Income Taxes

On December 22, 2017, the U.S. government enacted the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (the “Tax Act”). The Tax Act reduces the corporate federal tax rate from 35% to 21% effective January 1, 2018 and implements a territorial tax system. Since the Company has a June 30th fiscal year-end, the lower tax rate will result in a blended U.S. statutory federal rate of approximately 28% for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2018, and 21% for subsequent fiscal years. As part of the Tax Act, U.S. companies are required to pay a one-time transition tax on the deemed repatriation of undistributed foreign earnings and remeasure deferred tax assets and liabilities.

Income taxes for the quarter and nine months ended March 31, 2018 have been included in the accompanying condensed consolidated financial statements using an estimated annual effective tax rate. In addition to applying the estimated annual effective tax rate to pre-tax income, the Company also includes certain items treated as discrete events to arrive at an estimated overall tax provision. The table below summarizes the effect of discrete items on the income tax rate for the quarter and nine months ended March 31, 2018.



	Quarter ended			Nine months ended
	March 31, 2018			March 31, 2018
	(in thousands)
Income before income taxes	$	15,792		$	42,883
Accrual income tax rate⁽¹⁾	31.4		%	30.4		%
Accrued income tax expense, before discrete items	4,963			13,038
Discrete tax expense (benefit):
Transition tax on repatriation of foreign earnings	—			9,300
Remeasurement of deferred taxes (U.S.)	—			(3,510		)
Remeasurement of deferred taxes (Belgium)	—			900
Other	180			390
Total net discrete tax expense	180			7,080
Provision for income taxes	$	5,143		$	20,118
Effective income tax rate	32.6		%	46.9		%
Income tax rate effect of discrete items	1.1		%	16.5		%

⁽¹⁾The estimated effect of the rate change for the quarter and nine months ended March 31, 2018 is a benefit of approximately $1.3 million and $2.9 million, respectively.

The Company’s effective tax rate of 46.9% for the nine months ended March 31, 2018 differs from the current federal statutory rate of 21% primarily as a result of items recorded discretely, income derived from tax jurisdictions with varying income tax rates and the application of a blended U.S. federal rate for the current fiscal year as a result of tax reform legislation.

As part of transitioning to the territorial tax system the Tax Act includes a mandatory deemed repatriation of all undistributed foreign earnings that are subject to a U.S. income tax. For the quarter ended December 31, 2017, the Company recognized a provisional discrete income tax expense of $9.3 million for a one-time transition tax liability on total post-1986 foreign subsidiaries’ earnings and profits (“E&P”) that were previously deferred from U.S. income taxes. The Company has not yet completed the calculation of total post-1986 foreign E&P for foreign subsidiaries and the tax expense currently recognized may change as the value of cash and other specified assets changes, which is part of the basis of the transition tax. No additional income tax expense has been provided for any remaining undistributed foreign earnings not subject to the transition tax and any additional outside basis difference inherent for these entities as such amounts continue to be indefinitely reinvested in foreign operations. Further, the amount of related unrecognized deferred tax liability is under review but not practicable to estimate at this time.

As part of accounting for the Tax Act, the Company remeasured certain deferred tax assets and liabilities based on the rates at which such deferred taxes are expected to reverse in the future, which is generally 21%. For the quarter ended December 31, 2017, the Company recognized a provisional discrete income tax benefit of $3.5 million for the remeasurement of the Company’s net deferred tax liability balance. However, the Company is still analyzing certain aspects of the Tax Act and refining calculations, which are dependent on final results for fiscal year 2018, which could potentially affect the measurement of these deferred taxes or give rise to new deferred tax amounts.

At March 31, 2018, the Company has not completed accounting for the tax effects of the enactment of the Tax Act. The Securities and Exchange Commission has issued rules that would allow for a measurement period of up to one year after the enactment date of the Tax Act to finalize the recording of the related tax impact. The Company currently anticipates finalizing and recording any resulting adjustments by the end of the current fiscal year 2018. The Company made a reasonable estimate of the one-time transition tax and remeasurement of existing deferred tax balances. The transitional impacts resulted in a provisional income tax expense of $5.8 million as a discrete event for the quarter ended December 31, 2017. The Company has not been able to make a reasonable estimate for any additional outside basis difference inherent for foreign subsidiaries as these amounts continue to be reinvested in foreign operations. The Company continues to account for those items based on existing accounting under ASC 740, Income Taxes. The Company will continue to provide for U.S. income taxes for the current earnings of its Canadian subsidiary. The provisional estimates provided may be impacted by a number of additional considerations, including, but not limited to, the issuance of final regulations, the Company's ongoing analysis of the new tax law and the Company's actual earnings for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2018.

The Company had approximately $2.1 million and $2.2 million of total gross unrecognized tax benefits as of March 31, 2018 and June 30, 2017, respectively. Of this total at March 31, 2018, approximately $1.4 million represents the amount of unrecognized tax benefits that are permanent in nature and, if recognized, would affect the annual effective tax rate. The Company does not believe that the total amount of unrecognized tax benefits will significantly increase or decrease within twelve months of the reporting date.

The Company conducts business globally and one or more of its subsidiaries files income tax returns in the U.S. federal, various state, local and foreign jurisdictions. In the normal course of business, the Company is subject to examination by taxing authorities in countries and states in which it operates. With certain exceptions, the Company is no longer subject to federal, state and local, or non-U.S. income tax examinations by tax authorities for the years before June 30, 2013.

The Company’s policy is to recognize interest and penalties related to income tax matters in income tax expense. As of March 31, 2018 and June 30, 2017, the Company had approximately $1.2 million and $1.1 million accrued for interest and penalties, respectively.

Financial results in Belgium for the quarter and nine months ended March 31, 2018 produced a pre-tax loss of approximately $1.5 million and $3.2 million, respectively. In the judgment of management, the conditions that gave rise to the recent losses are temporary and that it is more likely than not that the deferred tax asset will be realized. If Belgium business does not return to profitability as expected, this could affect the valuation of certain deferred tax assets. Belgium enacted a corporate tax reform law on December 25, 2017 which reduces the corporate tax rate from 33% to 25% over a three-year period. The Company remeasured certain deferred tax assets and liabilities based on the rates at which such deferred taxes are expected to reverse in the future. As a result, the Company recognized income tax expense of $0.9 million as a discrete event during the quarter ended December 31, 2017.