Income Taxes

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2017

Income Tax Disclosure [Abstract]

Income Taxes

9. INCOME TAXES

On December 22, 2017, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (the “TCJA”), which significantly modified U.S. corporate income tax law. The TCJA contains significant changes to corporate income taxation, including but not limited to the reduction of the corporate income tax rate from a top marginal rate of 35% to a flat rate of 21% in 2018. The deferred tax assets and liabilities are measured using the enacted tax rates that the Company believes will apply in the years in which the temporary differences are expected to be recovered or paid. As a result, the Company remeasured the deferred tax assets and deferred tax liabilities to reflect the reduction in the enacted U.S. corporate income tax rate. This resulted in a decrease in our gross deferred tax assets and liabilities and corresponding valuation allowance of approximately $1.5 million. Notwithstanding the reduction in the corporate income tax rate, the overall impact of the new federal tax law is uncertain, including to what extent various states will conform to the newly enacted federal tax law.

The Company is subject to federal and state income taxes as regular (Subchapter C) corporation. As a result of continuing losses for tax purposes, the Company has historically not paid income taxes and has recorded a full valuation allowance against the net deferred tax asset.

The Company’s deferred tax assets are primarily the result of net operating losses (or NOLs). The Company has recorded a valuation allowance against its net deferred tax assets at December 31, 2016 as it is more likely than not that not all of the deferred tax assets will be realized. The valuation is based on management’s assessment that it is more likely than not the NOL carryforwards may not be realized in the foreseeable future due to objective negative evidence that the Company would not generate sufficient taxable income to realize the deferred tax assets.

Deferred income taxes reflect the net tax effects of temporary differences between the carrying amounts of assets and liabilities for financial reporting purposes and the amounts used for income tax purposes. Significant components of the Company’s deferred tax assets for federal and state income taxes as of December 31, 2017 and 2016 are as follows:

	2017			2016
Deferred tax assets:
Net operating loss carryforwards	$	2,818,000		$	2,760,000
Stock-based compensation		81,000			121,000
Reserves		5,000			-
Intangible assets		26,000			-
Severance costs and deferred rent		130,000			24,000
Research and development tax credits		206,000			166,000
Total deferred tax assets		3,266,000			3,071,000
Deferred tax liabilities:
Intangible assets		-			(628,000	)
Depreciation		(33,000	)		(48,000	)
Reserves		-			(22,000	)
Total deferred tax liabilities		(33,000	)		(698,000	)
Net deferred tax assets		3,233,000			2,373,000
Less: Valuation allowance		(3,233,000	)		(2,373,000	)
Deferred tax assets, net of allowance	$	-		$	-

There were no tax interest or penalties recorded in the consolidated financial statements for the years ended December 31, 2017 and 2016.

In March 2016, the Company completed an Internal Revenue Code Section 382 study which determined that a cumulative three-year ownership change in excess of 50% had occurred in March 2016 due to a share repurchase. As a result, the Company’s available NOL was reduced from $47.4 million to $2.2 million during the first quarter of 2016. The Company’s available NOL at December 31, 2017 was approximately $11 million. The federal and state NOL’s are available to offset future taxable income and expire from 2018 through 2037 if not utilized.

The Company files numerous tax returns in various jurisdictions. The Company is not currently under examination by any taxing authority, nor has the Company signed any waiver of the statute of limitations with any taxing authority. The Company remains open to examination by major taxing jurisdictions from 2013 to date. The Company believes there are no unresolved tax issues or tax claims likely to be material to its financial position.

The effective tax rate for the years ended December 31, 2017 and 2016 is different from the tax benefit that would result from applying the statutory tax rates primarily due to the recognition of valuation allowances. In 2017, the valuation allowance increased approximately $860,000 primarily related to an increase of the Company’s NOLs and the impairment change on the intangible assets offset by the reduction in the new corporate income tax rate.

ASC Topic 740-10 requires evaluation of uncertain tax positions. As of December 31, 2017, the Company has no material uncertain tax positions.