NOTE 14

INCOME TAXES

The components of current and deferred federal and state income tax (benefit) expense for continuing operations for the years ended December 31, consisted of the following (in thousands):

An overall reconciliation between the expected tax benefit using the federal statutory rate of 21% and 34% for the years ended 2018 and 2017, respectively, and the benefit for income taxes from continuing operations as reported in the accompanying Consolidated Statement of Operations is provided below (in thousands).

On December 22, 2017, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 (the “TCJA”) was signed into law making significant changes to the Internal Revenue Code. Changes include, but are not limited to, a federal corporate tax rate decrease from 35% to 21% for tax years beginning after December 31, 2017, the transition of U.S international taxation from a worldwide tax system to a territorial system, the elimination of AMT for corporations and a one-time transition tax on the mandatory deemed repatriation of foreign earnings.

As of December 31, 2018, the Company has completed its accounting for the tax effects of the enactment of the TCJA under the guidance of Staff Accounting Bulletin No. 118 (“SAB 118”) (issued December 22, 2017), which provides registrants a one-year measurement period to report the impact of the TCJA.

Specific to the enactment of the TCJA, the Company recognized a tax benefit of $1,695,000 in the fourth quarter of 2017 which consisted of $916,000 related to the re-measurement of deferred tax assets and liabilities, based on the rates at which they are expected to reverse in the future and $779,000 related to the reversal of valuation allowance and refunding of AMT credit carryforwards.

An additional provision of the TCJA was to provide an indefinite carryforward period for net operating losses (“NOLs”) generated starting in 2018. Also, the law limits the utilization of these NOLs to 80% of taxable income in the year in which the NOL is utilized. The Company has been carrying on its balance sheet a deferred tax liability related to indefinite-lived intangible assets. A common accounting interpretation of the new TCJA provisions is that deferred tax assets related to indefinite-lived NOLs may now be used to offset indefinite-lived deferred tax liabilities, up to 80% of the amount of the liability. During 2018, the Company forecasted a substantial tax loss for the full year due to the closure of the M&EC facility. As a result, the Company released a portion of the valuation allowance against deferred tax assets equal to 80% of the deferred tax liability related to indefinite-lived intangible assets and recorded a tax benefit in the amount of approximately $1,235,000 in accordance to the provisions of the TCJA.

The global intangible low-taxed income (“GILTI”) provisions under the TCJA require the Company to include in its U.S. income tax return foreign subsidiary earnings in excess of an allowable return on the foreign subsidiary’s tangible assets. The Company has elected to account for GILTI tax in the period in which it is incurred, and therefore has not provided any deferred tax impacts of GILTI in its consolidated financial statements for the years ended December 31, 2017 and 2018. As the foreign subsidiaries are all in loss positions for 2018, there is no GILTI inclusion for the current year.

The base-erosion and anti-abuse tax provisions (“BEAT”) in the TCJA eliminates the deduction of certain base-erosion payments made to related foreign corporations, and imposes a minimum tax if greater than regular tax. The Company does not expect it will be subject to this tax due to the immaterial amounts of outbound U.S. payments and therefore has not included any tax impacts of BEAT in its consolidated financial statements for the years ended December 31, 2017 and 2018.

The TCJA imposes a one-time transition tax on previously untaxed earnings and profits of foreign subsidiaries. As of December 31, 2018, the Company has current and accumulated deficits in earnings and profits for all of its foreign subsidiaries. As such, the Company does not expect any exposure to the one-time transition tax.

The Company had temporary differences and net operating loss carry forwards from both our continuing and discontinued operations, which gave rise to deferred tax assets and liabilities at December 31, 2018 and 2017 as follows (in thousands):

In 2018 and 2017, the Company concluded that it was more likely than not that $10,479,000 and $10,259,000 of our deferred income tax assets would not be realized, and as such, a full valuation allowance was applied against those deferred income tax assets.

The Company has estimated net operating loss carryforwards (“NOLs”) for federal and state income tax purposes of approximately $21,277,000 and $76,312,000, respectively, as of December 31, 2018. The estimated consolidated federal and state NOLs include approximately $2,629,000 and $3,797,000, respectively, of our majority-owned subsidiary, PF Medical, which is not part of our consolidated group for tax purposes. These net operating losses can be carried forward and applied against future taxable income, if any, and expire in various amounts starting in 2021. However, as a result of various stock offerings and certain acquisitions, which in the aggregate constitute a change in control, the use of these NOLs will be limited under the provisions of Section 382 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended. Additionally, NOLs may be further limited under the provisions of Treasury Regulation 1.1502-21 regarding Separate Return Limitation Years.

The tax years 2016 through 2018 remain open to examination by taxing authorities in the jurisdictions in which the Company operates.

No uncertain tax positions were identified by the Company for the years currently open under statute of limitations, including 2018 and 2017.

The Company had no federal income tax payable for the years ended December 31, 2018 and 2017.