Income taxes (Tables)

12 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2015

Components of income tax expense (benefit)

The income tax provision consists of the following (amounts in thousands):



	Year Ended March 31,
	2015			2014			2013
Pretax Income:
U.S.	(944		)	28,245			(82,163		)
Foreign	346,851			404,109			234,340
	$	345,907		$	432,354		$	152,177
Current expense:
U.S. Federal	$	(3,185	)	$	992		$	33,856
State	(24		)	64			2,350
Foreign	16,602			30,697			16,950
Total current	$	13,393		31,753			53,156
Deferred expense (benefit):
U.S. Federal	$	(22,641	)	14,445			(16,004		)
State	(1,562		)	929			(1,111		)
Foreign	(8,608		)	(10,054		)	(11,253		)
Total deferred	(32,811		)	5,320			(28,368		)
	$	(19,418	)	$	37,073		$	24,788

Reconciliation of expected federal income tax expense to actual

The sources and tax effects of the differences in the total income tax provision are as follows (amounts in thousands):



	Year Ended March 31,
	2015			2014			2013
Computed expected income tax provision	$	121,067		$	151,324		$	53,262
State income taxes, net of federal benefits	(20		)	686			(2,054		)
Research and development tax credits - current year	(9,703		)	(4,875		)	(8,263		)
Research and development tax credits - prior years	(1,789		)	1,600			(3,347		)
Foreign income taxed at lower than the federal rate	(106,939		)	(116,003		)	(61,377		)
Increases related to current and prior year tax positions	26,189			16,809			44,661
Decreases related to prior year tax positions ⁽¹⁾	(40,609		)	(14,581		)	(7,154		)
Withholding taxes	5,218			6,212			7,267
Change in valuation allowance	(14,286		)	—			—
Other	1,454			(4,099		)	1,793
	$	(19,418	)	$	37,073		$	24,788

⁽¹⁾ The release of prior year tax positions during fiscal 2015 increased each of the current year basic and diluted net income per common share by $0.16 and $0.15, respectively. The release of prior year tax positions during fiscal 2014 increased each of the current year basic and diluted net income per common share by $0.07. The release of prior year tax positions during fiscal 2013 increased the current year basic and diluted net income per common share by $0.04 and $0.03, respectively.

Schedule of deferred tax assets and liabilities

The tax effects of temporary differences that give rise to significant portions of the deferred tax assets and deferred tax liabilities are as follows (amounts in thousands):



	March 31,
	2015			2014
Deferred tax assets:
Deferred intercompany profit	$	10,865		$	9,623
Deferred income on shipments to distributors	34,493			28,596
Inventory valuation	9,605			6,072
Net operating loss carryforward	105,756			110,598
Capital loss carryforward	4,582			—
Share-based compensation	26,780			24,494
Income tax credits	115,893			124,395
Accrued expenses and other	671			28,227
Gross deferred tax assets	308,645			332,005
Valuation allowances	(116,482		)	(93,811		)
Deferred tax assets, net of valuation allowances	192,163			238,194
Deferred tax liabilities:
Property, plant and equipment, principally due to differences in depreciation	2,236			(1,942		)
Convertible debentures	(493,897		)	(530,338		)
Other	(10,649		)	(13,740		)
Deferred tax liabilities	(502,310		)	(546,020		)
Net deferred tax liability	$	(310,147	)	$	(307,826	)

Reported as:
Current deferred tax assets	$	71,045		$	67,490
Non-current deferred tax liability	(381,192		)	(375,316		)
Net deferred tax liability	$	(310,147	)	$	(307,826	)

Rollforward of unrecognized tax benefits

The following table summarizes the activity related to the Company's gross unrecognized tax benefits from April 1, 2012 to March 31, 2015 (amounts in thousands):



	Year Ended March 31,
	2015			2014			2013
Beginning balance	$	149,878		$	152,845		$	70,490
Increases related to acquisitions	8,381			341			45,624
Decreases related to settlements with tax authorities	(20,197		)	(15,016		)	—
Decreases related to statute of limitation expirations	(9,031		)	(4,069		)	(5,751		)
Increases related to current year tax positions	23,179			14,669			42,328
Increases related to prior year tax positions	18,444			1,108			154
Ending balance	$	170,654		$	149,878		$	152,845