Income Taxes

9 Months Ended

Feb. 28, 2019

Income Tax Disclosure [Abstract]

Income Taxes

INCOME TAXES

The Company provides for income taxes at the end of each interim period based on the estimated effective tax rate for the full fiscal year adjusted for any discrete events, which are recorded in the period that they occur.  The estimated annual effective tax rate prior to discrete items was 25.3% in the third quarter of fiscal 2019, as compared to 4.9% for the same period in fiscal 2018. In fiscal 2019, the Company’s effective tax rate differs from the U.S. statutory rate primarily due to the impact of the valuation allowance, foreign taxes and state taxes.

On December 22, 2017, the U.S. Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (the “Tax Reform Act”) was signed into law. The Tax Reform Act significantly revised the U.S. corporate income tax regime by, among other things, lowering the U.S. corporate tax rate from 35% to 21% effective January 1, 2018, implementing a territorial tax system, expanding the tax base and imposing a tax on deemed repatriated earnings of foreign subsidiaries. U.S. GAAP requires that the impact of tax legislation be recognized in the period in which the law was enacted.

In December 2017, the Securities and Exchange Commission staff issued Staff Accounting Bulletin No. 118 (SAB 118), which addresses how a company recognizes provisional amounts when a company does not have the necessary information available, prepared or analyzed (including computations) in reasonable detail to complete its accounting for the effect of the changes in the Tax Reform Act. The measurement period ends when a company has obtained, prepared and analyzed the information necessary to finalize its accounting, but cannot extend beyond one year. The Company elected to apply the measurement period guidance provided in SAB 118. As of February 28, 2019, the accounting for all of the enactment-date income tax effects of the Tax Reform Act was complete and any changes are noted below.

The Tax Reform Act imposed a one-time transition tax on the deemed repatriation of post-1986 undistributed foreign subsidiaries’ earnings. Based on the information available as of December 31, 2017, the Company estimated undistributed foreign earnings of approximately $4.9 million. Upon further analysis, and refinement of the calculation during the 12 months ended February 28, 2019, the Company adjusted its provisional amount by $1.1 million to $3.8 million. The taxable income of $3.8 million arising from this deemed repatriation will continue to result in the utilization of net operating loss carryforwards, offset by changes in the valuation allowance, resulting in no net impact to tax expense. All other previously communicated tax impacts remain unchanged and complete.

The Tax Reform Act also creates a new requirement that certain income earned by foreign subsidiaries (“GILTI”), must be included in U.S. gross income. The FASB allows an accounting policy election of either recognizing deferred taxes for temporary differences expected to reverse as GILTI in future years or recognizing such taxes as a current period expense when incurred. The Company has elected to account for the GILTI tax as a current-period expense when incurred (the “period cost method”).

The Company regularly assesses its ability to realize its deferred tax assets. Assessing the realization of deferred tax assets requires significant management judgment. In determining whether its deferred tax assets are more likely than not realizable, the Company evaluated all available positive and negative evidence, and weighted the evidence based on its objectivity. Evidence the Company considered included its history of net operating losses, which resulted in the Company recording a full valuation allowance for its deferred tax assets in fiscal 2016, except the naked credit deferred tax liability.

Based on the review of all available evidence, the Company determined that it has not yet attained a sustained level of profitability and the objectively verifiable negative evidence outweighed the positive evidence. Therefore, the Company has provided a valuation allowance on its federal and state net operating loss carryforwards, federal and state R&D credit carryforwards and other net deferred tax assets that have a limited life and are not supportable by the naked credit deferred tax liability sourced income as of February 28, 2019. The Company will continue to assess the level of the valuation allowance required. If sufficient positive evidence exists in future periods to support a release of some or all of the valuation allowance, such a release would likely have a material impact on the Company’s results of operations.