Note 12 - Income Taxes

Dynasil Corporation of America and its wholly-owned U.S. subsidiaries file a consolidated federal income tax return and various state returns. The Company’s U.K. subsidiary files tax returns in the U.K.

The Company uses the asset and liability approach to account for income taxes. Under this approach, 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 and net operating loss and tax credit carry forwards. The amount of deferred taxes on these temporary differences is determined using the tax rates that are expected to apply to the period when the asset is realized or the liability is settled, as applicable, based on tax rates, and tax laws, in the respective tax jurisdiction then in effect. Due to the Company’s adoption of ASU 2015-17, the deferred taxes are all classified as long term.

In assessing the ability to realize the net deferred tax assets, management considers various factors including taxable income in carryback years, future reversals of existing taxable temporary differences, tax planning strategies and projections of future taxable income, to determine whether it is more likely than not that some portion or all of the net deferred tax assets will not be realized. Based upon the Company’s recent losses and uncertainty of future profits, the Company has determined that the uncertainty regarding the realization of these assets is sufficient to warrant the need for a full valuation allowance against its U.S. net deferred tax assets.

The Company applies the authoritative provisions related to accounting for uncertainty in income taxes. As required by these provisions, the Company recognizes the financial statement benefit of a tax position only after determining that the relevant tax authority would more-likely-than-not sustain the position following an audit. For tax positions meeting the more-likely-than-not threshold, the amount recognized in the financial statements is the largest benefit that has a greater than 50 percent likelihood of being reached upon ultimate settlement with the relevant tax authority. As of June 30, 2016 and September 30, 2015, the Company has no unrecorded liabilities for uncertain tax positions. Interest and penalty charges, if any, related to uncertain tax positions would be classified as income tax expense in the accompanying consolidated statement of operations. As of June 30, 2016 and September 30, 2015, the Company had no accrued interest or penalties related to uncertain tax positions. The Company currently has no federal or state tax examinations in progress.

The effective tax rates were 13% and 32% for the three and nine months ended June 30, 2016, respectively, and (4%) and (2%) for the three and nine months ended June 30, 2015, respectively. The rates differ from the U.S. federal statutory income tax rate of 34% primarily due to a full valuation allowance against the Company’s U.S. deferred tax asset.

The Company files its tax returns as prescribed by the tax laws of the jurisdictions in which it operates. The Company’s tax filings for federal and state jurisdictions for the tax years beginning with 2012 are still subject to examination.