoption of ASU 2016-09.

2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act

On December 22, 2017, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (the “Act”) was signed into legislation. The Act, among other changes, reduces the U.S. federal corporate tax rate from 35% to 21%, implements a modified territorial tax system that includes a one-time transition tax on deemed repatriation of previously untaxed accumulated earnings and profits of certain foreign subsidiaries, and creates new taxes on certain foreign-sourced earnings.

At December 30, 2017, the Company has reflected the income tax effects of the Act for which the accounting under Accounting Standards Codification Topic 740, Income Taxes is complete. For those items for which the accounting is not yet complete, but for which a reasonable estimate could be made, we have recorded the provisional tax expense in the Statement of Operations. As described below, we have made a reasonable estimate of the effects on our existing deferred tax balances and the one-time transition tax. We recognized an aggregate net discrete tax provision of $105.0 million, comprised primarily of approximately $2.6 million from the re-measurement of U.S. deferred tax assets and liabilities using the relevant tax rate at which we expect them to reverse in the future and approximately $102.5 million from the one-time transition tax on deemed repatriation of previously untaxed accumulated earnings and profits of certain foreign subsidiaries, net of deemed taxes paid.

The discrete tax provision incorporates assumptions made based upon our current interpretation of the Act and information available through January 19, 2018. The final impact of the Act may differ significantly from this estimates, due to, among other things, changes in interpretations and assumptions made by the Company as a result of additional information and additional guidance that may be issued by the U.S. Department of the Treasury or any other relevant governing body.

In addition, we will record the income tax effects of the global intangible low-taxed income (“GILTI”) as well as all other changes enacted by the Act as incurred for fiscal years beginning after 2018 (our fiscal 2019).

Provisional Amounts

Deferred tax assets and liabilities: We have re-measured our U.S. deferred tax assets and liabilities based on the relevant tax rates at which they are expected to reverse, which is estimated to be at either at the blended tax rate of 24.5% applicable for fiscal 2018 or applicable 21% for fiscal 2019 and later. Because we are still analyzing certain aspects of the Act and refining our calculations, which could potentially affect the measurement of these balances and change our estimated deferred tax amounts, we have recorded a provisional amount related to the re-measurement of our deferred tax balance of $2.6 million.

One-time transition tax: The one-time transition tax has been estimated based on our accumulated post-1986 deferred foreign income that has not previously been subject to U.S. income tax. Because we have not yet completed our calculation of the one-time transition tax, we have recorded a provisional income tax expense of $102.5 million related to the one-time transition tax of our foreign subsidiaries. No additional U.S. income taxes have been provided for any remaining undistributed foreign earnings not subject to the transition tax or any additional outside basis difference inherent in these entities as these amounts continue to be indefinitely reinvested in foreign operations.