Income Taxes

Income tax expense (benefit) is summarized as follows (in thousands):



	Year Ended			Year Ended			Year Ended
	Jan 28, 2017			Jan 30, 2016			Jan 31, 2015
Federal:
Current	$	8,212		$	23,618		$	37,802
Deferred	(636		)	4,038			(8,566		)
State:
Current	2,537			3,864			6,242
Deferred	(1,000		)	(296		)	(3,262		)
Foreign:
Current	17,055			14,259			9,756
Deferred	2,044			(3,019		)	3,852
Total	$	28,212		$	42,464		$	45,824

Except where required by U.S. tax law, no provision was made for U.S. income taxes on the undistributed earnings of the foreign subsidiaries as the Company intends to utilize those earnings in the foreign operations for an indefinite period of time or repatriate such earnings only when tax-effective to do so. The portion of accumulated undistributed earnings of foreign subsidiaries as of January 28, 2017 and January 30, 2016 was approximately $780 million and $797 million, respectively.

Actual income tax expense differs from expected income tax expense obtained by applying the statutory federal income tax rate to earnings before income taxes as follows (in thousands):



	Year Ended			Year Ended			Year Ended
	Jan 28, 2017			Jan 30, 2016			Jan 31, 2015
Computed “expected” tax expense	$	18,763		$	44,547		$	50,053
State taxes, net of federal benefit	999			2,320			1,937
Non-U.S. tax expense less than federal statutory tax rate (1)	(1,539		)	(6,991		)	(5,955		)
Cumulative valuation reserve (2)	6,830			—			—
Valuation reserve (3)	5,841			3,024			3,284
Unrecognized tax benefit	556			1,123			471
Net tax settlements	1,894			—			—
Sale of minority interest investment	(2,316		)	—			—
Estimated exit tax charge	1,911			—			—
Prior year tax adjustments	(1,790		)	(2,944		)	(2,955		)
Non-deductible permanent difference	(2,284		)	1,295			339
Other	(653		)	90			(1,350		)
Total	$	28,212		$	42,464		$	45,824

________________________________________________________________________

(1)

The jurisdictional location of pre-tax income (loss) may represent a significant component of the Company’s effective tax rate as income tax rates outside the U.S. are generally lower than the U.S. statutory income tax rate. Furthermore, the impact of changes in the jurisdictional location of pre-tax income (loss) on the Company’s effective tax rate will be greater at lower levels of consolidated pre-tax income (loss). These amounts exclude the impact of net changes in valuation allowances, audit and other adjustments related to the Company’s non-U.S. operations, as they are reported separately in the appropriate corresponding line items in the table above. The impact on the Company’s effective tax rate was primarily related to the Company’s Swiss and Korean subsidiaries which have jurisdictional effective tax rates which range from 10% to 20% lower than the U.S. rates.


(2)	Amounts represent valuation reserves resulting from jurisdictions where there have been cumulative net operating losses, limiting the Company’s ability to consider other subjective evidence to continue to recognize the existing deferred tax assets.


(3)	Amounts relate primarily to valuation reserves on non-cumulative net operating losses or other deferred tax assets arising during the respective period.

Total income tax expense (benefit) is allocated as follows (in thousands):



	Year Ended		Year Ended		Year Ended
	Jan 28, 2017		Jan 30, 2016		Jan 31, 2015
Operations	$	28,212	$	42,464	$	45,824
Stockholders’ equity	1,782		4,668		(660		)
Total income tax expense	$	29,994	$	47,132	$	45,164

The tax effects of the components of other comprehensive income (loss) are allocated as follows (in thousands):



	Year Ended			Year Ended			Year Ended
	Jan 28, 2017			Jan 30, 2016			Jan 31, 2015
Derivative financial instruments designated as cash flow hedges	$	(864	)	$	559		$	721
Marketable securities	6			(7		)	(61		)
Defined benefit plans	(21		)	2,972			(2,335		)
Total income tax expense (benefit)	$	(879	)	$	3,524		$	(1,675	)

Total earnings before income tax expense and noncontrolling interests are comprised of the following (in thousands):



	Year Ended		Year Ended		Year Ended
	Jan 28, 2017		Jan 30, 2016		Jan 31, 2015
Domestic operations	$	32,944	$	90,141	$	98,036
Foreign operations	20,666		37,138		44,972
Earnings before income tax expense and noncontrolling interests	$	53,610	$	127,279	$	143,008

The tax effects of temporary differences that give rise to significant portions of deferred tax assets and deferred tax liabilities as of January 28, 2017 and January 30, 2016 are presented below (in thousands):



