Note 7 - Income Taxes

We recorded an income tax expense of $397.0 thousand and an income tax benefit of $333.0 thousand for the three months ended March 31, 2018 and 2017, respectively. Our effective tax rate was 86.1% and (51.8)% for the three months ended March 31, 2018 and 2017, respectively. Our effective tax rates differed from the U.S. statutory corporate tax rate of 21% and 35%, for the same periods, primarily because of the mix of pre-tax income or loss earned in certain jurisdictions and the change in our valuation allowance.

We record a valuation allowance when it is more likely than not that some portion, or all, of the deferred tax assets will not be realized. As of March 31, 2018 and December 31, 2017, valuation allowances of $4.9 million and $4.7 million, respectively have been provided against net operating loss carryforwards and other deferred tax assets. Our valuation allowance increased by $.2 million and $.04 million for the three months ended March 31, 2018 and 2017, respectively.

As of March 31, 2018 and December 31, 2017, we had total unrecognized tax benefits of $1.7 million, related to foreign and domestic tax positions. Of this amount, the Company estimates that $1.2 million, of the unrecognized tax benefits, if recognized, would impact the effective tax rate. A substantial portion of our liability for uncertain tax benefits is recorded as a reduction of net operating losses and tax credit carryforwards.

During the three months ended March 31, 2018 and 2017, we had no material changes in uncertain tax positions. We record interest and penalties related to unrecognized tax benefits within the provision for income taxes. We believe that no current tax positions that have resulted in unrecognized tax benefits will significantly increase or decrease within one year. We file income tax returns in the U.S. federal jurisdiction and in various state and foreign jurisdictions.

The company was notified by the Internal Revenue Service that its federal income tax returns for the years 2013-2015 were selected for examination. The company believes its provision for income taxes is adequate; however, any assessment would affect the company’s results of operations and possibly cash flows.

The Canadian Revenue Agency completed its examination of the corporations 2014-2016 goods and services tax (GST) and harmonized sales tax (HST) returns. All issues have been settled.

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (The Act,) was enacted on December 22, 2017 making significant changes to the Internal Revenue Code. Changes include, but are not limited to, a reduction in the US federal corporate tax rate from 35% to 21%, requiring companies to pay a one-time transition tax on earnings of certain foreign subsidiaries that were previously tax deferred and creating new taxes on certain foreign sourced earnings. As of December 31, 2018, we have not completed our assessment of the accounting impact of the tax effects on the Company due to the Act; however, we have made a reasonable estimate of the effects on our existing deferred tax balances. We will continue to refine our estimate as additional analysis is completed and additional guidance is issued, however we do not expect a significant net impact on our underlying financial statements as we have cumulative losses in our foreign subsidiaries.

All amounts recognized associated with the Tax Act as of March 31, 2018 are provisional. Given the complexity of the Tax Act, we are still evaluating the tax impact and obtaining the information required to complete the accounting. The date we expect to complete the accounting is not currently determinable while we continue to obtain the information required to complete the accounting. Given the provisional amounts recognized in 2017, and the fact that we have not changed our provisional estimates, the impact of measurement period adjustments was not material during the three months ended March 31, 2018.