

12.	Income Taxes

The provision for income taxes is comprised of the following (in thousands):



	For the Years Ended December 31,
	2016			2015			2014
Federal:
Current	$	91,015		$	59,792		$	61,688
Deferred	17,345			48,962			8,394
	108,360			108,754			70,082
State:
Current	18,633			13,584			12,965
Deferred	2,747			9,184			1,013
	21,380			22,768			13,978
Foreign:
Current	7,793			5,445			3,372
Deferred	(1,753		)	(1,424		)	(554		)
	6,040			4,021			2,818
	$	135,780		$	135,543		$	86,878

The net deferred income tax assets (liabilities) at December 31, 2016 and 2015 are comprised of the following (in thousands):



	December 31,
	2016			2015
Accounts receivable	$	9,348		$	8,754
State taxes	7,142			5,482
Other liabilities and reserves	27,605			24,947
Other assets	47,887			34,731
Inventory	1,085			1,360
Net operating loss carryforwards	25,339			26,256
Share-based compensation	5,679			5,415
Intangible assets	(223,222		)	(201,350		)
Property and equipment	(30,744		)	(24,419		)
Valuation allowance	(12,654		)	(12,654		)
Total non-current deferred income tax liabilities	$	(142,535	)	$	(131,478	)

At December 31, 2016, we had Federal net operating loss (“NOL”) carryforwards of approximately $59.8 million, comprised mainly of acquired NOL carryforwards. These NOLs expire at various dates through 2036. The utilization of NOL carryforwards to reduce taxable income is subject to certain statutory limitations. Events that cause such a limitation include, but are not limited to, a cumulative ownership change of more than 50% over a three-year period. We believe that some of our acquisitions caused such a change of ownership and, accordingly, utilization of the NOL carryforwards may be limited in future years. Accordingly, the valuation allowance is principally related to subsidiaries’ NOL carryforwards. We believe that it is more likely than not that the benefit from the remaining net deferred tax assets will be realizable.



12.	Income Taxes, continued

On November 20, 2015, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) issued ASU No. 2015-17, Balance Sheet Classification of Deferred Taxes, requiring all deferred tax assets and liabilities, and any related valuation allowance, to be classified as non-current on the balance sheet. We elected to retrospectively adopt the accounting standard in the fourth quarter of 2015. As a result, total deferred tax assets of $30.3 million were reclassified to partially offset and be presented in a single non-current deferred income tax liability amount.

Taxes on Foreign Income

As of December 31, 2016, unremitted earnings of subsidiaries outside of the United States were approximately $72.5 million on which no United States taxes had been provided. Our intention is to indefinitely reinvest these earnings outside the United States. Since these unremitted earnings have been permanently reinvested, deferred taxes were not provided on these unremitted earnings. The amount of unrecognized deferred taxes totaled $10.2 million with respect to these unremitted earnings.

Our effective tax rate was 39.4%, 39.1% and 39.1% in 2016, 2015 and 2014, respectively.

A reconciliation of the provision for income taxes to the amount computed at the Federal statutory rate is as follows:



	For Years Ended December 31,
	2016		2015		2014
Federal income tax at statutory rate	35.0	%	35.0	%	35.0	%
State taxes, net of Federal benefit	4.1		4.3		4.1
Goodwill impairment	—		0.3		0.2
Comp exp subject to Sec 162(m)	0.6		—		—
Foreign rate differential	(0.4	)	(0.4	)	(0.4	)
Miscellaneous	0.1		(0.1	)	0.2
	39.4	%	39.1	%	39.1	%

We are regularly audited by federal and state tax authorities. The statute is generally open for four years for state audits.