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Income Taxes
9 Months Ended
Jul. 31, 2018
Income Tax Disclosure [Abstract]  
Income Taxes
Income Taxes
We recorded income tax provisions of $100.3 million and $168.9 million for the nine months ended July 31, 2018 and 2017, respectively. The effective tax rate was 18.7% for the nine months ended July 31, 2018, compared to 33.0% for the nine months ended July 31, 2017. For the three months ended July 31, 2018 and 2017, we recorded income tax provisions of $59.8 million and $55.0 million, respectively. The effective tax rate for the three months ended July 31, 2018 was 23.6%, compared to 27.0% for the three months ended July 31, 2017. The income tax provision for the nine months and three months ended July 31, 2018 reflects the impact of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (the “Tax Act”), which was enacted into law on December 22, 2017. The income tax provision for the nine months ended July 31, 2018 also reflects excess tax benefits related to stock-based compensation resulting from the adoption of ASU 2016-09; excess tax benefits are now reflected as a component of income taxes. The income tax provisions for all periods included a provision for state income taxes; interest accrued on anticipated tax assessments; tax benefits related to the utilization of domestic production activities deductions; and other permanent differences.
The Tax Act, among other changes, reduced the corporate income tax rate from 35% to 21% effective for tax years beginning after December 31, 2017. For companies with a fiscal year that does not end on December 31, the change in law requires the application of a blended tax rate for the year of the change. Our blended tax rate for our fiscal year ending October 31, 2018 will be 23.3%. Thereafter, the applicable statutory rate will be 21%. ASC 740, “Income Taxes” (“ASC 740”), requires all companies to reflect the effects of the new law in the period in which the law was enacted. Accordingly, we reduced the statutory tax rate applied to earnings for the nine months and three months ended July 31, 2018 from 35% to 23.3%. In addition, we remeasured our net deferred tax liability for the tax law change, which resulted in income tax benefits of $36.2 million and $5.0 million in the nine months and three months ended July 31, 2018, respectively. Since the Tax Act includes many broad and complex changes to the U.S. tax code, we continue to analyze the impact of the provisions of the Tax Act on our financial statements and disclosures.
In December 2017, the SEC staff issued Staff Accounting Bulletin No. 118 (“SAB 118”), which provides guidance on accounting for the tax effects of the Tax Act. SAB 118 provides a measurement period that should not extend beyond one year from the enactment date for companies to complete the accounting relating to the Tax Act under ASC 740. In accordance with SAB 118, a company must reflect the income tax effects of those aspects of the Tax Act for which the accounting under ASC 740 is complete. To the extent that a company’s accounting for certain income tax effects of the Tax Act is incomplete, but it is able to determine a reasonable estimate, it must record a provisional estimate in its financial statements.
In connection with our initial analysis of the impact of the Tax Act on the three months ended January 31, 2018, and in accordance with SAB 118, we recorded a provisional net tax benefit of $31.2 million related to the re-measurement of our net deferred tax liability based on the rates at which our deferred tax balances are expected to reverse in the future. As of July 31, 2018, we increased the provisional net tax benefit by $5.0 million due primarily to the results included in the filing of our fiscal 2017 tax return in the third quarter of fiscal 2018. In addition, we are still analyzing certain aspects of the Tax Act including the impact of the Tax Act on our deferred tax assets and liabilities, including the estimate of the reversal of existing deferred tax assets and deferred tax liabilities at varying statutory rates and an estimate of the impact of the grandfathering provisions related to performance based executive compensation. The final impact of the Tax Act may differ significantly from this provisional amount, due to, among other things, changes in interpretations and assumptions made by us as a result of additional information and additional guidance that may be issued by the U.S. Department of the Treasury or any other relevant governing body. Any change to the provisional amount would be reflected as a discrete benefit or expense in the quarter that the adjustment is identified.
We currently operate in 21 states and are subject to various state tax jurisdictions. We estimate our state tax liability based upon the individual taxing authorities’ regulations, estimates of income by taxing jurisdiction, and our ability to utilize certain tax-saving strategies. We estimate our rate for the full fiscal year 2018 for state income taxes will be approximately 7.2%. Our state income tax rate for the full fiscal year 2017 was 6.5%.
At July 31, 2018, we had $17.6 million of gross unrecognized tax benefits, including interest and penalties. If these unrecognized tax benefits were to reverse in the future, they would have a beneficial impact on our effective tax rate at that time. During the next 12 months, it is reasonably possible that our unrecognized tax benefits will change, but we are not able to provide a range of such change. The possible changes would be principally due to the expiration of tax statutes, settlements with taxing jurisdictions, increases due to new tax positions taken, and the accrual of estimated interest and penalties.