INCOME TAXES |
3 Months Ended |
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Mar. 31, 2022 | |
Income Tax Disclosure [Abstract] | |
INCOME TAXES [Text Block] | NOTE 18 - INCOME TAXES
Income tax expense includes Puerto Rico and USVI income taxes, as well as applicable U.S. federal and state taxes. The Corporation is subject to Puerto Rico income tax on its income from all sources. As a Puerto Rico corporation, First BanCorp. is treated as a foreign corporation for U.S. and USVI income tax purposes and, accordingly, is generally subject to U.S. and USVI income tax only on its income from sources within the U.S. and USVI or income effectively connected with the conduct of a trade or business in those jurisdictions. Any such tax paid in the U.S. and USVI is also creditable against the Corporation’s Puerto Rico tax liability, subject to certain conditions and limitations.
Under the Puerto Rico Internal Revenue Code of 2011, as amended (the “2011 PR Code”), the Corporation and its subsidiaries are treated as separate taxable entities and are not entitled to file consolidated tax returns and, thus, the Corporation is generally not entitled to utilize losses from one subsidiary to offset gains in another subsidiary. Accordingly, in order to obtain a tax benefit from a net operating loss (“NOL”), a particular subsidiary must be able to demonstrate sufficient taxable income within the applicable NOL carry-forward period. Pursuant to the 2011 PR Code, the carry-forward period for NOLs incurred during taxable years that commenced after December 31, 2004 and ended before January 1, 2013 is 12 years; for NOLs incurred during taxable years commencing after December 31, 2012, the carryover period is 10 years. The 2011 PR Code provides a dividend received deduction of 100% on dividends received from “controlled” subsidiaries subject to taxation in Puerto Rico and 85% on dividends received from other taxable domestic corporations.
The Corporation has maintained an effective tax rate lower than the maximum statutory rate of 37.5% mainly by investing in government obligations and MBS exempt from U.S. and Puerto Rico income taxes and by doing business through an international banking entity (“an IBE”) unit of the Bank, and through the Bank’s subsidiary, FirstBank Overseas Corporation, whose interest income and gains on sales is exempt from Puerto Rico income taxation. The IBE unit and FirstBank Overseas Corporation were created under the International Banking Entity Act of Puerto Rico, which provides for total Puerto Rico tax exemption on net income derived by IBEs operating in Puerto Rico on the specific activities identified in the IBE Act. An IBE that operates as a unit of a bank pays income taxes at the corporate standard rates to the extent that the IBE’s net income exceeds 20% of the bank’s total net taxable income.
For the first quarter of 2022, the Corporation recorded an income tax expense of $43.0 million, compared to $28.0 million for the same period in 2021. The variance was primarily related to higher pre-tax income and a higher estimated effective tax rate, as explained below. For the quarter ended March 31, 2022, the Corporation calculated the provision for income taxes by applying the estimated annual effective tax rate for the full fiscal year to ordinary income or loss. In the computation of the consolidated worldwide annual estimated effective tax rate, ASC Topic 740-270, “Income Taxes” (“ASC 740-270”), requires the exclusion of legal entities with pre-tax losses from which a tax benefit cannot be recognized. The Corporation’s estimated annual effective tax rate in the first quarter of 2022, excluding entities from which a tax benefit cannot be recognized and discrete items, was 32.9% compared to 30.6% for the first quarter of 2021. The estimated annual effective tax rate including all entities for 2022 was 33.2% (33.5% excluding discrete items), compared to 30.6% for the first quarter of 2021 (31.1% excluding discrete items). The Corporation’s estimated effective tax rate, excluding entities with pre-tax losses from which a tax benefit cannot be recognized and discrete items, increase is mostly attributable to a higher proportion of taxable to exempt income when compared to March 31, 2021.
The Corporation’s net deferred tax asset amounted to $176.8 million as of March 31, 2022, net of a valuation allowance of $147.0 million, and management concluded, based upon the assessment of all positive and negative evidence, that it is more likely than not that the Corporation will generate sufficient taxable income within the applicable NOL carry-forward periods to realize such amount. The net deferred tax asset of the Corporation’s banking subsidiary, FirstBank, amounted to $176.7 million as of March 31, 2022, net of a valuation allowance of $107.5 million, compared to a net deferred tax asset of $208.4 million, net of a valuation allowance of $69.7 million, as of December 31, 2021. The decrease in the deferred tax assets is mainly driven by credit losses reserve releases and the usage of NOLs. The increase in the valuation allowance during the first quarter of 2022 was primarily related to the decrease in the market value of available-for-sale securities. The Corporation maintains a full valuation allowance for its deferred tax assets associated with capital loss carryforward, thus, the change in the market value of available-for-sale securities resulted in a change in the deferred tax asset and an equal change in the valuation allowance without having an effect on earnings.
In 2017, the Corporation completed a formal ownership change analysis within the meaning of Section 382 of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code (“Section 382”) covering a comprehensive period and concluded that an ownership change had occurred during such period. The Section 382 limitation has resulted in higher U.S. and USVI income tax liabilities than we would have incurred in the absence of such limitation. The Corporation has mitigated to an extent the adverse effects associated with the Section 382 limitation as any such tax paid in the U.S. or USVI can be creditable against Puerto Rico tax liabilities or taken as a deduction against taxable income. However, our ability to reduce our Puerto Rico tax liability through such a credit or deduction depends on our tax profile at each annual taxable period, which is dependent on various factors. For the first quarter of 2022, the Corporation incurred an income tax expense of approximately $1.6 million related to its U.S. operations, compared to $1.1 million for the same period in 2021. The limitation did not impact the USVI operations in the first quarters of 2022 and 2021.
The Corporation accounts for uncertain tax positions under the provisions of ASC Topic 740. The Corporation’s policy is to report interest and penalties related to unrecognized tax benefits in income tax expense. As of March 31, 2022, the Corporation had $0.2 million of accrued interest and penalties related to uncertain tax positions in the amount of $1.0 million that it acquired from BSPR, which, if recognized, would decrease the effective income tax rate in future periods. The amount of unrecognized tax benefits may increase or decrease in the future for various reasons, including adding amounts for current tax year positions, expiration of open income tax returns due to the statute of limitations, changes in management’s judgment about the level of uncertainty, the status of examinations, litigation, and legislative activity, and the addition or elimination of uncertain tax positions. The statute of limitations under the 2011 PR code is four years; the statute of limitations for U.S. and USVI income tax purposes is three years after a tax return is due or filed, whichever is later. The completion of an audit by the taxing authorities or the expiration of the statute of limitations for a given audit period could result in an adjustment to the Corporation’s liability for income taxes. Any such adjustment could be material to the results of operations for any given quarterly or annual period based, in part, upon the results of operations for the given period. For U.S. and USVI income tax purposes, all tax years subsequent to 2018 remain open to examination. For Puerto Rico tax purposes, all tax years subsequent to 2017 remain open to examination. |