INCOME TAXES

3 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2016

Income Tax Disclosure [Abstract]

Income Tax Disclosure [Text Block]

10. INCOME TAXES

The Company’s provision for income taxes consists of Federal, state and local taxes in amounts necessary to align the Company’s year-to-date provision for income taxes with the effective tax rate that the Company expects to achieve for the full year. Each quarter, the Company updates its estimate of the annual effective tax rate and records cumulative adjustments as deemed necessary. The income tax provisions for the 13-week periods ended December 31, 2016 and January 2, 2016 reflect effective tax rates of approximately 30% and 23%, respectively.  The Company expects its effective tax rate for its current fiscal year to be significantly lower than the statutory rate as a result of the generation of FICA tax credits and operating income attributable to the non-controlling interests of the VIEs that is not taxable to the Company. The final annual tax rate cannot be determined until the end of the fiscal year; therefore, the actual tax rate could differ from current estimates.

The Company’s overall effective tax rate in the future will be affected by factors such as the utilization of state and local net operating loss carryforwards, the generation of FICA tax credits and the mix of earnings by state taxing jurisdiction as Nevada does not impose a  state income tax, as compared to the other major state and local jurisdictions in which the Company has operations.

During the 13-weeks ended December 31, 2016, certain equity compensation awards expired unexercised. As such, the Company reversed the related deferred tax asset in the amount of approximately $397,000 as a charge to Additional Paid-in Capital as there was a sufficient pool of windfall tax benefit available.