On December 22, 2017, the legislation commonly referred to as the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (“Tax Act”) was enacted into law, which changes various corporate income tax provisions within the existing Internal Revenue Code. Substantially all the provisions of the Tax Act are effective for taxable years beginning after December 31, 2017. The most significant changes that impact the Company are the reduction in the corporate federal income tax rate from 35% to 21% and 100% bonus depreciation for qualified property acquired and placed in service after September 27, 2017 and before January 1, 2023. In a manner consistent with ASC 740-10-25-47, the effect of a change in tax law or rates shall be recognized at the date of enactment, accordingly, the Company accounted for the corporate federal income tax rate reduction in the fourth quarter of 2017.

The Company reduced its net deferred tax liability, resulting in a non-cash income tax benefit of approximately $18.7 million in the fourth quarter of 2017. The Company realized an additional $2.6 million non-cash income tax benefit in the third quarter of 2018 in the filing of the 2017 return related to the reduction of federal corporate income tax rate. The Company changed its method of tax accounting on certain items resulting in the acceleration of deductions into prior periods subject to a higher 35% corporate income tax rate.

	Year Ended
	December 29, 2019		December 30, 2018		December 31, 2017
U.S. Federal—current	$	36,091	$	9,319	$	31,667
U.S. Federal—deferred		186		19,441		6,551
U.S. Federal—total		36,277		28,760		38,218
State—current		8,649		5,271		7,337
State—deferred		1,613		3,229		1,523
State—total		10,262		8,500		8,860
Total provision	$	46,539	$	37,260	$	47,078

Income tax provision differed from the amounts computed by applying the U.S. federal income tax rate to pre-tax income as a result of the following:

	Year Ended
	December 29, 2019			December 30, 2018			December 31, 2017
Federal statutory rate		21.0	%		21.0	%		35.0	%
Increase (decrease) in income taxes resulting from:
State income taxes, net of federal benefit		4.4			3.8			3.2
Tax Act benefit		—			—			(9.1	)
Excess tax benefits from share based payments		—			(5.2	)		(4.3	)
Change in uncertain tax position reserves		(1.1	)		1.5			—
Benefit of federal tax credit		(1.6	)		(0.7	)		(0.7	)
Other, net		1.0			(1.4	)		(1.2	)
Effective tax rate		23.7	%		19.0	%		22.9	%

The effective income tax rate increased to 23.7% in 2019 from 19.0% in 2018 primarily due to the volume of expiring pre-IPO options exercises in FY 2018, partially offset by an increase in the Company’s federal tax credit benefit. The effective income tax rate decreased to 19.0% in 2018 from 22.9% in 2017 primarily due to the recognition of excess tax benefits related to the exercise or vesting of share-based awards in the income tax provision resulting from the adoption of ASU 2016-09 and the realization of a benefit associated with accelerating deductions into prior periods subject to the higher 35% federal corporate income tax rate. This decrease is offset by an increase in the Company’s accrual for unrecognized tax benefits as illustrated below.

Excess tax benefits or detriments associated with share-based payment awards are recognized as income tax benefits or expense in the income statement. The tax effects of exercised or vested awards are treated as discrete items in the reporting period in which they occur. The income tax detriment resulting from share-based awards was $1.6 million for 2019 and is reflected as an increase to the respective 2019 income tax provision. The income tax benefits resulting from share-based awards were $12.4 million and $9.9 million for 2018 and 2017, respectively, and are reflected as a reduction to the 2018 and 2017 income tax provision.

Significant components of the Company’s deferred tax assets and deferred tax liabilities are as follows:

	As Of
	December 29, 2019			December 30, 2018
Deferred tax assets
Employee benefits	$	14,663		$	17,879
Tax credits		427			413
Lease related		44,790			65,141
Other accrued liabilities		5,027			4,456
Charitable contribution carryforward		7,819			10,799
Inventories and other		3,520			1,333
Total gross deferred tax assets		76,246			100,021
Deferred tax liabilities
Depreciation and amortization		(97,309	)		(123,543	)
Intangible assets		(33,293	)		(26,877	)
Total gross deferred tax liabilities		(130,602	)		(150,420	)
Net deferred tax (liability) / asset	$	(54,356	)	$	(50,399	)

A valuation allowance is established for deferred tax assets if it is more likely than not that these items will either expire before the Company is able to realize their benefits, or that the realization of future deductions is uncertain.

Management performs an assessment over future taxable income to analyze whether it is more likely than not that some portion or all of the deferred tax assets will not be realized. The ultimate realization of deferred tax assets is dependent upon the generation of future taxable income during the periods in which those temporary differences become deductible. The Company has evaluated all available positive and negative evidence and believes it is probable that the deferred tax assets will be realized and has not recorded a valuation allowance against the Company’s deferred tax assets as of December 29, 2019 and December 30, 2018.

The Company applies the authoritative accounting guidance under ASC 740 for the recognition, measurement, classification and disclosure of uncertain tax positions taken or expected to be taken in a tax return.

A reconciliation of the beginning and ending amounts of unrecognized tax benefits is as follows:

	As Of
	December 29, 2019			December 30, 2018		December 31, 2017
Beginning balance	$	3,658		$	794	$	819
Additions based on tax positions related to the current year		289			2,864		95
Reductions for tax positions for prior years		(2,604	)		—		(120	)
Ending balance	$	1,343		$	3,658	$	794

The Company had unrecognized tax benefits (tax effected) of $1.3 million and $3.7 million as of December 29, 2019 and December 30, 2018, respectively. These would impact the effective tax rate if recognized.

The Company’s policy is to recognize accrued interest and penalties as a component of income tax expense.

The Company anticipates a decrease in the total amount of unrecognized tax benefits during the next twelve months related to depreciation for transaction cost allocation in the amount of $0.1 million.

The Company files income tax returns with federal and state tax authorities within the United States. The general statute of limitations for income tax examinations remains open for federal tax returns for tax years 2016 through 2018 and state tax returns for the tax years 2015 through 2018. The Company’s U.S. federal income tax return for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2017 is currently under examination by the Internal Revenue Service.