Note 15 - Income Taxes

6 Months Ended

Jul. 05, 2015

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Income Taxes

The provision for income taxes includes federal, state, local and foreign taxes. The Company’s effective tax rate varies from period to period due to the proportion of foreign and domestic pre-tax income expected to be generated by the Company. The Company provides for income taxes for its domestic operations at a statutory rate of 35% and for its foreign operations at a statutory rate of 30% in 2015 and 2014. The Company’s foreign operations are also subject to minimum income taxes in periods prior to 2015 where positive cash flows exceed taxable income. Reconciling items between the federal statutory rate and the effective tax rate also include the expected usage of federal net operating loss carryforwards, state income taxes, valuation allowances and certain other permanent differences.

The Company recognizes liabilities or assets for the deferred tax consequences of temporary differences between the tax bases of assets or liabilities and their reported amounts in the financial statements in accordance with ASC 740,

Income Taxes

. These temporary differences will result in taxable or deductible amounts in future years when the reported amounts of assets or liabilities are recovered or settled. ASC 740 requires that a valuation allowance be established when it is more likely than not that all or a portion of a deferred tax asset will not be realized. The Company evaluates its deferred tax position on a quarterly basis and valuation allowances are provided as necessary. During this evaluation, the Company reviews its forecast of income in conjunction with other positive and negative evidence surrounding the realizability of its deferred tax assets to determine if a valuation allowance is needed. Based on its current forecast, the Company has established a valuation allowance against the domestic net deferred tax asset. Until an appropriate level and characterization of profitability is attained, the Company expects to continue to maintain a valuation allowance on its net deferred tax assets related to future U.S. and certain non-U.S. tax benefits.

The Company expects to repatriate available non-U.S. cash holdings in 2015 and 2016 to support management’s strategic objectives and fund ongoing U.S. operational cash flow requirements; therefore current earnings from non-U.S. operations are not treated as permanently reinvested. The U.S. income tax expense recorded in 2015 on these non-U.S. earnings is expected to be offset by the benefit of a partial release of a valuation allowance on U.S.

net operating loss carryforwards. Should the U.S. valuation allowance be released at some future date, the U.S. tax expense on foreign earnings not permanently reinvested might have a material effect on our effective tax rate. For the year ending December 31, 2015, the Company expects any additional tax expense from non-U.S. withholding and other taxes expected to be incurred on repatriation of current earnings would not be material.