The (benefit) provision for income taxes and effective tax rate were as follows:

	For the Three Months Ended
	September 27, 2020			September 29, 2019
(Benefit) provision for income taxes	$	(1,179	)	$	721
Effective tax rate		(52.3	)%		16.3	%

On July 20, 2020, the U.S. Treasury issued and enacted final regulations related to global intangible low-tax income (“GILTI”) that allow certain U.S. taxpayers to elect to exclude foreign income that is subject to a high effective tax rate from their GILTI inclusions. The GILTI high-tax exclusion is an annual election and is retroactively available for tax years beginning after December 31, 2017. The current period includes a discrete tax benefit of $4,789 for the estimated impact of the retroactive election.

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.

As a result of the newly enacted GILTI regulations, and their impact on prior tax periods, UNIFI does not expect to realize the full benefit of its U.S. federal net operating loss and research credit carryforwards. The current period includes $2,127 of discrete tax expense related to the change in valuation allowance.

UNIFI’s (benefit) provision for income taxes for the three months ended September 27, 2020 and September 29, 2019 was calculated by applying an estimate of the annual effective tax rate for the full fiscal year to year-to-date income from ordinary activity. Tax effects of significant and unusual, or infrequently occurring, items are excluded from the estimated annual effective tax rate calculation and recognized discretely in the interim period in which they occur.

The effective tax rate for the three months ended September 27, 2020 was lower than the U.S. federal statutory rate primarily due to the retroactive GILTI high-tax exclusion for prior periods. This benefit was partially offset by the change in valuation allowance for deferred tax assets and current U.S. tax on GILTI.

The effective tax rate for the three months ended September 29, 2019 was lower than the U.S. federal statutory rate primarily due to the use of foreign tax credits generated in both current and prior tax years. These benefits were partially offset by earnings taxed at higher rates in foreign jurisdictions, U.S. tax on GILTI, and foreign withholding 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, which could potentially be revised upon examination.