Income Taxes

6 Months Ended

Feb. 28, 2021

Income Tax Disclosure [Abstract]

Income Taxes

Note 12. Income Taxes

The Company's global operations, acquisition activity and specific tax attributes provide opportunities for continuous global tax planning initiatives to maximize tax credits and deductions. Comparative earnings before income taxes, income tax expense and effective income tax rates from continuing operations are as follows (in thousands):

	Three Months Ended						Six Months Ended
	February 28, 2021			February 29, 2020			February 28, 2021			February 29, 2020
Earnings from continuing operations before income tax expense	$	3,585		$	4,724		$	10,664		$	12,046
Income tax expense	1			806			2,258			1,756
Effective income tax rate	0.0		%	17.1		%	21.2		%	14.6		%

The Company’s earnings from continuing operations before income taxes include earnings from foreign jurisdictions of approximately 70% of the consolidated total for each of the estimated full-year fiscal 2021 and full-year 2020. Though most foreign tax rates are now in line with the U.S. tax rate of 21%, the annual effective tax rate is impacted by withholding taxes, losses in jurisdictions where no benefit can be realized, and various aspects of the U.S. Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, such as the Global Intangible Low-Taxed Income, Foreign-Derived Intangible Income and Base Erosion and Anti-Abuse Tax provisions.

The effective tax rate for the three months ended February 28, 2021 was 0.0%, compared to 17.1% for the comparable prior-year period. The effective tax rate for the current-year period was impacted by benefits from the vesting of stock options and tax planning initiatives that are not expected to repeat in future periods. The prior-year period was impacted by valuation allowance releases associated with the ability to use tax attributes before expiration. The current-year period resulted in less tax expense than the comparable prior-year period primarily due to the impacts of COVID-19 on income, withholding tax, and tax exposures related to our mobile workforce.

The U.S. government continues to enact tax legislation containing provisions to support businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic, including deferment of the employer portion of certain payroll taxes, refundable payroll tax credits and technical amendments to tax depreciation methods for qualified improvement property. The enacted legislation did not have a material impact on our consolidated financial statements for the three months ended February 28, 2021. We are continuing to evaluate the future impact of the COVID-19-related tax legislation on our consolidated financial statements.