Income Taxes

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2019

Income Tax Disclosure [Abstract]

Income Taxes

13. Income Taxes

We file income tax returns in various federal, state and local jurisdictions. Tax years from 2014 forward remain open for examination by Federal authorities. Tax years from 2013 forward remain open for all significant state and foreign authorities.

We account for uncertain tax positions pursuant to ASC Topic 740, “Income Taxes.” As of March 31, 2019 and December 31, 2018, the liability for uncertain tax positions totaled approximately $1.0 million and $0.9 million, respectively, which is included in Other liabilities on our Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets. We recognize accrued interest related to uncertain tax positions and penalties, if any, in income tax expense within the Condensed Consolidated Statements of Income.

Certain of the Company’s undistributed earnings of our foreign subsidiaries are not permanently reinvested. Since foreign earnings have already been subject to U.S. income tax in 2017 as a result of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (the “Tax Act”), we intend to repatriate foreign-held cash as needed.  As of March 31, 2019 and December 31, 2018, we have recorded deferred income taxes of approximately $0.6 million on the undistributed earnings of our foreign subsidiaries. This amount is attributable primarily to the foreign withholding taxes that would become payable should we decide to repatriate cash held in our foreign operations.

Income tax expense was $0.8 million for the first quarter of 2019, compared with income tax expense of $4.1 million for the first quarter of 2018. The effective income tax rate for the first quarter of 2019 was 31.1%, compared with 41.6% for first quarter of 2018.  The effective income tax rate for the first quarter of 2019 is higher than the U.S. federal statutory rate of 21% due to state income taxes and unrecognized tax losses in certain foreign jurisdictions. The comparable period effective tax rate was higher than the U.S. federal statutory rate most significantly due to a permanent book-tax difference related to the accounting treatment of goodwill on 2018 divestitures. Our effective tax rate is affected by certain other permanent differences, including state income taxes, non-deductible incentive stock-based compensation, the Global Intangible Low-Taxed Income inclusion and Foreign-Derived Intangible Income deduction, tax credits, and differences in tax rates among the jurisdictions in which we operate.