Income Taxes, Deferred Tax Assets and Deferred Tax Liabilities

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2019

Income Tax Disclosure [Abstract]

Income Taxes, Deferred Tax Assets and Deferred Tax Liabilities

16. Income Taxes, Deferred Tax Assets and Deferred Tax Liabilities

(a) Income taxes in the condensed consolidated statements of comprehensive loss(income)

The Company's provision for income taxes expenses consisted of:

		Three months ended March 31,
		2018		2019
PRC income tax:
Current	$	-	$	-
Deferred		-		-
	$	-	$	-

United States Tax

CBAK is a Nevada corporation that is subject to U.S. corporate income tax on its taxable income at a rate of up to 21% for taxable years beginning after December 31, 2017 and U.S. corporate income tax on its taxable income of up to 35% for prior tax years. The U.S. Tax Reform signed into law on December 22, 2017 significantly modified the U.S. Internal Revenue Code by, among other things, reducing the statutory U.S. federal corporate income tax rate from 35% to 21% for taxable years beginning after December 31, 2017; limiting and/or eliminating many business deductions; migrating the U.S. to a territorial tax system with a one-time transition tax on a mandatory deemed repatriation of previously deferred foreign earnings of certain foreign subsidiaries; subject to certain limitations, generally eliminating U.S. corporate income tax on dividends from foreign subsidiaries; and providing for new taxes on certain foreign earnings. Taxpayers may elect to pay the one-time transition tax over eight years, or in a single lump sum.

The U.S. Tax Reform also includes provisions for a new tax on GILTI effective for tax years of foreign corporations beginning after December 31, 2017. The GILTI provisions impose a tax on foreign income in excess of a deemed return on tangible assets of controlled foreign corporations ("CFCs"), subject to the possible use of foreign tax credits and a deduction equal to 50 percent to offset the income tax liability, subject to some limitations.

To the extent that portions of CBAK's U.S. taxable income, such as Subpart F income or GILTI, are determined to be from sources outside of the U.S., subject to certain limitations, the Company may be able to claim foreign tax credits to offset its U.S. income tax liabilities. If dividends that CBAK receives from its subsidiaries are determined to be from sources outside of the U.S., subject to certain limitations, CBAK will generally not be required to pay U.S. corporate income tax on those dividends. Any liabilities for U.S. corporate income tax will be accrued in the Company's consolidated statements of comprehensive income and estimated tax payments will be made when required by U.S. law.

No provision for income taxes in the United States or elsewhere has been made as CBAK had no taxable income for the three months ended March 31, 2018 and 2019.

Hong Kong Tax

BAK Asia is subject to Hong Kong profits tax rate of 16.5% and did not have any assessable profits arising in or derived from Hong Kong for the three months ended March 31, 2018 and 2019 and accordingly no provision for Hong Kong profits tax was made in these periods.

PRC Tax

The CIT Law in China applies an income tax rate of 25% to all enterprises but grants preferential tax treatment to High-New Technology Enterprises. CBAK Power was regarded as a "High-new technology enterprise" pursuant to a certificate jointly issued by the relevant Dalian Government authorities. The certificate was valid for three years commencing from year 2018. Under the preferential tax treatment, CBAK Power was entitled to enjoy a tax rate of 15% for the years from 2018 to 2020 provided that the qualifying conditions as a High-new technology enterprise were met.

A reconciliation of the provision for income taxes determined at the statutory income tax rate to the Company's income taxes is as follows:

	Three months ended March 31,
	2018			2019
Loss before income taxes	$	(2,567,833	)	$	(2,807,333	)
United States federal corporate income tax rate		21	%		21	%
Income tax credit computed at United States statutory corporate income tax rate		(539,245	)		(589,540	)
Reconciling items:
Rate differential for PRC earnings		(86,779	)		(99,031	)
Non-deductible expenses		66,086			65,802
Share based payments		17,550			3,826
Valuation allowance on deferred tax assets		542,388			618,943
Income tax expenses	$	-		$	-

A reconciliation of the provision for income taxes determined at the statutory income tax rate to the Company's income taxes is as follows:

(a) Deferred tax assets and deferred tax liabilities

The tax effects of temporary differences that give rise to significant portions of the deferred tax assets and liabilities as of December 31, 2018 and March 31, 2019 are presented below:

	December 31,			March 31,
	2018			2019
Deferred tax assets
Trade accounts receivable	$	1,031,389		$	1,008,784
Inventories		1,715,161			1,773,613
Property, plant and equipment		618,416			332,924
Provision for product warranty		562,654			584,054
Net operating loss carried forward		26,595,654			27,442,842
Valuation allowance		(30,523,274	)		(31,142,217	)
Deferred tax assets, non-current	$	-		$	-
Deferred tax liabilities, non-current	$	-		$	-

As of December 31, 2018 and March 31, 2019, the Company's U.S. entity had net operating loss carry forwards of $103,580,741, of which $102,293 available to reduce future taxable income which will expire in various years through 2035 and $103,478,448 available to offset capital gains recognized in the succeeding 5 tax years and the Company's PRC subsidiaries had net operating loss carry forwards of $19,374,795 and $22,763,547, respectively, which will expire in various years through 2028. Management believes it is more likely than not that the Company will not realize these potential tax benefits as these operations will not generate any operating profits in the foreseeable future. As a result, a valuation allowance was provided against the full amount of the potential tax benefits.

According to the PRC Tax Administration and Collection Law, the statute of limitations is three years if the underpayment of taxes is due to computational errors made by the taxpayer or its withholding agent. The statute of limitations extends to five years under special circumstances, which are not clearly defined. In the case of a related party transaction, the statute of limitations is ten years. There is no statute of limitations in the case of tax evasion.

The impact of an uncertain income tax positions on the income tax return must be recognized at the largest amount that is more likely than not to be sustained upon audit by the relevant tax authority. An uncertain income tax position will not be recognized if it has less than a 50% likelihood of being sustained. Interest and penalties on income taxes will be classified as a component of the provisions for income taxes.

The significant uncertain tax position arose from the subsidies granted by the local government for the Company's PRC subsidiary, which may be modified or challenged by the central government or the tax authority. A reconciliation of January 1, 2019 through March 31, 2019 amount of unrecognized tax benefits excluding interest and penalties ("Gross UTB") is as follows:

	Gross UTB		Surcharge		Net UTB
Balance as of January 1, 2019	$	7,129,285	$	-	$	7,129,285
Increase in unrecognized tax benefits taken in current period		177,360		-		177,360
Balance as of March 31, 2019	$	7,306,645	$	-	$	7,306,645

As of December 31, 2018 and March 31, 2019, the Company had not accrued any interest and penalties related to unrecognized tax benefits.