INCOME TAXES

The following table reflects the provision for income taxes and the effective tax rate for the three and six months ended March 30, 2019 and March 31, 2018:



	Three months ended						Six months ended
(dollar amounts in thousands)	March 30, 2019			March 31, 2018			March 30, 2019			March 31, 2018
Income tax expense	$	4,672		$	4,800		$	15,242		$	115,212
Effective tax rate	407.7		%	11.6		%	79.1		%	140.5		%

For the six months ended March 30, 2019, the effective income tax rate differed from the federal statutory tax rate primarily due to tax expense related to adjustments to the one-time transition tax, valuation allowances recorded against certain tax credits and loss carryforwards, 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 credits, and the impact of tax holidays.

For the six months ended March 31, 2018, 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 of 2017 (the "Act"), valuation allowances recorded against certain tax loss carryforwards, 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 credits, and the impact of tax holidays.

The decrease in tax expense for the three months ended March 30, 2019 of $4.7 million from the tax expense for the three months ended March 31, 2018 of $4.8 million was primarily related to a decrease in profits in fiscal 2019, partially offset by $2.5 million of tax expense related to an adjustment to the one-time transition tax as a result of final regulations published on February 5, 2019. The decrease in tax expense for the six months ended March 30, 2019 of $15.2 million from the tax expense for the six months ended March 31, 2018 of $115.2 million was primarily related to the enactment of the Act in fiscal 2018 and a decrease in profits in fiscal 2019, partially offset by $10.2 million of tax expense related to adjustments to the one-time transition tax. The Company's future effective tax rate would be affected by the 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.

As of March 30, 2019, the Company completed its evaluation of the future cash needs of its U.S. and foreign operations, the alignment of cash balances with the Company’s long term capital allocation strategy, and the impact of the Act which generally allows U.S. corporations to make distributions without incurring additional U.S income tax. As a result of this reassessment, the Company’s undistributed foreign earnings are no longer deemed to be indefinitely reinvested outside the U.S. and the Company recorded $0.7 million of tax expense in the second quarter of fiscal 2019.

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 certain foreign jurisdictions.

In accordance with Staff Accounting Bulletin No. 118 ("SAB 118"), the accounting for the tax effects for the Act was completed in the first quarter of fiscal 2019. In addition, the Company has made an accounting policy election to record tax effects of its global intangible low-taxed income as a period cost in the period the tax is incurred.