INCOME TAXES (Tables)

12 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2016

Income Tax Disclosure [Abstract]

Schedule of Income before Income Tax Expense

Income (loss) before income tax expense (benefit) consisted of the following (in thousands):

	Year Ended March 31,
	2016			2015		2014
Domestic	$	(6,979	)	$	93,447	$	80,515
Foreign	(25,460		)	1,518		(2,659		)
	$	(32,439	)	$	94,965	$	77,856

Summary of Components of Income Tax Expense

The components of the income tax expense (benefit) are as follows (in thousands):

	Year Ended March 31,
	2016			2015			2014
Current income tax expense:
Federal	$	29,238		$	25,927		$	20,123
State	2,223			3,825			2,260
Foreign	6,628			1,307			1,174
	38,089			31,059			23,557
Deferred income tax expense (benefit):
Federal	(30,216		)	2,836			5,347
State	(4,461		)	17			96
Foreign	(7,482		)	(139		)	(250		)
	(42,159		)	2,714			5,193
	$	(4,070	)	$	33,773		$	28,750

Schedule of Federal Statutory Income Tax Rate to Effective Tax Rate

The income tax expense (benefit) computed using the federal statutory income tax rate differs from NetScout’s effective tax rate primarily due to the following:

	Year Ended March 31,
	2016		2015		2014
Statutory U.S. federal tax rate	35.0	%	35.0	%	35.0	%
State taxes, net of federal tax effect	3.1		3.2		2.8
Research and development tax credits	13.0		(1.4	)	(1.9	)
Tax rate differential of foreign operations	(18.2	)	0.1		0.2
Domestic production activities deduction	9.2		(2.9	)	(2.7	)
Change in valuation allowance	0.7		0.4		2.0
Transaction costs	(19.1	)	—		—
Foreign withholding	(6.1	)	—		—
Other	(5.1	)	1.2		1.5
	12.5	%	35.6	%	36.9	%

Summary of Components of Net Deferred Tax Assets

The components of net deferred tax assets and liabilities are as follows (in thousands):

	Year Ended March 31,
	2016			2015
Deferred tax assets:
Accrued expenses	$	6,734		$	3,730
Deferred revenue	13,913			9,054
Reserves	7,916			1,651
Pension and other retiree benefits	4,842			—
Net operating loss carryforwards	41,225			19,214
Tax credit carryforwards	5,824			3,838
Share-based compensation	4,975			2,660
Transaction related costs	—			4,001
Other	426			808
Total gross deferred tax assets	85,855			44,956
Valuation allowance	(3,777		)	(3,906		)
Net deferred tax assets	82,078			41,050
Deferred tax liabilities:
Intangible assets	(354,601		)	(29,202		)
Depreciation	(6,630		)	(732		)
Total deferred tax asset (liability)	$	(279,153	)	$	11,116

Schedule of Reconciliation of Unrecognized Tax Benefits

A reconciliation of the beginning and ending amount of unrecognized tax benefits for the fiscal years ended March 31, 2016, 2015 and 2014 is as follows (in thousands):

	Year Ended March 31,
	2016		2015			2014
Balance at April 1,	$	1,038	$	421		$	370
Additions based on tax positions related to the current year	48		45			51
Release of tax positions of prior years	—		(75		)	—
Increase in unrecognized tax benefits as a result of a tax position taken during a prior period	502		647			—
Balance at March 31,	$	1,588	$	1,038		$	421