9.Income Taxes

The effective tax rates for the first half of fiscal 2015 and 2014 were 29.6% and 30.3%, respectively. During the first quarter of fiscal 2015, the Tax Increase Prevention Act of 2014 was signed into law. This law retroactively extended the federal research and experimentation credits (“R&E credits”) for amounts incurred from January 1, 2014 through December 31, 2014. Our income tax expense for the first half of fiscal 2015 includes a tax benefit of $1.2 million attributable to operating income during the last nine months of fiscal 2014, primarily related to the retroactive recognition of these tax credits.

At March 29, 2015, approximately $56.7 million of undistributed earnings of our foreign subsidiaries, primarily in Canada, are expected to be permanently reinvested. Accordingly, no provision for U.S. income taxes or foreign withholding taxes has been made. Upon distribution of those earnings, we would be subject to U.S. income taxes and foreign withholding taxes. Determination of the amount of unrecognized deferred U.S. income tax liability is not practicable; however, the potential foreign tax credit associated with the deferred income would be available to partially reduce the resulting U.S. tax liabilities.

We review the realizability of deferred tax assets on a quarterly basis by assessing the need for a valuation allowance. As of March 29, 2015, we performed our assessment of net deferred tax assets. Significant management judgment is required in determining the provision for income taxes and, in particular, any valuation allowance recorded against our deferred tax assets. Applying the applicable accounting guidance requires an assessment of all available evidence, both positive and negative, regarding the realizability of the net deferred tax assets. Based upon recent results, we concluded that a cumulative loss in recent years exists in certain foreign jurisdictions. We have historically relied on the following factors in our assessment of the realizability of our net deferred tax assets:

taxable income in prior carryback years as permitted under the tax law;

future reversals of existing taxable temporary differences;

consideration of available tax planning strategies and actions that could be implemented, if necessary; and

estimates of future taxable income from our operations.

We considered these factors in our estimate of the reversal pattern of deferred tax assets, using assumptions that we believe are reasonable and consistent with operating results. However, as a result of projected cumulative pre-tax losses in these certain foreign jurisdictions for the 36 months ending September 27, 2015, we concluded that our estimates of future taxable income and certain tax planning strategies did not constitute sufficient positive evidence to assert that it is more likely than not that certain deferred tax assets would be realizable before expiration. Based on our assessment, we have concluded that it is more likely than not that the assets will be realized except for the assets related to loss carry-forwards in foreign jurisdictions for which a valuation allowance of $7.4 million has been provided in prior years.