(4)Income Taxes (in thousands)

On December 22, 2017, the U.S. government enacted comprehensive tax legislation commonly referred to as the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (Tax Act). The Tax Act made broad and complex changes to the U.S. tax code including, but not limited to, (1) bonus depreciation that will allow for full expensing of qualified property; (2) reduction of the U.S. federal corporate tax rate; (3) elimination of the corporate alternative minimum tax; (4) a new limitation on deductible interest expense; (5) the repeal of the domestic production activity deduction; (6) limitations on the deductibility of certain executive compensation; and (7) limitations on net operating losses generated after December 31, 2017, to 80 percent of taxable income.

The SEC staff issued SAB 118, which provides guidance on accounting for the tax effects of the Tax Act. SAB 118 provides a measurement period that should not extend beyond one year from the Tax Act enactment date for companies to complete the accounting under ASC 740. In accordance with SAB 118, a company must reflect the income tax effects of those aspects of the Act for which the accounting under ASC 740 is complete. We completed the accounting for the tax effects of the Tax Act in December 2017.

The Tax Act reduced the corporate tax rate to 21 percent, effective January 1, 2018. Because ASC 740-10-25-47 required the effect of a change in tax laws or rates to be recognized as of the date of enactment, we were required to adjust deferred tax assets and liabilities as of December 22, 2017. Accordingly, we recorded a decrease related to our net deferred tax liability of $16.4 million, with a corresponding net adjustment to deferred income tax benefit of $16.4 million for the year ended December 31, 2017.

Our income tax is different than the expected amount computed using the applicable federal and state statutory income tax rates. The reasons for and effects of such differences for the years ended December 31 are below:


	2018			2017
Expected amount	$	737		$	4,868
Adjustment to deferred taxes from the Tax Act rate reduction		-			(17,974	)
State income taxes, net of federal benefit		(654	)		115	)
Percentage depletion		(3,278	)		(4,128	)
Stock-based compensation		(15	)		(204	)
Captive insurance		-			(379	)
Adjustments to NOL carryforwards		-			(1,038	)
Return to provision adjustments		(592	)		(205	)
Other		(273	)		(249	)
	$	(4,075	)	$	(19,194	)

The deferred tax assets and liabilities resulting from temporary differences between book and tax basis are comprised of the following at December 31:


		2018		2017
Long-term deferred tax assets:
Stock-based compensation	$	613	$	251
Investment in Savoy		-		781
Net operating loss		17,194		13,626
Interest limitation carryforward		441		-
Alternative minimum tax credit		1,049		2,705
Other		995		943
Total long-term deferred tax assets:		20,292		18,306
Coal properties		(46,733)		(47,034)
Net deferred tax liability	$	(26,441)	$	(28,728)

Our effective tax rate (ETR) for 2018 was (116)% compared to (138)% for 2017. The negative ETR in 2018 is due mostly to the statutory depletion deduction which is in excess of our book income. The negative ETR in 2017 is due primarily to the effects of the Tax Act adjustment to our deferred taxes and prior year tax return reconciliation which were all recorded discretely for the year ended December 31, 2017. The tax rate for the years ended December 31, 2018 and 2017 are not predictive of future tax rates due to the deferred income tax benefit of the Tax Act. The tax rate at December 31, 2017 would have been 9% without the effects of the deferred income tax benefit of the Tax Act and the prior year tax return reconciliation. Historically, our actual effective tax rates have been lower than the statutory effective rate primarily due to the benefit received from statutory depletion allowances. The deduction for statutory depletion does not necessarily change proportionately to changes in income before income taxes.

We have analyzed our filing positions in all of the federal and state jurisdictions where we are required to file income tax returns, as well as all open tax years in these jurisdictions, to determine whether the positions will be more likely than not be sustained by the applicable tax authority. Tax positions not deemed to meet the more-likely-than-not threshold are not recorded as a tax benefit or expense in the current year. We identified our federal tax return and our Indiana state tax return as “major” tax jurisdictions. We believe that our income tax filing positions and deduction will be sustained on audit and do not anticipate any adjustments that will result in a material change to our consolidated financial position. While not material, we record any penalties and interest as SG&A. Tax returns filed with the IRS and state entities generally remain subject to examination for three years after filing.