Income Taxes

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2020

Income Tax Disclosure [Abstract]

Income Taxes

11. Income Taxes

We file income tax returns in various federal, state and local jurisdictions. Tax years from 2016 forward remain open for examination by Federal authorities. Tax years from 2014 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, 2020 and December 31, 2019, the liability for uncertain tax positions totaled approximately $0.2 million and $0.3 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 United States income tax in 2017 as a result of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, we intend to repatriate foreign-held cash as needed.  We record deferred income tax attributable to foreign withholding taxes that would become payable should we decide to repatriate cash held in our foreign operations. As of March 31, 2020 and December 31, 2019, we have recorded deferred income taxes of approximately $0.8 million and $0.7 million, respectively, on the undistributed earnings of our foreign subsidiaries. A significant portion of the previously undistributed earnings to which the deferred income taxes were attributable were repatriated in 2019.

Income tax expense was $0.8 million for both the first quarter of 2020 and 2019. The effective income tax rate for the first quarter of 2020 was 18.6% compared with 31.1% for first quarter of 2019.  The effective income tax rate for the first quarter of 2020 is lower than the United States federal statutory rate. 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.