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Income Taxes
3 Months Ended
Mar. 27, 2016
Income Tax Disclosure [Abstract]  
Income Taxes
INCOME TAXES

The effective tax rate for the three months ended March 27, 2016 was negative 26.6% as compared to negative 279.7% for the three months ended March 29, 2015. The change in the effective tax rate for the three months ended March 27, 2016 was due to the mix of income between subsidiaries, increased losses, specifically in the United States and Germany, for entities with valuation allowances for which no tax benefit is received and a discrete expense related to the change in indefinite reinvestment assertion on one of our foreign subsidiaries.

We evaluate our deferred income taxes quarterly to determine if valuation allowances are required or should be adjusted. We are required to assess whether valuation allowances should be established against their deferred tax assets based on all available evidence, both positive and negative, using a “more likely than not” standard. In the assessment for a valuation allowance, appropriate consideration is given to all positive and negative evidence related to the realization of the deferred tax assets. This assessment considers, among other matters, the nature, frequency and severity of current and cumulative losses, forecasts of future profitability, the duration of statutory carryforward periods, our experience with loss carryforwards not expiring, and tax planning alternatives. We operate and derive income across multiple jurisdictions. As each of the respective lines of business experiences changes in operating results across their geographic footprint, we may encounter losses in jurisdictions that have been historically profitable, and as a result might require additional valuation allowances to be recorded against certain deferred tax asset balances. As of March 27, 2016 and December 27, 2015, we had net deferred tax assets of $8.3 million and $8.0 million, respectively.

There was a change in accounting principle related to our early adoption of ASU 2015-17 on a prospective basis as of December 27, 2015. The adoption resulted in a decrease to current assets, a decrease to current liabilities, and an increase to both noncurrent deferred tax assets and liabilities. The adoption of the ASU to classify all of our deferred tax assets and liabilities as noncurrent will reduce time, complexity and costs to prepare our tax disclosures related to deferred income taxes.

We are currently under audit in the following major jurisdictions: India - 2010 to 2013 and France - 2012 to 2013. The following major jurisdictions have tax years that remain subject to examination: Germany - 2010 to 2015, United States - 2012 to 2015, China - 2012 to 2015 and Hong Kong - 2009 to 2015. Our tax returns for open years in all jurisdictions are subject to changes upon examination.

We operate under tax holidays in certain countries, which are effective through dates ranging from 2016 to 2017, and may be extended if certain additional requirements are satisfied. The tax holidays are conditional upon our meeting certain employment and investment thresholds.

As of March 27, 2016, we changed our assertion with respect to the unremitted earnings for one of our foreign subsidiaries for which we have historically asserted that we were indefinitely reinvested.  The change in the assertion results in $6.7 million of tax expense during the current quarter.