INCOME TAXES

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2019

Income Tax Disclosure [Abstract]

INCOME TAXES

9. INCOME TAXES

Our effective income tax rate is the ratio of income tax expense (benefit) over our income (loss) before income taxes. The effective income tax rate was 13.4% and 27.5% for the three months ended September 30, 2019 and 2018, respectively. The effective income tax rate was 19.7% and 26.3% for the nine months ended September 30, 2019 and 2018, respectively. Differences in the effective tax and the statutory Federal income tax rate of 21% are driven by state income taxes and anticipated annual permanent differences, including estimates for tax-exempt interest, dividends received deduction, executive compensation and other items.

The Company had an uncertain tax position of $0.4 million and $0.6 million as of September 30, 2019 and December 31, 2018, respectively. The Company does not have a valuation allowance on its deferred income tax asset as of September 30, 2019 and December 31, 2018.

We recognize accrued interest and penalties related to unrecognized tax benefits in income tax expense (benefit) in the consolidated statements of operations and statements of comprehensive income (loss). For the three and nine months ended September 30, 2019, the Company recognized $0.2 million of benefit related to an uncertain tax position and our associated accrued interest and penalties was less than $0.1 million. For the three and nine months ended September 30, 2018, the Company did not recognize any expenses related to an uncertain tax position.