Income Taxes (Tables)

9 Months Ended

Aug. 31, 2018

Income Tax Disclosure [Abstract]

Income tax benefit computed at the statutory U.S federal income tax rate and income tax benefit (expense) provided in the consolidated statements of operations

Our income tax expense and effective tax rates were as follows (dollars in thousands):

	Three Months Ended August 31,						Nine Months Ended August 31,
	2018			2017			2018			2017
Income tax expense	$	27,200		$	29,000		$	165,500		$	56,400
Effective tax rate	23.7		%	36.6		%	69.2		%	36.9		%

Our income tax expense and effective tax rate for the three months ended August 31, 2018 included the favorable effect of the reduction in the federal corporate income tax rate under the TCJA; the favorable net impact of federal energy tax credits of $3.0 million that we earned from building energy efficient homes; and excess tax benefits of $.6 million related to stock-based compensation due to our adoption of ASU 2016-09, as further described in Note 1 – Basis of Presentation and Significant Accounting Policies. Our income tax expense and effective tax rate for the nine months ended August 31, 2018 included the above-described charge of $111.2 million for TCJA-related impacts; the favorable effect of the reduction in the federal corporate income tax rate under the TCJA; the favorable net impact of federal energy tax credits of $7.2 million; and excess tax benefits of $3.0 million related to stock-based compensation. The TCJA requires us to use a blended federal tax rate for our 2018 fiscal year by applying a prorated percentage of days before and after the January 1, 2018 effective date. As a result, our 2018 annual federal statutory tax rate has been reduced to 22.2%. The federal energy tax credits for the three-month and nine-month periods ended August 31, 2018 resulted from legislation enacted on February 9, 2018, which among other things, extended the availability of a business tax credit for building new energy efficient homes through December 31, 2017. Prior to this legislation, the tax credit expired on December 31, 2016.

Our income tax expense and effective tax rate for the three-month and nine-month periods ended August 31, 2017 included the favorable net impact of federal energy tax credits of $2.6 million and $3.8 million, respectively, that we earned from building energy efficient homes through December 31, 2016.