Income Taxes

9 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2020

Income Tax Disclosure [Abstract]

Income Taxes

16. Income Taxes

For the three months ended March 31, 2020 and 2019, the Company recorded an income tax provision of $1.6 million and $1.9 million, respectively. For the nine months ended March 31, 2020 and 2019, the Company recorded an income tax provision of $4.9 million and an income tax benefit of $2.0 million, respectively.

The income tax provisions for the three and nine months ended March 31, 2020 and 2019, consisted of (1) taxes on the income of the Company’s foreign subsidiaries, (2) foreign withholding taxes (3) tax expense associated with the establishment of a U.S. deferred tax liability for amortizable goodwill resulting from the acquisition of Enterasys Networks, Inc., the wireless local area network (“WLAN”) business from Zebra Technologies Corporation, the Campus Fabric Business from Avaya and the Data Center Business from Brocade, and (4) state taxes in jurisdictions where the Company has no remaining state Net Operating Losses. In addition, the nine months ended March 31, 2019 included tax benefits associated with the release of valuation allowance resulting

from changes introduced by US tax reform as well as the release of a valuation allowance recorded against deferred tax assets in Australia. The income tax provisions for both fiscal years were calculated based on the actual results of operations for the three and nine months ended March 31, 2020 and 2019, respectively and therefore may not reflect the annual effective tax rate.

On March 27, 2020, the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act (the “CARES Act”) was signed into law in the United States.  The CARES Act, among other things, includes modifications to net operating loss carryforward provisions and the net interest expense deduction, and deferment of employer social security tax payments.  The Company has evaluated the provisions of the CARES Act and how certain elections may impact our financial position and results of operations, and have determined the enactment of the CARES Act did not have a material impact to our income tax provision for the three months ended March 31, 2020, or to our net deferred tax assets as of March 31, 2020.

In the first quarter of the Company’s fiscal year ended June 30, 2019, the Company adopted ASU 2016-16, Intra-Entity Transfers of Assets Other Than Inventory, which requires an entity to recognize the income tax consequences of an intra-entity transfer of an asset at the time the transfer occurs. Historically, U.S. generally accepted accounting principles has prohibited the recognition of current and deferred income taxes for an intra-entity asset transfer until the asset had been sold outside the consolidated group.  Effective July 1, 2018, the Company adopted ASU 2016-16 on a modified retrospective basis which requires an adjustment of the cumulative-effect of the adoption to retained earnings.  The adjustment was immaterial to the financial statements, and as such, no such adjustment was necessary.  As a result of adoption, the income tax consequences of future intra-entity transfer of assets will be recognized in earnings in each period rather than be deferred until the assets leave the consolidated group.  In the three months ended September 30, 2018, the Company recognized a deferred tax asset relating to a transfer of certain assets from the U.S. parent company to its wholly-owned Irish subsidiary of $3.7 million, which was fully offset by the establishment of a valuation allowance resulting in no impact to Company’s statement of operations.

The Company has provided a full valuation allowance against all of its U.S. federal and state deferred tax assets as well as a portion of the deferred tax assets in Ireland. A valuation allowance is determined by assessing both negative and positive evidence to determine whether it is “more likely than not” that deferred tax assets are recoverable; such assessment is required on a jurisdiction by jurisdiction basis.  The Company's inconsistent earnings in recent periods, including a cumulative loss over the last three years, coupled with its difficulty in forecasting future revenue trends and the cyclical nature of its business represent sufficient negative evidence to require a full valuation allowance against its U.S. federal and state net deferred tax assets as well as a portion of the deferred tax assets in Ireland.  These valuation allowance will be evaluated periodically and can be reversed partially or in whole if business results and the economic environment have sufficiently improved to support realization of some or all of the Company's deferred tax assets.

On August 9, 2019, the Company completed its acquisition of Aerohive.  This acquisition was treated as a non-taxable stock acquisition and therefore Extreme Networks will have carryover tax basis in the assets and liabilities acquired.

The Company had $24.6 million of unrecognized tax benefits as of March 31, 2020.  The future impact of the unrecognized tax benefit of $24.6 million, if recognized, would result in adjustments to deferred tax assets and corresponding adjustments to the valuation allowance with no impact to the effective tax rate.  The Company does not anticipate any events to occur during the next twelve months that would reduce the unrealized tax benefit as currently stated in the Company’s balance sheet.

The Company’s policy is to accrue interest and penalties related to the underpayment of income taxes as a component of tax expense in the accompanying condensed consolidated statements of operations.

In general, the Company’s U.S. federal income tax returns are subject to examination by tax authorities for fiscal years 2001 forward due to net operating losses and the Company's state income tax returns are subject to examination for fiscal years 2000 forward due to net operating losses. The Company is not currently under audit in any material jurisdictions.