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

On December 22, 2017, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (the "Tax Act") was signed into law, making significant changes to the taxation of U.S. business entities. The Tax Act reduced the U.S. corporate income tax rate from 35% to 21%, imposed a one-time transition tax in connection with the move from a worldwide tax system to a territorial tax system, provided for accelerated deductions for certain U.S. film production costs, imposed limitations on certain tax deductions such as executive compensation in future periods, and included numerous other provisions. As the Company has a March 31 fiscal year-end, the lower corporate income tax rate will be phased in, resulting in a U.S. statutory federal rate of approximately 31.5% for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2018, and 21% for subsequent fiscal years.

In connection with the Tax Act, the SEC issued Staff Accounting Bulletin No. 118 (“SAB 118”) to provide guidance to companies that have not completed their accounting for the income tax effects of the Tax Act. Under SAB 118, provisional amounts can be recorded to the extent a reasonable estimate can be made. Additional tax effects and adjustments to previously recorded provisional amounts can be recorded upon obtaining, preparing, or analyzing additional information (including computations) within one year from the enactment date of the Tax Act. The Company is currently in the process of evaluating the full impact of the Tax Act on its financial statements and has not completed this evaluation. The Company has reported provisional amounts reflecting reasonable estimates of the impact of the Tax Act, including a $165.0 million income tax benefit related to the impact of the corporate income tax rate reduction on the Company's net deferred tax liabilities. The Company has also made provisional estimates of other effects of the Tax Act, such as the measurement of deferred tax assets and liabilities related to executive compensation, the one-time transition tax, net operating loss carryovers, foreign tax credits, and accelerated deductions for U.S. film costs. The estimated impact of the Tax Act is based on a preliminary review of the new law and is subject to revision based upon further analysis and interpretation of the Tax Act. The Company will complete its accounting for the Tax Act once the Company has obtained, prepared, and analyzed all information needed (including computations) for its analysis, but no later than one year from the enactment date of the Tax Act.
For the quarters ended December 31, 2017 and 2016, the Company determined that a small change in its estimated pretax results for the years ending March 31, 2018 and 2017, respectively, would create a large change in its expected annual effective rate. Accordingly, it was determined that a reliable estimate of the expected annual effective tax rate could not be made. As a result, consistent with prior quarters, the Company computed its tax provision (benefit) using the cut-off method, which reflects the actual taxes attributable to year-to-date earnings.
The Company's income tax provision (benefit) differs from the federal statutory rate multiplied by pre-tax income (loss) due to the mix of the Company's pre-tax income (loss) generated across the various jurisdictions in which the Company operates and the tax deductions generated by the Company's capital structure. In addition, the Company recorded a significant income tax benefit for the quarter ended December 31, 2017 due to the U.S. federal corporate income tax rate reduction (discussed above).
The Company's income tax provision (benefit) can be affected by many factors, including the overall level of pre-tax income, the mix of pre-tax income generated across the various jurisdictions in which the Company operates, changes in tax laws and regulations in those jurisdictions, further interpretation and legislative guidance regarding the new Tax Act, changes in valuation allowances on its deferred tax assets, tax planning strategies available to the Company, and other discrete items.