Income and Payroll Taxes	9 Months Ended
Sep. 29, 2020
Income and Payroll Taxes
Income and Payroll Taxes	13. Income and Payroll Taxes On March 27, 2020, the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (the “CARES Act”) was signed into law. Intended to provide economic relief to those impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, the CARES Act includes provisions allowing for the carryback of net operating losses generated in fiscal years 2018, 2019 and 2020 and technical amendments regarding the expensing of qualified improvement property (“QIP”). As a result of the CARES Act, we expect to carry back our anticipated fiscal 2020 loss and reduce taxes payable for accelerated depreciation on QIP placed in service during fiscal 2018 and 2019. We expect to file carryback claims during fiscal 2021, and we estimate that these claims will generate cash refunds of approximately $40 million. Also in conjunction with the CARES Act, during the thirty-nine weeks ended September 29, 2020, we reduced payroll tax expense by $8.5 million for employee retention credits primarily related to healthcare benefits for furloughed staff members, and we deferred $20.5 million of payroll taxes which will be due in fiscal years 2021 and 2022. Our effective income tax rate was 30.0% and 6.2% for the first three quarters of fiscal 2020 and 2019, respectively. The increase resulted primarily from a lower proportion of employment credits in relation to pre-tax (loss)/income and a benefit arising from the expected carryback of our anticipated fiscal 2020 loss to prior years when the federal statutory rate was 35%. Without the carryback provisions of the CARES Act, we would expect the fiscal 2020 loss to provide a tax benefit at the statutory rate of 21%. The 14% rate benefit is reflected primarily in the annual effective tax rate, although the portion representing prior year temporary differences that are estimated to reverse in fiscal 2020 and become part of the fiscal 2020 loss carryback was recognized as a discrete item in the first quarter of fiscal 2020. We expect to have federal credit carryforwards of approximately $36 million at the end of fiscal 2020 compared to $14.3 million at December 31, 2019. This increase is driven primarily by our estimated fiscal 2020 loss. We assess the available evidence to estimate if sufficient future taxable income will be generated to use these carryforwards, which have a 20-year carryforward period and are utilized on a first-in, first-out basis. Based on this evaluation, we concluded that no valuation allowance is required. This assessment could change if estimates of future taxable income during the carryforward period are revised. As a result of the goodwill impairment discussed in Note 4, we recorded a deferred tax asset of $16.4 million.

Income and Payroll Taxes

9 Months Ended

Sep. 29, 2020

13. Income and Payroll Taxes

On March 27, 2020, the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (the “CARES Act”) was signed into law. Intended to provide economic relief to those impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, the CARES Act includes provisions allowing for the carryback of net operating losses generated in fiscal years 2018, 2019 and 2020 and technical amendments regarding the expensing of qualified improvement property (“QIP”). As a result of the CARES Act, we expect to carry back our anticipated fiscal 2020 loss and reduce taxes payable for accelerated depreciation on QIP placed in service during fiscal 2018 and 2019. We expect to file carryback claims during fiscal 2021, and we estimate that these claims will generate cash refunds of approximately $40 million.

Also in conjunction with the CARES Act, during the thirty-nine weeks ended September 29, 2020, we reduced payroll tax expense by $8.5 million for employee retention credits primarily related to healthcare benefits for furloughed staff members, and we deferred $20.5 million of payroll taxes which will be due in fiscal years 2021 and 2022.

Our effective income tax rate was 30.0% and 6.2% for the first three quarters of fiscal 2020 and 2019, respectively. The increase resulted primarily from a lower proportion of employment credits in relation to pre-tax (loss)/income and a benefit arising from the expected carryback of our anticipated fiscal 2020 loss to prior years when the federal statutory rate was 35%. Without the carryback provisions of the CARES Act, we would expect the fiscal 2020 loss to provide a tax benefit at the statutory rate of 21%. The 14% rate benefit is reflected primarily in the annual effective tax rate, although the portion representing prior year temporary differences that are estimated to reverse in fiscal 2020 and become part of the fiscal 2020 loss carryback was recognized as a discrete item in the first quarter of fiscal 2020.

We expect to have federal credit carryforwards of approximately $36 million at the end of fiscal 2020 compared to $14.3 million at December 31, 2019. This increase is driven primarily by our estimated fiscal 2020 loss. We assess the available evidence to estimate if sufficient future taxable income will be generated to use these carryforwards, which have a 20-year carryforward period and are utilized on a first-in, first-out basis. Based on this evaluation, we concluded that no valuation allowance is required. This assessment could change if estimates of future taxable income during the carryforward period are revised.

As a result of the goodwill impairment discussed in Note 4, we recorded a deferred tax asset of $16.4 million.