Income taxes (Tables)

12 Months Ended

Dec. 30, 2017

Schedule of Income before Income Tax, Domestic and Foreign

Income before income taxes was attributed to domestic and foreign taxing jurisdictions as follows (in thousands):



	Fiscal year ended
	December 30, 2017		December 31, 2016	December 26, 2015
Domestic operations	$	317,720	286,927	234,410
Foreign operations	21,567		26,322	(32,822	)
Income before income taxes	$	339,287	313,249	201,588

Schedule of Components of Income Tax Expense (Benefit)

The components of the provision (benefit) for income taxes were as follows (in thousands):



	Fiscal year ended
	December 30, 2017			December 31, 2016		December 26, 2015
Current:
Federal	$	102,349		97,972		90,586
State	27,922			28,430		23,694
Foreign	3,094			3,808		3,186
Current tax provision	$	133,365		130,210		117,466
Deferred:
Federal	$	(145,903	)	(9,983	)	(19,034	)
State	(791		)	(3,152	)	(3,060	)
Foreign	1,707			598		987
Deferred tax benefit	(144,987		)	(12,537	)	(21,107	)
Provision for income taxes	$	(11,622	)	117,673		96,359

Schedule of Effective Income Tax Rate Reconciliation

The provision (benefit) for income taxes differed from the expense computed using the statutory federal income tax rate of 35% due to the following:



	Fiscal year ended
	December 30, 2017		December 31, 2016		December 26, 2015
Computed federal income tax expense, at statutory rate	35.0	%	35.0	%	35.0	%
Impairment of investment in Japan JV	—		—		9.4
State income taxes	5.5		5.1		6.6
Benefits and taxes related to foreign operations	(1.4	)	(2.7	)	(4.4	)
Excess tax benefits	(2.3	)	—		—
Change in valuation allowance	2.6		—		—
Other permanent differences	(0.4	)	0.1		0.6
Impact of Tax Act	(42.3	)	—		—
Other, net	(0.1	)	0.1		0.6
Effective tax rate	(3.4	)%	37.6	%	47.8	%

Schedule of Deferred Tax Assets and Liabilities

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



	December 30, 2017				December 31, 2016
	Deferred tax assets			Deferred tax liabilities	Deferred tax assets		Deferred tax liabilities
Allowance for doubtful accounts	$	2,013		—	2,685		—
Capital leases	2,158			—	3,295		—
Rent	9,452			—	11,905		—
Property and equipment	375			—	—		1,977
Deferred compensation liabilities	15,033			—	19,900		—
Deferred gift cards and certificates	16,676			—	27,874		—
Deferred income	9,049			—	12,609		—
Real estate reserves	1,153			—	1,264		—
Franchise rights and other intangibles	—			372,988	—		551,679
Unused net operating losses and foreign tax credits	1,912			—	11,457		—
Other current liabilities	4,697			—	5,368		—
Other	224			—	1,758		—
	62,742			372,988	98,115		553,656
Valuation allowance	(899		)	—	(1,131	)	—
Total	$	61,843		372,988	96,984		553,656

Schedule of Unrecognized Tax Benefits Roll Forward

The Company’s major tax jurisdictions subject to income tax are the United States and Canada. In the United States, the Company has open tax years dating back to tax years ended December 2014. For Canada, the Company has open tax years dating back to tax years ended December 2011.

A summary of the changes in the Company’s unrecognized tax benefits is as follows (in thousands):



	Fiscal year ended
	December 30, 2017			December 31, 2016		December 26, 2015
Balance at beginning of year	$	2,290		2,653		3,672
Increases related to prior year tax positions	206			267		—
Increases related to current year tax positions	65			161		111
Decreases related to prior year tax positions	(94		)	(33	)	(301	)
Decreases related to settlements	(871		)	(191	)	(636	)
Lapses of statutes of limitations	(140		)	(597	)	—
Effect of foreign currency adjustments	73			30		(193	)
Balance at end of year	$	1,529		2,290		2,653