PRE-TAX INCOME AND INCOME TAXES

The U.S. Tax Cuts and Jobs Act ("Tax Act") was signed into law on December 22, 2017. The changes to U.S. tax law include, but are not limited to, lowering the statutory corporate tax rate from 35% to 21%, eliminating certain deductions, imposing a mandatory one-time tax on accumulated earnings of foreign subsidiaries, and changing how foreign earnings are subject to U.S. tax.

Beginning in fiscal 2019, the Tax Act created a provision known as global intangible low-tax income ("GILTI") that imposes a tax on certain earnings of foreign subsidiaries. We have made an accounting policy election to treat GILTI taxes as a current period expense.

Pre-tax income from continuing operations (including equity method investment earnings) consisted of the following:



	2019		2018		2017
United States	$	826.6	$	902.5	$	883.5
Foreign	72.5		69.6		(82.8		)
	$	899.1	$	972.1	$	800.7

The provision for income taxes included the following:



	2019			2018			2017
Current
Federal	$	125.4		$	153.1		$	201.5
State	22.6			17.8			6.7
Foreign	21.6			32.5			6.5
	169.6			203.4			214.7
Deferred
Federal	40.1			(43.7		)	62.1
State	19.0			17.4			(5.3		)
Foreign	(9.9		)	(2.5		)	(16.8		)
	49.2			(28.8		)	40.0
	$	218.8		$	174.6		$	254.7

Income taxes computed by applying the U.S. Federal statutory rates to income from continuing operations before income taxes are reconciled to the provision for income taxes set forth in the Consolidated Statements of Operations as follows:



	2019			2018			2017
Computed U.S. Federal income taxes	$	188.8		$	285.3		$	280.2
State income taxes, net of U.S. Federal tax impact	34.1			18.0			22.4
Remeasurement of U.S. deferred taxes	—			(241.6		)	—
Transition tax on foreign earnings	(4.6		)	19.8			—
Tax credits and domestic manufacturing deduction	(5.6		)	(20.6		)	(19.8		)
Federal rate differential on legal reserve	—			12.6			—
Goodwill and intangible impairments	12.5			—			104.7
Stock compensation	(2.1		)	(5.7		)	(18.8		)
Legal entity reorganization	16.9			—			—
State tax impact of combining Pinnacle business	(12.0		)	—			—
Change of valuation allowance on capital loss carryforward	(32.2		)	78.6			(84.1		)
Change in estimate related to tax methods used for certain international sales, federal credits, and state credits	—			—			(8.0		)
Other	23.0			28.2			(21.9		)
	$	218.8		$	174.6		$	254.7

Income taxes paid, net of refunds, were $133.8 million, $164.1 million, and $213.0 million in fiscal 2019, 2018, and 2017, respectively.

The tax effect of temporary differences and carryforwards that give rise to significant portions of deferred tax assets and liabilities consisted of the following:



	May 26, 2019					May 27, 2018
	Assets			Liabilities		Assets			Liabilities
Property, plant and equipment	$	—		$	240.7	$	—		$	141.0
Inventory	15.2			—		2.6			—
Goodwill, trademarks and other intangible assets	—			1,187.0		—			406.2
Accrued expenses	11.8			—		15.5			—
Compensation related liabilities	35.9			—		34.1			—
Pension and other postretirement benefits	54.6			—		45.8			—
Investment in unconsolidated subsidiaries	—			185.4		—			165.8
Other liabilities that will give rise to future tax deductions	123.5			—		109.7			—
Net capital and operating loss carryforwards	766.5			—		762.5			—
Federal credits	18.0			—		3.5			—
Other	37.6			24.0		23.6			9.5
	1,063.1			1,637.1		997.3			722.5
Less: Valuation allowance	(738.1		)	—		(739.6		)	—
Net deferred taxes	$	325.0		$	1,637.1	$	257.7		$	722.5

The liability for gross unrecognized tax benefits at May 26, 2019 was $44.1 million, excluding a related liability of $11.7 million for gross interest and penalties. Included in the balance at May 26, 2019 are $1.0 million of tax positions for which the ultimate deductibility is highly certain but for which there is uncertainty about the timing of such deductibility. Because of the impact of deferred tax accounting, the disallowance of the shorter deductibility period would not affect the annual effective tax rate but would accelerate the payment of cash to the taxing authority to an earlier period. Any associated interest and penalties imposed would affect the tax rate. As of May 27, 2018, our gross liability for unrecognized tax benefits was $32.5 million, excluding a related liability of $7.7 million for gross interest and penalties. Interest and penalties recognized in the Consolidated Statements of Operations was an expense of $1.2 million in fiscal 2019, an expense of $1.6 million in fiscal 2018, and a benefit of $0.3 million in fiscal 2017.

