Share-Based Compensation

6 Months Ended

Jun. 30, 2018

Disclosure of Compensation Related Costs, Share-based Payments [Abstract]

The amount of compensation cost for share-based awards to be recognized during a period is based on the portion of the awards that are ultimately expected to vest. The Company estimates forfeitures at the time of grant and revises those estimates in subsequent periods if actual forfeitures differ from those estimates. The Company analyzes historical data to estimate pre-vesting forfeitures and records share-based compensation expense for those awards expected to vest.

Total share-based compensation expenses were comprised as follows (in thousands):



	Three months ended June 30,				Six months ended June 30,
	2018		2017		2018		2017
Option plan	$	6,758	$	5,649	$	9,815	$	7,071
Other share-based awards	13,847		13,018		19,736		22,110
Total share-based compensation before tax	20,605		18,667		29,551		29,181
Tax benefit	4,904		6,933		7,033		10,838
Total share-based compensation expense included in net income	$	15,701	$	11,734	$	22,518	$	18,343

In addition to the above share-based compensation expenses, Polaris sponsors a qualified non-leveraged employee stock ownership plan (ESOP). Shares allocated to eligible participants’ accounts vest at various percentage rates based on years of service and require no cash payments from the recipient.

At June 30, 2018, there was $134,342,000 of total unrecognized share-based compensation expense related to unvested share-based equity awards. Unrecognized share-based compensation expense is expected to be recognized over a weighted-average period of 1.67 years. Included in unrecognized share-based compensation expense is approximately $37,441,000 related to stock options and $96,901,000 for restricted stock.