Income Taxes

3 Months Ended

Nov. 30, 2020

Note 12. Income Taxes

The Company's global operations, acquisition activity and specific tax attributes provide opportunities for continuous global tax planning initiatives to maximize tax credits and deductions. Comparative earnings before income taxes, income tax expense and effective income tax rates from continuing operations are as follows (in thousands):


	Three Months Ended November 30,
	2020			2019
Earnings from continuing operations before income tax expense	$	7,080		$	7,322
Income tax expense	2,258			950
Effective income tax rate	31.9		%	13.0		%

The Company’s earnings from continuing operations before income taxes include earnings from foreign jurisdictions of 47% and 84% of the consolidated total for the estimated full-year fiscal 2021 and full-year 2020, respectively. Though most foreign tax rates are now in line with the U.S. tax rate of 21%, the annual effective tax rate is impacted by withholding taxes, losses in jurisdictions where no benefit can be realized, and various aspects of the U.S. Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, such as the Global Intangible Low-Taxed Income, Foreign-Derived Intangible Income and Base Erosion and Anti-Abuse Tax provisions.

The effective tax rate for the three months ended November 30, 2020 was 31.9%, compared to 13.0% for the comparable prior-year period. The effective tax rate for the current-year period resulted in a greater expense than the comparable prior-year period primarily due to prior-year non-recurring benefits related to the adoption of proposed tax regulations in the United States.

On March 27, 2020, the U.S. government enacted tax legislation containing provisions to support businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic (the “CARES Act”), including deferment of the employer portion of certain payroll taxes, refundable payroll tax credits, and technical amendments to tax depreciation methods for qualified improvement property. The CARES Act did not have a material impact on our consolidated financial statements for the three months ended November 30, 2020. We are continuing to evaluate the future impact of the CARES Act provisions on our consolidated financial statements.

- Definition

The entire disclosure for income taxes. Disclosures may include net deferred tax liability or asset recognized in an enterprise's statement of financial position, net change during the year in the total valuation allowance, approximate tax effect of each type of temporary difference and carryforward that gives rise to a significant portion of deferred tax liabilities and deferred tax assets, utilization of a tax carryback, and tax uncertainties information.

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