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Income Taxes
3 Months Ended
Jul. 31, 2017
Income Tax Disclosure [Abstract]  
Income Taxes
NOTE 7: INCOME TAXES
We file a consolidated federal income tax return in the U.S. with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and file tax returns in various state and foreign jurisdictions. Tax returns are typically examined and either settled upon completion of the examination or through the appeals process. The Company’s U.S. federal income tax return for 2014 is currently under examination. Our U.S. federal returns for 2013 and 2015 have not been audited and remain open to examination. Our U.S. federal returns for 2012 and all prior periods have been audited by the IRS and are closed. With respect to state and local jurisdictions and countries outside of the United States, we are typically subject to examination for three to six years after the income tax returns have been filed. Although the outcome of a tax audit is always uncertain, we believe that adequate amounts of tax, interest and penalties have been provided for in the consolidated financial statements for any adjustments that might be incurred due to federal, state, local or foreign audits.
We had gross unrecognized tax benefits of $141.4 million, $106.0 million and $149.9 million as of July 31, 2017 and 2016 and April 30, 2017, respectively. The gross unrecognized tax benefits decreased $8.5 million and $5.5 million during the three months ended July 31, 2017 and 2016, respectively. The decrease in unrecognized tax benefits during the three months ending July 31, 2017 is largely related to favorable audit settlements in various states. We believe it is reasonably possible that the balance of unrecognized tax benefits could decrease by approximately $10.4 million within the next twelve months. The anticipated decrease is due to the expiration of statutes of limitations and anticipated closure of various state matters currently under exam. The portion of unrecognized benefits expected to be cash settled within the next twelve months amounts to $4.2 million and is included in accrued income taxes on our consolidated balance sheet. The remaining liability for uncertain tax positions is classified as long-term and is included in other noncurrent liabilities in the consolidated balance sheet.
Consistent with prior years, our pretax loss for the three months ended July 31, 2017 is expected to be offset by income in the fourth quarter due to the established pattern of seasonality in our primary business operations. As such, management has determined that it is at least more-likely-than-not that realization of tax benefits recorded in our financial statements will occur within our fiscal year. The amount of tax benefit recorded reflects management’s estimate of the annual effective tax rate applied to the year-to-date loss from continuing operations. Certain discrete tax adjustments are also reflected in income tax expense for the periods presented.
A discrete income tax benefit of $5.2 million was recorded in the three months ended July 31, 2017, compared to a discrete tax benefit of $6.8 million in the same period of the prior year. The discrete tax benefit recorded in the current period resulted primarily from excess tax benefits recognized on the exercise of employee stock options. The excess tax benefit was recorded as a tax benefit in the income statement due to the adoption of ASU 2016-09 as of May 1, 2017 as discussed in note 1. The discrete tax benefit recorded in the prior year resulted primarily from favorable settlements of state audits.
Our effective tax rate for continuing operations, including the effects of discrete tax items was 37.7% and 40.5% for the three months ended July 31, 2017 and 2016, respectively. Discrete items increased the effective tax rate for the three months ended July 31, 2017 and 2016 by 2.5% and 3.3%, respectively. Due to the loss in both periods, a discrete tax benefit in either period increases the tax rate while an item of discrete tax expense decreases the tax rate. The impact of discrete tax items combined with the seasonal nature of our business can cause the effective tax rate through our first quarter to be significantly different than the rate for our full fiscal year.