NOTE 8 - INCOME TAXES

The effective tax rate of 9.4% and 7.8% for the three and nine month periods ended July 29, 2018, respectively, differ from the post U.S. Tax Reform blended statutory rate of 23.4%, primarily due to the benefit from U.S. Tax Reform (as discussed below), earnings being taxed at lower statutory rates in foreign jurisdictions, the benefit of various investment credits in a foreign jurisdiction, a tax holiday in Taiwan and the change in unrecognized tax benefits related to an audit settlement and an assessment statute expiration.

On December 22, 2017, the U.S. Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (the “Act”), was signed into law, enacting significant changes to the United States Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, that we expect to have a positive impact on our future after-tax earnings. Under ASC Topic 740 – “Income Taxes” (“ASC 740”), the effects of the new legislation are recognized in the interim and annual accounting periods that include the enactment date, which falls within our nine month period ended July 29, 2018. In December 2017, the Securities and Exchange Commission released Staff Accounting Bulletin No. 118 (“SAB 118”) to address situations in which the accounting under ASC 740 is incomplete for certain income tax effects of the Act. We adopted SAB 118 in our first quarter of fiscal year 2018.

SAB 118 summarizes a three-step process to be applied at each reporting period to account for and qualitatively disclose: (1) the effects of the change in tax law for which accounting is complete; (2) provisional amounts (or adjustments to provisional amounts) for the effects of the tax law where accounting is not complete, but that a reasonable estimate has been determined; and (3) a reasonable estimate cannot yet be made and, therefore, taxes are reflected in accordance with law prior to the enactment of the Act.

We continue to analyze the provisions of the Act addressing the net deferred tax asset revaluation and its calculations, the deemed earnings repatriation, including the determination of undistributed non-U.S. earnings, and evaluate potential actions we may consider in light of the Act that could affect our fiscal year 2018 U.S. taxable income. As such, our accounting for certain elements within the Act is preliminary, and subject to further clarification of the Act by the Internal Revenue Service. The following is a discussion of the major provisions of the Act that affect our financial statements, and our preliminary assessment of the impact of such provisions on our financial statements.

The Act repeals the corporate alternative minimum tax (“AMT”) for tax years beginning after December 31, 2017, and provides that existing AMT credit carryforwards are fully refundable over a four year period, starting with the tax year beginning after December 31, 2017. We have approximately $3.9 million of AMT credit carryforwards that we previously determined were not more likely than not going to be realized and, as such, established a valuation allowance for these carryforwards. The Act has changed our determination regarding the realization of the benefit of the carryforwards; accordingly, the related valuation allowance has been reversed, and a $3.7 million, net of sequestration, tax benefit has been recorded as of July 29, 2018.

As of January 1, 2018, the Act reduces the corporate income tax rate from a maximum 35% to a flat 21%. Our fiscal year 2018 blended statutory tax rate is approximately 23.4%, the weighted daily average rate between the pre-enactment U.S. federal statutory tax rate of 35% applicable to our 2018 fiscal year prior to the rate change effective January 1, 2018, and the post-enactment U.S. federal statutory tax rate of 21% applicable to the balance of our 2018 fiscal year. The 21% rate will be applicable to fiscal year 2019 and beyond. Under generally accepted accounting principles, we are required to revalue our deferred tax assets and liabilities utilizing the rate applicable to the period when a temporary difference will reverse. Our preliminary analysis of the two-stepped revaluation indicates that our fiscal 2018 yearend net deferred tax asset will be increased by $2.5 million, with an offsetting change in the related valuation allowance, resulting in a provisional net zero impact for the period.

The Act imposes a transition tax for a one-time deemed repatriation of the accumulated earnings of foreign subsidiaries. The transition tax effective rates are 15.5% on accumulated earnings held in cash (as defined by the Act), and 8% on any remaining balance. Our preliminary analysis indicates an estimated deemed repatriation transition tax of $28.4 million, the entire amount of which will be fully offset by tax credits and/or available loss carryforwards and will result in a provisional net zero impact in the period, due in part to an offsetting change in the related valuation allowance. We anticipate that future earnings of foreign subsidiaries will not be subject to U.S. federal income tax. Notwithstanding the deemed repatriation rules under the Act, we anticipate that foreign earnings will remain unremitted for purposes of continuing to fund reinvestment in foreign operations.

Our preliminary analysis of other provisions of the Act including, but not limited to, 100 percent bonus depreciation and changes to the limitations on the deductibility of meals and entertainment expenses, indicates that, under our current tax profile, there should be limited or no provisional impact on our 2018 yearend financial statements.

Based on the effective date of certain provisions, we will be subject to additional requirements of tax reform beginning in fiscal year 2019. Those provisions include a tax on global intangible low-taxed income (GILTI), a tax determined by base erosion tax benefits (BEAT) from certain payments between a U.S. corporation and foreign subsidiaries, a limitation of certain executive compensation, a deduction for foreign derived intangible income (FDII), and interest expense limitations. We have not completed our analysis of those provisions and their estimated impacts.

On January 18, 2018, the Taiwan Legislature Yuan approved amendments to the Income Tax Act, enacting an increase in the corporate tax rate from 17% to 20%. Under generally accepted accounting principles, we are required to revalue our deferred tax assets and liabilities utilizing the rate applicable to the period when a temporary difference will reverse. Our analysis indicates that our Taiwan deferred tax asset will be increased and, accordingly, a net benefit of $0.2 million was reflected in our January 28, 2018 tax provision.

The 6.5% and 20.7% effective tax rates for the respective three and nine month periods ended July 30, 2017, differ from the U.S. statutory rate of 35%, primarily due to earnings being taxed at lower statutory rates in foreign jurisdictions, combined with the benefit of various investment credits in a foreign jurisdiction. Valuation allowances in jurisdictions with historic losses eliminate the tax benefit that would be recognized in these jurisdictions. We have two five-year tax holidays in Taiwan, one that expired in 2017 and the other that expires in 2019. The latter tax holiday reduced foreign taxes by $1.1 million and $1.8 million in the three and nine month periods ended July 29, 2018, respectively, and had $0.1 and $0.2 effect on earnings per share, respectively, in each period. For the three and nine month periods ended July 30, 2017, the company realized benefits from the tax holidays of $0.1 million and $0.2 million, respectively, with de minimis per share effects for these periods.

There were unrecognized tax benefits related to uncertain tax positions of $1.5 million at July 29, 2018, and $3.4 million at October 29, 2017, all of which, if recognized, would favorably impact the Company’s effective tax rate. Accrued interest and penalties related to unrecognized tax benefits were $0.1 million at July 29, 2018 and October 29, 2017. The decrease in unrecognized tax benefits during the nine month period ended July 29, 2018, resulted from the expiration of a statute of limitation and an audit settlement. Although the timing of the expirations of statutes of limitations may be uncertain, as they can be dependent upon the settlement of tax audits, we believe that it is reasonably possible that up to $0.6 million of our uncertain tax positions (including accrued interest and penalties, and net of tax benefits) may be resolved over the next twelve months. Resolution of these uncertain tax positions may result from either or both the lapses of statutes of limitations and tax settlements.