NOTE D—INCOME TAXES

Consolidated earnings before income taxes consists of the following for 2020, 2019, and 2018:

Income tax expense (benefit) included inincome from continuing operations consists of the following:

The effective tax rate for 2020, 2019, and 2018 reconciled to the statutory U.S. Federal tax rate is as follows:

The effective tax rate for the year ended January 2, 2021 benefited from an increase in U.S. domestic earnings before income taxes compared to the years ended December 28, 2019 and December 29, 2018, which allowed the Company to utilize previously unbenefited tax attributes in 2020.   

The significant categories of deferred taxes are as follows:

The Components of net deferred taxes on a jurisdiction basis are as follows:

As of January 2, 2021, the Company had foreign tax credit carryforwards of approximately $75,347. If unused, these carryforwards will expire between 2026 and 2030. The Company has generated excess foreign tax credits since the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 was enacted on December 22, 2017. This is due to the U.S. tax rate being lower than most foreign taxing jurisdiction rates where the Company operates. Although the Company can claim foreign tax credits against U.S. source income due to overall domestic losses generated in previous years, the Company does not believe it will be able to use more foreign tax credits than it generates in a single year. The Company believes these foreign tax credit carryforwards will expire unused based on available positive and negative evidence, including future reversals of existing taxable temporary differences, projected future taxable income, available tax planning strategies, and available carryback opportunities. Similar with prior years, the Company continues to maintain a full valuation allowance on its foreign tax credit carryforwards. Valuation allowances are determined using a more-likely-than-not realization criteria and are based upon all facts and circumstances.

The Company recorded a $2,244 valuation allowance on mirrored deferred tax assets recorded in the United States, which offset deferred tax liabilities of foreign disregarded entities. These mirrored deferred tax assets represent future foreign tax credits. This valuation allowance is necessary because the Company is limited in its ability to utilize future foreign tax credits due to the U.S. tax rate being lower than most foreign taxing jurisdiction rates where the Company operates.

The Company also had $1,248 of Utah research credit carryforwards, and $333 of Federal research credit carryforwards as of January 2, 2021. If unused, the Utah research credit carryforwards expire between 2027 and 2034, and the Federal research credits expire between 2039 and 2040. Utah research credits are limited to Utah tax due and the Company has a history of generating more credits than it can use. Federal research credit carryforwards can only be used in a year when U.S. taxes are owed after foreign tax credits have been applied. Due to the lack of sufficient evidence to the contrary, the Company has placed a full valuation allowance on these credit carryforwards.

In addition, the Company had $7,015 of foreign operating loss carry forwards, $6,964 of which have an unlimited carryforward period. The deferred tax asset associated with these losses was $2,228 and a valuation allowance of $2,228 has been applied against this deferred tax asset. The 2020 deferred tax asset for state-tax-loss carryforwards was $105. If unused, some of the state-tax-loss carryforwards will expire between 2030 and 2039 and others can be carried forward indefinitely.

The total combined valuation allowance was $81,401 as of January 2, 2021. The 2020 valuation allowance represents a $17,116 net increase from 2019. If the Company determines that there is sufficient evidence to remove the valuation allowances addressed above, the valuation allowance will be released and the provision for income taxes will be reduced.

As of January 2, 2021, the Company has continued its position to return all foreign earnings to the U.S. parent company and has recorded deferred tax liabilities of $14,589 for foreign withholding taxes associated with foreign retained earnings and cross-border payments.

As of January 2, 2021, the Company had $1,528 in unrecognized tax benefits that would impact the effective tax rate if recognized. This compares to $560 of unrecognized tax benefits as of December 28, 2019. As of  January 2, 2021, the Company reported $538 of unrecognized tax benefits in “Other current liabilities” and $990 in “Other long-term liabilities”. As of December 28, 2019, the entire uncertain tax position reserve was reported as “Other current liabilities”.   

The following reconciliation provides the changes in unrecognized tax benefits that occurred during the 2020, 2019, and 2018 reporting years:

The Company accounts for interest and penalties associated with unrecognized tax benefits as a component of income tax expense. For the period ending January 2, 2021 and December 28, 2019, the Company reported $491 and $330, respectively, as income tax expense related to interest and penalties. As of January 2, 2021, the Company recorded $243 of “Other current liabilities” and $248 of “Other long-term liabilities” associated with interest and penalties for unrecognized tax benefits. As of December 28, 2019, the Company had recorded $330 of “Other current liabilities” associated with interest and penalties. 

The Company files income tax returns in the United States and foreign jurisdictions. In general, the Company's tax filings are subject to examination for years ending on or after December 31, 2016. However, statutes of limitations in some markets may be as long as ten years for transfer pricing related issues.