	Jan 28, 2017			Jan 30, 2016
Deferred tax assets:
Defined benefit plans	$	20,642		$	20,654
Rent expense	13,672			12,545
Net operating losses	13,524			8,460
Deferred compensation	12,987			14,729
Excess of book over tax depreciation/amortization	9,018			—
Deferred income	6,213			10,923
Lease incentives	5,545			6,865
Bad debt reserve	2,124			4,515
Uniform capitalization	1,900			1,929
Other	28,265			26,494
Total deferred tax assets	113,890			107,114
Deferred tax liabilities:
Goodwill amortization	(3,654		)	(3,629		)
Excess of tax over book depreciation/amortization	(189		)	(4,259		)
Other	(4,544		)	(5,029		)
Valuation allowance	(23,255		)	(10,584		)
Net deferred tax assets (1)	$	82,248		$	83,613

__________________________________________________________________


(1)	As of January 28, 2017, amount includes net deferred tax liabilities of $0.5 million recorded in other long-term liabilities in the Company’s consolidated balance sheet. There were no net deferred tax liabilities recorded separately in the Company’s consolidated balance sheet at January 30, 2016.

Based on the historical earnings of the Company and projections of future taxable earnings in certain jurisdictions, management believes it is more likely than not that the results of operations will not generate sufficient taxable earnings to realize certain net deferred tax assets. Therefore, the Company has recorded a valuation allowance of $23.3 million, which is an increase of $12.7 million from the prior year.

As of January 28, 2017, certain of the Company’s operations had net operating loss carryforwards of $50.2 million. These are comprised of $12.7 million of operating loss carryforwards that have an unlimited carryforward life, $35.4 million of foreign operating loss carryforwards that expire between fiscal 2019 and fiscal 2027 and $2.1 million of state operating loss carryforwards that expire between fiscal 2018 and fiscal 2036. Based on the historical earnings of these operations, management believes that it is more likely than not that some of the operations will not generate sufficient earnings to utilize all of the net operating loss. As of January 28, 2017 and January 30, 2016, the Company had a valuation allowance of $13.9 million and $7.9 million, respectively, related to its net operating loss carryforwards.

The Company and its subsidiaries are subject to U.S. federal and foreign income tax as well as income tax of multiple state and foreign local jurisdictions. From time-to-time, the Company is subject to routine income tax audits on various tax matters around the world in the ordinary course of business. Although the Company has substantially concluded all U.S. federal, foreign, state and foreign local income tax matters for years through fiscal 2012, as of January 28, 2017, several income tax audits were underway in multiple jurisdictions for various periods after fiscal 2012. The Company does not believe that the resolution of open matters will have a material effect on the Company’s financial position or liquidity.

The Company accrues an amount for its estimate of additional income tax liability which the Company, more likely than not, will incur as a result of the ultimate resolution of income tax audits (“uncertain tax positions”). The Company reviews and updates the estimates used in the accrual for uncertain tax positions as more definitive information becomes available from taxing authorities, upon completion of tax audits, upon expiration of statutes of limitation, or upon occurrence of other events.

A reconciliation of the beginning and ending amount of gross unrecognized tax benefit (excluding interest and penalties) is as follows (in thousands):



	Year Ended			Year Ended			Year Ended
	Jan 28, 2017			Jan 30, 2016			Jan 31, 2015
Beginning balance	$	12,585		$	13,640		$	10,900
Additions:
Tax positions related to the prior year	672			496			4,224
Tax positions related to the current year	106			1,516			1,722
Reductions:
Tax positions related to the prior year	(380		)	(1,650		)	(55		)
Tax positions related to the current year	—			(359		)	(91		)
Settlements	—			(505		)	(599		)
Expiration of statutes of limitation	—			(553		)	(2,461		)
Ending balance	$	12,983		$	12,585		$	13,640

The amount of unrecognized tax benefit as of January 28, 2017 includes $12.9 million (net of federal benefit on state issues) which, if ultimately recognized, may reduce our future annual effective tax rate. As of January 28, 2017 and January 30, 2016, the Company had $14.6 million and $13.9 million, respectively, of aggregate accruals for uncertain tax positions, including penalties and interest.

The Company’s practice is to recognize interest and/or penalties related to income tax matters in income tax expense. The Company included interest and penalties related to uncertain tax positions of $0.2 million, $0.6 million and $0.3 million in net income tax expense for fiscal 2017, fiscal 2016 and fiscal 2015, respectively. Total interest and penalties related to uncertain tax positions was $1.6 million and $1.3 million for the years ended January 28, 2017 and January 30, 2016, respectively.