12. Income Taxes

The provision for income taxes was as follows:

	For the Three Months Ended
	September 30, 2018			September 24, 2017
Provision for income taxes	$	2,824		$	3,196
Effective tax rate		60.9	%		26.3	%

U.S. Tax Reform

On December 22, 2017, the U.S. government enacted comprehensive tax legislation H.R. 1, formerly known as the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. H.R. 1 includes significant changes to existing tax law, including a permanent reduction to the U.S. federal corporate income tax rate from 35% to 21%, full expensing for investments in new and used qualified property, additional limitations on the deduction of compensation paid to specified executive officers, and the transition of the U.S. international tax system from a worldwide tax to a territorial tax system. As a fiscal-year taxpayer, certain provisions of H.R. 1 impacted UNIFI in fiscal 2018, including the change in the U.S. federal corporate income tax rate and the one-time transition tax, while other provisions became effective for UNIFI at the beginning of fiscal 2019.

On December 22, 2017, Staff Accounting Bulletin No. 118 (“SAB 118”) was issued to address the application of GAAP in situations where a registrant does not have the necessary information available, prepared or analyzed in reasonable detail to complete the accounting for certain income tax effects of H.R. 1. SAB 118 provides that when reasonable estimates can be made, the provisional accounting should be based on such estimates, and when reasonable estimates cannot be made, the provisional accounting may be based on the law in effect before H.R. 1. UNIFI has applied the guidance in SAB 118 when accounting for the enactment-date effects of H.R. 1. Accordingly, in fiscal 2018 UNIFI re-measured U.S. deferred tax assets and liabilities based on the income tax rates at which the deferred tax assets and liabilities are expected to reverse in the future, resulting in $4,297 of tax benefit for the year ended June 24, 2018. UNIFI also recorded $3,901 of tax expense related to the one-time mandatory deemed repatriation of foreign earning and profits, net of foreign tax credits. For a description of the impact of H.R. 1 for the year ended June 24, 2018, reference is made to Note 14, “Income Taxes,” in UNIFI’s 2018 Annual Report on Form 10-K. No adjustments to the enactment-date effects were recorded in the first quarter of fiscal 2019.

The Global Intangible Low-Taxed Income (“GILTI”) provisions included in H.R. 1 create a new requirement that certain income earned by foreign subsidiaries must be currently included in the gross income of the U.S. shareholder. These provisions are effective for UNIFI in fiscal 2019. The GILTI provisions are complex and subject to continuing regulatory interpretation by the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (the “IRS”). UNIFI is required to make an accounting policy election to either treat taxes resulting from GILTI as a current-period expense when they are incurred or factor such amounts into the measurement of deferred taxes. UNIFI has not completed its analysis related to this accounting policy election and has therefore considered the taxes resulting from GILTI as a current-period expense for the first quarter of fiscal 2019.

U.S. tax reform is significantly complex, and UNIFI’s final tax liability may materially differ from provisional estimates due to additional guidance and regulations that may be issued by the U.S. Treasury Department, the IRS and state and local tax authorities, and for the finalization of the relevant calculations required by the new tax legislation. UNIFI will finalize accounting for H.R. 1 during the one-year measurement period and any adjustments to the provisional amounts will be included in income tax expense or benefit in the appropriate periods and disclosed, if material, in accordance with guidance provided by SAB 118.

Income Tax Expense

UNIFI’s provision for income taxes for the three months ended September 30, 2018 and September 24, 2017 has been calculated by applying an estimate of the annual effective tax rate for the full fiscal year to quarter-to-date income or loss. Tax effects of significant unusual or infrequently occurring items are excluded from the estimated annual effective tax rate calculation and recognized in the interim period in which they occur.

The effective tax rate for the three months ended September 30, 2018 was higher than the U.S. federal statutory rate of 21% primarily due to earnings taxed at higher rates in foreign jurisdictions, losses in tax jurisdictions for which no tax benefit could be recognized, the effects of the GILTI provisions enacted in H.R. 1, and non-deductible executive compensation. The effective tax rate for the three months ended September 24, 2017 was lower than the then-current U.S. federal statutory rate of 35% primarily due to earnings taxed at lower rates in foreign jurisdictions and the benefits of increased research and development tax credits. These benefits were partially offset by losses in tax jurisdictions for which no tax benefit could be recognized and state and local income taxes.

UNIFI regularly assesses the outcomes of both completed and ongoing examinations to ensure that its provision for income taxes is sufficient. Certain returns that remain open to examination have utilized carryforward tax attributes generated in prior tax years, including net operating losses (“NOLs”), which could potentially be revised upon examination.

Valuation Allowance

UNIFI regularly assesses whether it is more-likely-than-not that some portion or all of its deferred tax assets will not be realized. UNIFI considers the scheduled reversal of taxable temporary differences, taxable income in carryback years, projected future taxable income and tax planning strategies in making this assessment. Since UNIFI operates in multiple jurisdictions, the assessment is made on a jurisdiction-by-jurisdiction basis, taking into account the effects of local tax law.

The components of UNIFI’s deferred tax valuation allowance are as follows:

	September 30, 2018			June 24, 2018
Investment in a former domestic unconsolidated affiliate	$	(3,942	)	$	(3,942	)
Equity-method investment in PAL		(1,571	)		(1,580	)
Certain losses carried forward ⁽¹⁾		(1,562	)		(1,562	)
State NOLs		(169	)		(169	)
Other foreign NOLs		(2,160	)		(2,460	)
Foreign tax credits		(5,593	)		(5,430	)
Total deferred tax valuation allowance	$	(14,997	)	$	(15,143	)

(1)	Certain U.S. NOLs and capital losses outside the U.S. consolidated tax filing group.