Income Taxes

3 Months Ended

Jan. 31, 2020

Income Tax Disclosure [Abstract]

Income Taxes

7. Income taxes

We record our interim provision for income taxes based on our estimated annual effective tax rate, as well as certain items discrete to the current period. The effective tax rates for the three months ended January 31, 2020 and January 31, 2019 were 17.6% and 28.6%, respectively.   The effective tax rate for the current quarter was lower than the comparable prior year period primarily due to the net impact of one-time adjustments that were recorded in the prior year as a result of the enacted law commonly referred to as the U.S. Tax Cuts and Jobs Act ("the Act").

On December 22, 2017, the Act was enacted into law which significantly revised U.S. tax law. It reduced the U.S. federal corporate income tax rate from 35% to 21%. The statutory tax rate of 21% was applied to earnings in the current quarter.  

During the three months ended January 31, 2019, a discrete tax expense of $4,866 was recorded to update the provisional amounts recognized in 2018 due to changes in interpretations and assumptions and the finalization of estimates.

Our income tax provision included a discrete tax benefit of $2,537 and $868 due to our share-based payment transactions for the three months ended January 31, 2020 and January 31, 2019, respectively.