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Note 15 - Income Taxes | 9 Months Ended
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Jul. 31, 2018
Notes to Financial Statements |
Income Tax Disclosure [Text Block] |
15. | Income Taxes
The total income tax expense of $1.1 million and $1.7 million recognized for the three and nine months ended July 31, 2018, respectively, was primarily related to state tax expense from income generated that was not offset by tax benefits in states where we fully reserve the tax benefit from net operating losses. The total income tax expense of $287.0 million and $286.5 million for the three and nine months ended July 31, 2017, respectively, was primarily due to increasing our valuation allowance to fully reserve against our deferred tax assets (“DTAs”). In addition, income tax for the same periods were impacted by state tax expense from income generated in certain states, which was not offset by tax benefits in other states that had losses (for which we fully reserve the tax benefit from net operating losses). Our federal net operating losses of $1.6 billion expire between 2028 and 2037. Our state NOLs of $2.6 billion expire between 2018 and 2037. Of the total state amount, $247.1 million will expire between 2018 through 2022; $463.1 million will expire between 2023 through 2027; $1.5 billion will expire between 2028 through 2032; and $348.6 million will expire between 2033 through 2037. On December 22, 2017, the President of the United States signed into law the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 (the “Act”). Effective January 1, 2018, the comprehensive U.S. tax reform package, among other things, lowered the corporate tax rate from 35% to 21%. Under the accounting rules, companies are required to recognize the effects of changes in tax laws and tax rates on deferred tax assets and liabilities in the period in which the new legislation is enacted. The effects of the Act on the Company include one major category which is the remeasurement of deferred taxes. Our accounting for the U.S. federal corporate tax rate is complete. Consequently, we have recorded a decrease related to deferred tax assets and liabilities of $298.5 million and $12.2 million, respectively, with a corresponding net adjustment to the valuation allowance in fiscal 2018, therefore there was no income tax expense or benefit as a result of the tax law changes. We will continue to evaluate the impact of the tax reform as additional regulatory guidance is obtained. The ultimate impact of tax reform may differ from our interpretations and assumptions due to additional regulatory guidance that may be issued. Deferred federal and state income tax assets (“DTAs”) primarily represent the deferred tax benefits arising from NOL carryforwards and temporary differences between book and tax income which will be recognized in future years as an offset against future taxable income. If the combination of future years’ income (or loss) and the reversal of the timing differences results in a loss, such losses can be carried forward to future years. In accordance with ASC 740, we evaluate our DTAs quarterly to determine if valuation allowances are required. ASC 740 requires that companies assess whether valuation allowances should be established based on the consideration of all available evidence using a “more likely than not” standard. As of July 31, 2018, we considered all available positive and negative evidence to determine whether, based on the weight of that evidence, our valuation allowance for our DTAs was appropriate in accordance with ASC 740. Listed below, in order of the weighting of each factor, is the available positive and negative evidence that we considered in determining that it is more likely than not that all of our DTAs will not be realized. In analyzing these factors, overall the negative evidence, both objective and subjective, outweighed the positive evidence. Based on this analysis, we determined that the current valuation allowance for deferred taxes of $659.9 million as of July 31, 2018, which fully reserves for our DTAs, is appropriate.
| 1. | Fiscal 2017 financial results, especially the $50.2 million pre-tax loss in the third quarter of 2017 primarily from the $42.3 million loss on extinguishment of debt during the quarter, that put us in a cumulative three -year loss position as of July 31, 2017. We are still in a cumulative three -year loss position as of July 31, 2018. Per ASC 740, cumulative losses are one of the most objectively verifiable forms of negative evidence. (Negative Objective Evidence)
| 2. | In the third quarter of fiscal 2017 and second and third quarters of fiscal 2018, we completed debt refinancing/restructuring transactions which, by extending our debt maturities, will enable us to allocate cash to invest in new communities and grow our community count to get back to sustained profitability. (Positive Objective Evidence)
| 3. | The refinancing in the third quarter of fiscal 2017 discussed in item 2 above will increase our interest incurred in fiscal 2018 and future years (based on our longer term modeling) by $23.4 million per year. (Negative Objective Evidence)
| 4. | Recent financial results of $40.0 million pre-tax loss for the first nine months of 2018. (Negative Objective Evidence)
| 5. | We incurred pre-tax losses during the housing market decline and the slower than expected housing market recovery. (Negative Objective Evidence)
| 6. | We exited two geographic markets in fiscal 2016, one in fiscal 2017, and completed the wind down of operations in one other market in the second quarter of fiscal 2018, that have historically had losses. By exiting these underperforming markets, the Company will be able to redeploy capital to better performing markets, which over time should improve our profitability. (Positive Subjective Evidence)
| 7. | Evidence of a sustained recovery in the housing markets in which we operate, supported by economic data showing housing starts, homebuilding volume and prices all increasing and forecasted to continue to increase. (Positive Subjective Evidence)
| 8. | The historical cyclicality of the U.S. housing market, a more restrictive mortgage lending environment compared to before the housing downturn, the uncertainty of the overall US economy and government policies and consumer confidence, all or any of which could continue to hamper a faster, stronger recovery of the housing market. (Negative Subjective Evidence)

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- Definition The entire disclosure for income taxes. Disclosures may include net deferred tax liability or asset recognized in an enterprise's statement of financial position, net change during the year in the total valuation allowance, approximate tax effect of each type of temporary difference and carryforward that gives rise to a significant portion of deferred tax liabilities and deferred tax assets, utilization of a tax carryback, and tax uncertainties information. + References Reference 1: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 740 -URI http://asc.fasb.org/topic&trid=2144680 + Details
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