Income Taxes

3 Months Ended

Dec. 28, 2019

Income Tax Disclosure [Abstract]

Income Taxes

INCOME TAXES

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (the Tax Act) was enacted into law on December 22, 2017 and made significant changes to U.S. federal corporate tax law. Effective January 1, 2018, the Tax Act lowered the U.S. corporate tax rate from 35% to 21% and prompted various other changes to U.S. federal corporate tax law, including the establishment of a territorial-style system for taxing foreign-source income of domestic multinational corporations and a one-time deemed repatriation tax on untaxed foreign earnings.

Generally, the impacts of new tax legislation would be required to be recorded in the period of enactment, which was our first quarter of fiscal year 2018. However, in March 2018, the FASB issued ASU No. 2018-05, Income Taxes (Topic 740): Amendments to SEC Paragraphs Pursuant to SEC Staff Accounting Bulletin No. 118, which incorporates various SEC paragraphs from Staff Accounting Bulletin No. 118 into income tax accounting guidance effective immediately, allowing registrants to record provisional amounts during a one-year measurement period.

The effective tax rate for the three months ended December 28, 2019 increased primarily due to certain discrete benefits in the prior year for the estimated impact of the Tax Act. Excluding the impact of certain discrete benefits in the prior year, the effective tax rate for the three months ended December 28, 2019 remained flat as compared to the same prior year period.

As of December 29, 2018, we completed our accounting for the tax effects of the Tax Act at the conclusion of the one-year measurement period. As a result, the income tax provision for the three months ended December 29, 2018 includes certain discrete benefits of $1,293 for Tax Act measurement period adjustments. The discrete benefits relate to $1,297 of additional dividends received deduction for certain foreign tax credits included in the mandatory deemed repatriation tax calculation, partially offset by $4 of expense for other Tax Act measurement period adjustments. The additional dividends received deduction is based on our assessment of the treatment under the applicable provisions of the Tax Act as written and enacted during the first quarter of fiscal year 2019. The Department of the Treasury provided regulatory updates during the three months ended June 29, 2019, causing us to change our assessment of the benefit associated with the dividends received deduction, and in the third quarter of fiscal year 2019 to reverse the entire benefit of $1,297 that was recorded in the first quarter of fiscal year 2019.

As of December 28, 2019, the liability for unrecognized tax benefits was $5,034, of which $3,381 would favorably affect our effective tax rate, if recognized. As of September 28, 2019, the liability for unrecognized tax benefits was $4,414, of which $2,761 would favorably affect our effective tax rate, if recognized. As of December 28, 2019, we do not expect significant changes in the amount of unrecognized tax benefits during the next twelve months.