INCOME TAXES

Income tax provision was $2.6 million for the three months ended December 31, 2017. Net tax expense discretely related to the three months ended December 31, 2017 was $2.8 million, primarily as a result of new U.S. tax legislation that was enacted during the first quarter of fiscal 2018 and the adoption of ASU 2016-09 related to the accounting for the tax effects of stock compensation.

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 (the “Act”) was enacted on December 22, 2017. The Act lowered the U.S. federal corporate tax rate from 35% to 21% as of January 1, 2018 and requires companies to pay a one-time transition tax on earnings of certain foreign subsidiaries that were previously tax deferred. Due to our fiscal year end, our statutory rate for fiscal 2018 will be a blend of the new and old tax rates. At December 31, 2017 we did not fully complete our accounting for the tax effects of enactment of the Act; however in certain cases, as described below, we have made a reasonable estimate of the effects on our existing deferred tax balances and the one-time transition tax. For the items for which we were able to determine a reasonable estimate, we recognized a provisional income tax expense amount of $2.6 million which is included as a component of income tax expense.

We remeasured U.S. deferred tax assets and liabilities based on the rates at which they are expected to reverse in the future, which requires estimates of our changes in deferred tax assets and liabilities before and after the new statutory rate was enacted. As a result, we are still analyzing certain aspects of the legislation and refining our calculations such as, refining current year estimates and filings of tax returns, of which could potentially affect the measurement of these balances or potentially give rise to new deferred tax amounts. As of December 31, 2017, the provisional amount recorded related to the re-measurement of this deferred tax balance was $2.5 million.

In addition, we considered the potential tax expense impacts of the one-time transition tax. The transition tax is based on our total post-1986 earnings and profits (“E&P”) that we previously deferred from U.S. income taxes. We recorded a provisional amount for our one-time transition tax liability for our foreign subsidiaries, resulting in an increase in income tax expense of

10. INCOME TAXES (CONTINUED)

$0.1 million. We have not yet completed the calculation of the post-1986 E&P for these foreign subsidiaries and, further, this transition tax is based in part on the amount of those earnings held in cash and other specified assets. This amount may change when we finalize the calculation of post-1986 foreign E&P previously deferred from U.S. federal taxation, evaluate the testing periods for cash and E&P measurement and finalize substantiation of material foreign taxes paid or accrued. Furthermore, it is expected that further guidance will be forthcoming from U.S. Treasury which may or may not impact the final transition tax required. It should be noted, that we continue to review the outside basis differential of our foreign investments. At this point, no additional income taxes have been provided for any undistributed foreign earnings not subject to the transition tax and additional outside basis difference inherent in these entities, as these amounts continue to be indefinitely reinvested in foreign operations. Determining the amount of unrecognized deferred tax liability related to any remaining undistributed foreign earnings not subject to the transition tax and additional outside basis difference in these entities (i.e., basis difference in excess of that subject to the one-time transition tax) is not practical at this time, but it is expected that with inclusion of the transition tax, the potential outstanding basis difference as of December 31, 2017 is expected to be a deductible temporary difference for which no deferred tax asset would be allowed.

As discussed in Note 1 to the Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements, we adopted ASU 2016-09 “Improvements to Employee Share-Based Payment Accounting” on October 1, 2017. As a result of the adoption, we recorded $0.5 million of excess tax expense related to our share-based payments in our provision for income taxes for the three months ended December 31, 2017. Historically, this was record in additional paid-in capital. The excess tax expense related to share-based payments are recognized as tax expense discretely related to the three months ended December 31, 2017.

For the three months ended December 31, 2017, our effective tax rate before items discretely related to the period was less than the U.S. statutory rate due primarily to the mix of income between taxing jurisdictions, certain of which have lower statutory tax rates than the U.S., and also due to certain income tax credits generated in the U.S.

Income tax provision was $0.8 million for the three months ended December 31, 2016. Net tax benefits discretely related to the three months ended December 31, 2016 were $0.1 million resulting primarily from the reversal of tax reserves due to the expiration of statutes of limitation from U.S. and foreign tax jurisdictions. For the three months ended December 31, 2016, our effective tax rate before items discretely related to the period was less than the U.S. statutory rate primarily due to the mix of income between taxing jurisdictions, certain of which have lower statutory tax rates than the U.S., and certain tax credits in the U.S.

Our effective tax rate will vary based on a variety of factors, including overall profitability, the geographical mix of income before taxes and related statutory tax rate in each jurisdiction, and tax items discretely related to the period, such as settlements of audits. We expect that we may record other benefits or expenses in the future that are specific to a particular quarter such as expiration of statutes of limitation, the completion of tax audits, or legislation that is enacted for both U.S. and foreign jurisdictions.

A reconciliation of the beginning and ending amount of unrecognized tax benefits is (in thousands):



Unrecognized tax benefits as of September 30, 2017	$	1,335
Decreases related to:
Expiration of statute of limitations	(116		)
Unrecognized tax benefits as of December 31, 2017	$	1,219

The total amount of unrecognized tax benefits that, if recognized, would affect our effective tax rate is $1.1 million, after considering the impact of interest and deferred benefit items. We expect that the total amount of unrecognized tax benefits will decrease by approximately $0.1 million over the next 12 months.