NOTE 4. INCOME TAXES

Income before (benefit) provision for income taxes consisted of the following:

(in thousands)	Year Ended December 31,
	2017			2016			2015
U.S.	$	83,525		$	67,199		$	66,889
Foreign		(73	)		(268	)		(512	)
	$	83,452		$	66,931		$	66,377

The (benefit) provision for income taxes consisted of the following:

(in thousands)	Year Ended December 31,
	2017			2016		2015
Current:
U.S. Federal	$	21,171		$	17,203	$	7,976
State		2,976			2,049		1,851
Foreign		2,016			1,683		1,645
		26,163			20,935		11,472
Deferred:
U.S. Federal		(103,518	)		4,005		13,201
State		6,948			3,039		1,538
Foreign		(61	)		701		(304	)
		(96,631	)		7,745		14,435
Total	$	(70,468	)	$	28,680	$	25,907

The reconciliation of the U.S. federal statutory tax rate to the Company’s effective tax rate is as follows:

	Year Ended December 31,
	2017			2016			2015
U.S. federal statutory rate		35.0	%		35.0	%		35.0	%
State taxes, net of federal benefit		4.1			4.2			4.2
State deferred tax rate change, net of federal benefit		0.5			2.0			(0.4	)
Valuation allowance		0.1			1.1			—
Share-based compensation		(1.0	)		—			—
Enactment of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act		(122.9	)		—			—
Other		(0.2	)		0.6			0.2
		(84.4	)%		42.9	%		39.0	%

The following table shows the deferred income taxes related to the temporary differences between the tax bases of assets and liabilities and the respective amounts included in “Deferred income taxes, net” on the Company’s Consolidated Balance Sheets:

(in thousands)	December 31,
	2017		2016
Deferred tax liabilities:
Accelerated depreciation	$	195,694	$	293,141
Prepaid costs currently deductible		4,152		6,572
Other		4,405		5,747
Total deferred tax liabilities		204,251		305,460
Deferred tax assets:
Accrued costs not yet deductible		7,880		9,785
Allowance for doubtful accounts		484		809
Deferred revenues		213		965
Share-based compensation		1,045		1,882
Total deferred tax assets, net of valuation allowance of $0.8 million in 2017 and $0.7 million in 2016		9,622		13,441
Deferred income taxes, net	$	194,629	$	292,019

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (the “Tax Act”) was enacted in December 2017. Among other provisions, the Tax Act reduces the U.S. federal corporate tax rate from 35% to 21% and requires companies to pay a one-time transition tax on earnings of certain foreign subsidiaries that were previously tax deferred. As a result of the Tax Act, the Company re-measured its net deferred tax liabilities and recognized a net tax benefit of $102.8 million. Additionally, based on information currently available to us, we recorded a provisional income tax expense of $0.3 million related to the deemed repatriation of foreign earnings. The Company did not have a deferred tax liability related to its foreign earnings because permanent reinvestment was previously asserted. It is the Company’s intent to continue to permanently reinvest such earnings. The Company will continue to obtain and analyze information related to the deemed repatriation of foreign earnings associated with historical ownership and financial information and will finalize the provision within one year of the enactment date. In addition, there is currently uncertainty as to what portions if any of the Tax Act will be adopted by the U.S. state and local taxing authorities.

In December 2016, the Company decided to exit the Bangalore, India branch operations of its TRS-RenTelco electronics division. The wind down of operations in India began in 2017. As a result, a valuation allowance was recorded against the deferred tax assets that resulted primarily from accumulated net operating loss carry forwards in India as of December 31, 2017 that management estimated the benefit of which will not be realized. As of December 31, 2017, the Company’s foreign net operating losses for tax purposes were $0.4 million. If not realized, these carry forwards will begin to expire in 2023.

For income tax purposes, deductible compensation related to share-based awards is based on the value of the award when realized, which may be different than the compensation expense recognized by the company for financial statement purposes which is based on the award value on the date of grant. The difference between the value of the award upon grant, and the value of the award when ultimately realized, creates either additional tax expense or benefit. In 2017, exercise of share-based awards by employees resulted in an excess tax benefit of $0.9 million. In 2016 and 2015 the exercise of share-based awards by employees resulted in a tax shortfall of $1.1 million and $0.3 million, respectively, which was recorded to equity.

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 realized upon ultimate settlement with the relevant tax authority. The Company evaluated all of its tax positions for which the statute of limitations remained open and determined there were no material unrecognized tax benefits as of December 31, 2017 and 2016. In addition, there have been no material changes in unrecognized benefits during 2017, 2016 and 2015.

The Company is subject to income taxes in the U.S. federal jurisdiction, and various states and foreign jurisdictions. Tax regulations within each jurisdiction are subject to interpretation of the related tax laws and regulations and require the application of significant judgment. With few exceptions, the Company is no longer subject to U.S. federal, state and local, or non-U.S. income tax examinations by tax authorities for the years before 2013.

Our income tax returns are subject to examination by federal, state and foreign tax authorities. There may be differing interpretations of tax laws and regulations, and as a result, disputes may arise with these tax authorities involving the timing and amount of deductions and allocation of income.

The Company recognizes interest and penalties related to unrecognized tax benefits in the (benefit) provision for income taxes in the accompanying Consolidated Statements of Income for all periods presented. Such interest and penalties were not significant for the years ended December 31, 2017, 2016 and 2015.