INCOME TAXES

For the three and six months ended March 29, 2019 and March 30, 2018, the Company’s earnings before income taxes, income tax expense and effective income tax rate were as follows:



	Three Months Ended						Six Months Ended
(thousands, except tax rate data)	March 29, 2019			March 30, 2018			March 29, 2019			March 30, 2018
Profit before income taxes	$	30,020		$	29,445		$	34,351		$	37,769
Income tax expense	8,097			7,825			8,907			15,914
Effective income tax rate	27.0		%	26.6		%	25.9		%	42.1		%

The effective tax rate for the three months ended March 29, 2019 and the prior year period were consistent with no primary factors impacting the rate. The most significant factors impacting changes in the effective tax rate for the six months ended March 29, 2019 as compared with the prior year period is from the impact of the $6,763 provisional tax expense generated by the enactment of comprehensive tax legislation generally referred to as the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 (the "Tax Act") in the first quarter of fiscal 2018.

On December 22, 2017, the U.S. government enacted comprehensive tax legislation commonly referred to as the Tax Act. The Tax Act created a new requirement that certain income (commonly referred to as "GILTI") earned by controlled foreign corporations (CFC’s) must be included currently in the gross income of the CFC’s U.S. shareholder. The Company has elected to record the tax effects of the GILTI provision as a period expense in the applicable tax year when incurred.

Prior to the Tax Act, our practice and intention was to reinvest the earnings in our non-U.S. subsidiaries, and no U.S. deferred income taxes or foreign withholding taxes were recorded. The Company has not changed its practices or intentions with respect to these earnings.

The impact of the Company’s operations in jurisdictions where a valuation allowance is assessed is removed from the overall effective tax rate methodology and recorded directly based on year to date results for the year for which no tax expense or benefit can be recognized. The tax jurisdictions that have a valuation allowance for the periods ended March 29, 2019 and March 30, 2018 were:



March 29, 2019	March 30, 2018
Australia	Australia
	Austria
France	France
Indonesia	Indonesia
	Japan
Netherlands	Netherlands
New Zealand	New Zealand
Spain	Spain
Switzerland

The Company regularly assesses the adequacy of its provisions for income tax contingencies in accordance with the applicable authoritative guidance on accounting for income taxes. As a result, the Company may adjust the reserves for unrecognized tax benefits due to the impact of changes in its assumptions or as a result of new facts and developments, such as changes to interpretations of relevant tax law, assessments from taxing authorities, settlements with taxing authorities and lapses of statutes of limitation. The Company’s 2019 fiscal year tax expense is anticipated to be unchanged related to uncertain income tax positions.

In accordance with its accounting policy, the Company recognizes accrued interest and penalties related to unrecognized benefits as a component of income tax expense. The Company is projecting accrued interest of $200 related to uncertain income tax positions for the fiscal year ending September 27, 2019.

The Company files income tax returns, including returns for its subsidiaries, with federal, state, local and foreign taxing jurisdictions. The Company is currently undergoing income tax examinations in Germany and Italy. As of the date of this report, the following tax years remain open to examination by the respective tax jurisdictions:



Jurisdiction	Fiscal Years
United States	2015-2018
Canada	2014-2018
France	2015-2018
Germany	2014-2018
Italy	2013-2018
Switzerland	2008-2018