INCOME TAXES (Tables)

12 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2017

Income Tax Disclosure [Abstract]

Schedule of Income before Income Tax Expense

Income (loss) before income tax expense (benefit) consisted of the following (in thousands):

	Year Ended March 31,
	2017		2016			2015
Domestic	$	32,475	$	(6,979	)	$	93,447
Foreign	19,710		(25,460		)	1,518
	$	52,185	$	(32,439	)	$	94,965

Summary of Components of Income Tax Expense

The components of the income tax expense (benefit) are as follows (in thousands):

	Year Ended March 31,
	2017			2016			2015
Current income tax expense:
Federal	$	15,912		$	29,238		$	25,927
State	3,152			2,223			3,825
Foreign	11,175			6,628			1,307
	30,239			38,089			31,059
Deferred income tax expense (benefit):
Federal	(8,278		)	(30,216		)	2,836
State	3,578			(4,461		)	17
Foreign	(6,645		)	(7,482		)	(139		)
	(11,345		)	(42,159		)	2,714
	$	18,894		$	(4,070	)	$	33,773

Schedule of Federal Statutory Income Tax Rate to Effective Tax Rate

The income tax expense (benefit) computed using the federal statutory income tax rate differs from NetScout’s effective tax rate primarily due to the following:

	Year Ended March 31,
	2017		2016		2015
Statutory U.S. federal tax rate	35.0	%	35.0	%	35.0	%
State taxes, net of federal tax effect	9.7		3.1		3.2
Research and development tax credits	(8.2	)	13.0		(1.4	)
Effect of foreign operations	(6.7	)	(18.2	)	0.1
Meals and entertainment	2.5		(3.5	)	0.5
Domestic production activities deduction	(4.0	)	9.2		(2.9	)
Change in valuation allowance	(0.1	)	0.7		0.4
Transaction costs	—		(19.1	)	—
Foreign withholding	3.8		(6.1	)	—
Other permanent differences	4.2		(1.6	)	0.7
	36.2	%	12.5	%	35.6	%

Summary of Components of Net Deferred Tax Assets

The components of net deferred tax assets and liabilities are as follows (in thousands):

	Year Ended March 31,
	2017			2016
Deferred tax assets:
Accrued expenses	$	4,883		$	6,734
Deferred revenue	8,427			13,913
Reserves	6,240			7,916
Pension and other retiree benefits	4,978			4,842
Net operating loss carryforwards	27,322			41,225
Tax credit carryforwards	5,502			5,824
Share-based compensation	6,418			4,975
Other	288			426
Total gross deferred tax assets	64,058			85,855
Valuation allowance	(3,374		)	(3,777		)
Net deferred tax assets	60,684			82,078
Deferred tax liabilities:
Intangible assets	(323,008		)	(354,601		)
Depreciation	(8,695		)	(6,630		)
Total deferred tax asset (liability)	$	(271,019	)	$	(279,153	)

Schedule of Reconciliation of Unrecognized Tax Benefits

A reconciliation of the beginning and ending amount of unrecognized tax benefits for the fiscal years ended March 31, 2017, 2016 and 2015 is as follows (in thousands):

	Year Ended March 31,
	2017			2016		2015
Balance at April 1,	$	1,588		$	1,038	$	421
Additions based on tax positions related to the current year	46			48		45
Release of tax positions of prior years	(154		)	—		(75		)
Increase in unrecognized tax benefits as a result of a tax position taken during a prior period	1,446			502		647
Balance at March 31,	$	2,926		$	1,588	$	1,038