INCOME TAXES

Income tax expense from continuing operations for the first quarter of fiscal 2017 and 2016 was $218.7 million and $85.0 million, respectively. The effective tax rate (calculated as the ratio of income tax expense to pre-tax income from continuing operations, inclusive of equity method investment earnings) from continuing operations was 54% and 34% for the first quarter of fiscal 2017 and 2016, respectively.

The higher effective tax rate in the first quarter of fiscal 2017 reflects the following:


•	additional tax expense associated with non-deductible goodwill sold in connection with the dispositions of the Spicetec and JM Swank businesses,


•	additional tax expense associated with non-deductible goodwill for which an impairment charge was recognized,


•	an income tax benefit for excess tax benefits allowed upon the vesting/exercise of employee stock compensation awards by our employees, beyond that which is attributable to the original fair value of the awards upon the date of grant (see Note 1 for further discussion on adoption of ASU 2016-09), and


•	an income tax benefit associated with a tax planning strategy that allowed us to utilize certain state tax attributes.

The amount of gross unrecognized tax benefits for uncertain tax positions, including positions impacting only the timing of tax benefits, was $39.2 million as of August 28, 2016 and $38.4 million as of May 29, 2016. Included in the balance was $1.1 million as of both August 28, 2016 and May 29, 2016, for 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. The gross unrecognized tax benefits excluded related liabilities for gross interest and penalties of $9.6 million and $9.3 million as of August 28, 2016 and May 29, 2016, respectively.

The net amount of unrecognized tax benefits at August 28, 2016 and May 29, 2016 that, if recognized, would impact the Company's effective tax rate was $28.3 million and $27.9 million, respectively. Recognition of these tax benefits would have a favorable impact on the Company's effective tax rate.

We estimate that it is reasonably possible that the amount of gross unrecognized tax benefits will decrease by up to $9.1 million over the next twelve months due to various federal, state, and foreign audit settlements and the expiration of statutes of limitations.

As of May 29, 2016, we had a deferred tax asset of $1.54 billion that was generated from the capital loss realized on the sale of the Private Brands operations. As of that date we held a valuation allowance of $1.40 billion, in order to reflect the uncertainty regarding the ultimate realization of the tax asset. During the first quarter of fiscal 2017, the balance of the deferred tax asset was adjusted for the capital gain realized on the sales of the Spicetec and JM Swank businesses, the realization of certain tax attributes based upon the contract terms of the Private Brands sale, and further refinement of the estimated tax asset. The deferred tax asset as of August 28, 2016 is $1.32 billion. We continue to hold a valuation allowance of this full amount, as we have not met the accounting requirements for recognition of a benefit at this time.