12. Income Taxes

The Company’s effective tax rate for the three-month period ended March 31, 2018 was 24.7% compared to 24.6% for the corresponding period in the prior year. The effective tax rate for the three-month period ended March 31, 2018 was higher than the U.S. statutory tax rate of 21% due to state tax effects and the impact of the Global Intangible Low-Taxed Income (“GILTI”) tax enacted as part of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (the “Act”) enacted in December 2017. The effective tax rate for the three-month period ended March 31, 2017 was lower than the U.S. statutory tax rate of 34% mainly due to lower statutory tax rates in foreign jurisdictions.

ASU 2016-16 requires the income tax consequences of intra-entity transfers of assets other than inventory to be recognized when the intra-entity transfer occurs rather than deferring recognition of income tax consequences until the transfer was made with an outside party. The Company adopted the provisions of this ASU in the first quarter of 2018. The adoption resulted in a decrease of $5,609,000 to other assets, a decrease of $4,932,000 to deferred tax liabilities and a decrease of $677,000 to accumulated deficit at January 1, 2018.

At December 31, 2017, the Company had net operating loss carryforwards of approximately $19,652,000 in the U.S., net operating loss carryforwards of approximately €603,000 (approximately $743,000) in Germany, federal business tax credit carryforwards of $297,000 and state business tax credit carryforwards of approximately $99,000 available to reduce future domestic income taxes, if any. The net operating loss and business tax credits carryforwards will continue to expire at various dates through December 2037. The net operating loss and business tax credit carryforwards are subject to review and possible adjustment by the Internal Revenue Service. While an IRC Section 382 study was completed in the second quarter of 2017, and no current limitations were identified, use of these net operating loss and business tax credit carryforwards may be limited in the future based on certain changes in the ownership interest of significant stockholders.

On December 22, 2017, the Act was signed into law. The Act made significant changes to federal tax law, including, but not limited to, a reduction in the federal income tax rate from 35% to 21%, taxation of certain global intangible low-taxed income, allowing for immediate expensing of qualified assets, stricter limits on deductions for interest and certain executive compensation, and a one-time transition tax on previously deferred earnings of certain foreign subsidiaries. Due to the complexities involved in accounting for the enactment of the Act, the SEC issued Staff Accounting Bulletin No. 118 (“SAB 118”), which allows a registrant to record provisional amounts during a measurement period not to extend beyond one year of the enactment date. Under the SAB 118 guidance, we have determined that our accounting for the following items is incomplete where noted, we are able to make reasonable estimates for certain effects of tax reform and therefore have recorded provisional amounts.

The Act lowered the Company’s U.S. statutory federal tax rate from 35% to 21% effective January 1, 2018. The Company recorded a tax benefit of $12,812,000 in the year ended December 31, 2017 for the reduction in its US deferred tax assets and liabilities resulting from the rate change.

The Act also includes a one-time deemed repatriation transition tax whereby entities that are shareholders of a specified foreign corporation must include in gross income the undistributed and previously untaxed post-1986 earnings and profits of the specified foreign corporation. The provisional amount recorded at December 31, 2017 increased the Company’s tax provision by $3,266,000. This amount may change as the Company refines its calculations of post-1986 earnings and profits for our foreign subsidiaries, as well as the amounts held in cash.

The Company anticipates that future guidance and interpretations with the respect to the Act will cause the Company to further adjust its provisional amounts recorded as of December 31, 2017. No further adjustments have been made to these provisional amounts in the first quarter of 2018. Any measurement period adjustments will be reported as a component of provision for income taxes in the reporting period the amounts are determined. The final accounting will be completed no later than one year from the enactment of the Act.

The Company’s tax returns are subject to examination by federal, state and international taxing authorities for the following periods:


Jurisdiction		Fiscal years subject to examination
United States – federal and state		2014-2017
Sweden		2011-2017
Germany		2017
Netherlands		2012-2017