Income Taxes (Tables)

12 Months Ended

Apr. 29, 2017

Income Before Income Taxes

Income before income taxes for fiscal 2017, fiscal 2016 and fiscal 2015 are as follows:

	Fiscal 2017			Fiscal 2016			Fiscal 2015
Domestic operations	$	47,127			6,827			68,535
Foreign operations		(328	)		(941	)		3,981
Total income before taxes	$	46,799			5,886			72,516

Income Tax Provisions (Benefits)

Income tax provisions (benefits) for fiscal 2017, fiscal 2016 and fiscal 2015 are as follows:

	Fiscal 2017			Fiscal 2016			Fiscal 2015
Current:
Federal	$	3,722			(47,053	)		39,514
State		(7,480	)		3,908			2,674
Foreign		—			(273	)		1,314
Total current		(3,758	)		(43,418	)		43,502
Deferred:
Federal		25,724			21,570			6,099
State		2,810			13,018			(10,001	)
Foreign		—			16			44
Total deferred		28,534			34,604			(3,858	)
Total	$	24,776			(8,814	)		39,644

Reconciliation Between Effective Income Tax Rate and Federal Statutory Income Tax Rate

Reconciliation between the effective income tax rate and the federal statutory income tax rate is as follows:

	Fiscal 2017			Fiscal 2016			Fiscal 2015
Federal statutory income tax rate		35.0	%		35.0	%		35.0	%
State income taxes, net of federal income tax benefit		10.0			8.3			10.8
Change to unrecognized tax benefits		(5.9	)		(111.3	)		0.2
Excess executive compensation		0.3			8.0			3.7
Meals and entertainment disallowance		0.5			5.1			1.1
Tax credits		—			(76.3	)		(3.9	)
Joint venture net loss allocation		—			—			33.1
Change in valuation allowance		(1.2	)		108.6			(19.8	)
Changes in deferred taxes and payables		7.0			(134.8	)		(5.4	)
Amounts not deductible for tax		1.9			—			—
State law changes		3.1			4.7			—
Other, net		2.2			3.0			(0.1	)
Effective income tax rate		52.9	%		(149.7	)%		54.7	%

Components of Deferred Tax Assets and Liabilities

At April 29, 2017 and April 30, 2016, the significant components of the Company’s deferred taxes consisted of the following:

	April 29, 2017			April 30, 2016
Deferred tax assets:
Accrued liabilities	$	110,029		$	124,475
Inventory		—			3,844
Insurance liability		7,973			8,392
Loss and credit carryovers		31,221			31,100
Lease transactions		7,131			13,813
Pension and post-retirement healthcare		581			670
Stock-based compensation		3,182			1,918
Other		1,379			503
Gross deferred tax assets		161,496			184,715
Valuation allowance		(7,644	)		(7,903	)
Net deferred tax assets		153,852			176,812
Deferred tax liabilities:
Prepaid expenses		(4,670	)		(5,678	)
Goodwill and intangible asset amortization		(140,270	)		(133,267	)
Inventory		(2,608	)		—
Investment in Barnes & Noble.com		(78,756	)		(78,650	)
Depreciation		(13,680	)		(13,234	)
Gross deferred tax liabilities		(239,984	)		(230,829	)
Net deferred tax liabilities	$	(86,132	)	$	(54,017	)

Reconciliation of Beginning and Ending Amount of Unrecognized Tax Benefits

A reconciliation of the beginning and ending amount of unrecognized tax benefits for fiscal 2017, fiscal 2016 and fiscal 2015 is as follows:

Balance at May 3, 2014	$	19,155
Additions for tax positions of the current period		731
Additions for tax positions of prior periods		—
Reductions due to settlements		—
Reductions for tax positions of prior periods		(1,504	)
Balance at May 2, 2015	$	18,382
Additions for tax positions of the current period		238
Additions for tax positions of prior periods		7,433
Reductions due to settlements		(5,980	)
Reductions for tax positions of prior periods		(5,501	)
Balance at April 30, 2016	$	14,572
Additions for tax positions of the current period		337
Additions for tax positions of prior periods		1,644
Reductions due to settlements		—
Reductions for tax positions of prior periods		(7,134	)
Balance at April 29, 2017	$	9,419