Income Taxes (Tables)

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2023

Income Tax Disclosure [Abstract]

Schedule of provision for income tax expense

The provision for income tax expense consisted of the following for the years ended December 31, 2023, 2022 and 2021 (in thousands):

	December 31, 2023		December 31, 2022		December 31, 2021
Current:
Federal	$	5,918	$	896	$	72
State		78		–		(34	)
Total current income tax expense		5,996		896		38
Deferred:
Federal		–		–		–
State		–		–		–
Total deferred income tax expense (benefit)		–		–		–
Income tax expense	$	5,996	$	896	$	38

Schedule of effective income tax rate

The difference between the statutory rate for U.S statutory rate of 21% and the effective income tax rate was as follows:

	December 31, 2023			December 31, 2022			December 31, 2021
Current:
Income taxes at statutory rate		21.0	%		21.0	%		21.0	%
State taxes, net of federal benefit	–			–			–
Non-taxed income		(17.3	)		(18.4	)		(21.4	)
Federal Credits		1.3			0.8			1.8
Share-based compensation		(2.2	)		(2.4	)		–
Change in valuation allowance		(7.3	)		(1.4	)		(1.3	)
Other		(0.1	)		(0.2	)		(0.2	)
Effective income tax rate		(4.6	)%		(0.6	)%		0.1	%

Schedule of components of deferred tax assets and liabilities

Components of the Company’s deferred tax assets and liabilities included in the consolidated balance sheet consisted of the following (in thousands):

	December 31, 2023			December 31, 2022
Deferred tax assets:
Accrued compensation	$	1,302		$	678
Federal credit carryforwards		–			227
Leases		34			10
Share-based compensation		3,163			637
Research and experimental costs capitalized		9,556			3,504
Net operating loss carryforwards		294			–
Start-up costs		32			35
Deferred tax assets before valuation allowance		14,381			5,091
Valuation allowance		(12,888	)		(3,332	)
Total deferred tax assets	$	1,493		$	1,759
Deferred tax liabilities:
Intangible assets	$	–		$	45
Fixed assets		1,481			1,708
Prepaid expenses		12			6
Total deferred income tax liabilities		1,493			1,759
Net deferred tax asset	$	–		$	–

Schedule of reconciliation of unrecognized tax benefits

A reconciliation of the beginning and ending amount of total unrecognized tax benefits for the years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022 consisted of the following (in thousands):

	December 31, 2023		December 31, 2022
Unrecognized tax benefits (gross):
Benefits at the beginning of the year	$	311	$	180
Increase related to prior year tax positions		28		9
Decrease related to prior year tax positions		–		–
Increase related to current year tax positions		229		122
Benefits at the end of the year	$	568	$	311