The net amount of unrecognized tax benefits at May 26, 2019 and May 27, 2018 that, if recognized, would favorably impact our effective tax rate was $37.3 million and $27.8 million, respectively.

We accrue interest and penalties associated with uncertain tax positions as part of income tax expense.

We conduct business and file tax returns in numerous countries, states, and local jurisdictions. The U.S. Internal Revenue Service ("IRS") has completed its audit of the Company for tax years through fiscal 2017. All resulting significant items for fiscal 2017 and prior years have been settled with the IRS, with the exception of fiscal 2016. Statutes of limitation for pre-acquisition tax years of Pinnacle generally remain open for calendar year 2002 and subsequent years principally related to net operating losses. Other major jurisdictions where we conduct business generally have statutes of limitations ranging from three to five years.

We estimate that it is reasonably possible that the amount of gross unrecognized tax benefits will decrease by up to $20.7 million over the next twelve months due to various federal, state, and foreign audit settlements and the expiration of statutes of limitations. Of this amount, approximately $6.7 million would reverse through results of discontinued operations.

The change in the unrecognized tax benefits for the year ended May 26, 2019 was:



Beginning balance on May 27, 2018	$	32.5
Acquired business positions	10.6
Increases from positions established during prior periods	7.7
Decreases from positions established during prior periods	(3.4		)
Increases from positions established during the current period	4.2
Decreases relating to settlements with taxing authorities	(5.2		)
Reductions resulting from lapse of applicable statute of limitation	(3.3		)
Other adjustments to liability	1.0
Ending balance on May 26, 2019	$	44.1

We have approximately $30.1 million of foreign net operating loss carryforwards ($15.0 million will expire between fiscal 2020 and 2040 and $15.1 million have no expiration dates) and $146.2 million of Federal net operating loss carryforwards which expire between fiscal 2022 and 2027. Federal capital loss carryforwards related to the Private Brands divestiture of approximately $2.6 billion will expire in fiscal 2021. Included in net deferred tax liabilities are $49.0 million of tax effected state net operating loss carryforwards which expire in various years ranging from fiscal 2020 to 2038 and $169.0 million of tax effected state capital loss carryforwards related to the divestiture of Private Brands, the vast majority of which expire in fiscal 2021. Foreign tax credits of $7.6 million will expire between fiscal 2025 and 2029. State tax credits of approximately $11.5 million will expire in various years ranging from fiscal 2020 to 2029.

We have recognized a valuation allowance for the portion of the net operating loss carryforwards, capital loss carryforwards, tax credit carryforwards, and other deferred tax assets we believe are not more likely than not to be realized. The net change in the valuation allowance for fiscal 2019 was a decrease of $1.5 million. For fiscal 2018 and 2017, changes in the valuation allowance were a decrease of $273.8 million and a decrease of $420.1 million, respectively. The current year change principally relates to increases in the valuation allowances for state and foreign net operating losses and credits offset by the release of valuation allowances on capital loss due to capital gains from the divestiture of the Wesson^® oil and Gelit businesses.

We believe that our foreign subsidiaries have invested or will invest any undistributed earnings indefinitely, or the earnings will be remitted in a tax-neutral transaction, and, therefore, do not provide deferred taxes on the cumulative undistributed earnings of our foreign subsidiaries. Historically, we had determined that previously undistributed earnings of certain foreign subsidiaries no longer met the requirement for indefinite reinvestment and therefore recorded certain tax liabilities in our current tax expense. The net change in deferred taxes on cumulative undistributed earnings of our foreign subsidiaries for fiscal 2019 was a decrease of $5.9 million.