INCOME TAXES

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2022

INCOME TAXES

INCOME TAXES

16. INCOME TAXES

The Company’s consolidated Federal, State and City income tax provisions were comprised of the following:

	Year Ended December 31, 2022						Year Ended December 31, 2021						Year Ended December 31, 2020
			State						State						State
(In thousands)	Federal		and City		Total		Federal		and City		Total		Federal		and City		Total
Current	$	39,492	$	17,205	$	56,697	$	23,759	$	11,815	$	35,574	$	13,107	$	1,524	$	14,631
Deferred		840		1,822		2,662		5,490		3,106		8,596		(1,181)		(784)		(1,965)
Total	$	40,332	$	19,027	$	59,359	$	29,249	$	14,921	$	44,170	$	11,926	$	740	$	12,666

The preceding table excludes tax effects recorded directly to stockholders’ equity in connection with unrealized gains and losses on securities available-for-sale (including losses on such securities upon their transfer to held-to-maturity), interest rate derivatives, and adjustments to other comprehensive income relating to the minimum pension liability, unrecognized gains of pension and other postretirement obligations and changes in the non-credit component of OTTI. These tax effects are disclosed as part of the presentation of the consolidated statements of changes in stockholders’ equity and comprehensive income.

The provision for income taxes differed from that computed at the Federal statutory rate as follows:

	Year Ended December 31,
(Dollars in thousands)	2022			2021			2020
Tax at federal statutory rate	$	44,502		$	31,115		$	11,546
State and local taxes, net of federal income tax benefit		13,699			11,601			567
Benefit plan differences		(127)			(107)			(240)
Adjustments for prior period returns and tax items		1,812			(238)			125
Investment in BOLI		(2,173)			(1,485)			(1,020)
Equity based compensation		(141)			(301)			96
Salaries deduction limitation		2,054			3,419			1,428
Transaction costs		—			181			256
Other, net		(267)			(15)			(92)
Total	$	59,359		$	44,170		$	12,666
Effective tax rate		28.01	%		29.81	%		23.04	%

The increase in the effective tax rate in 2022 and 2021 compared to 2020 was primarily the result of the loss of benefits from the Company’s REIT due to the increase in the Company’s total assets, and non-deductible expenses. Deferred tax assets and liabilities are recorded for temporary differences between the book and tax bases of assets and liabilities. The components of Federal, State and City deferred income tax assets and liabilities were as follows:

	December 31,
(In thousands)	2022		2021
Deferred tax assets:
Allowance for credit losses and other contingent liabilities	$	28,175	$	29,777
Tax effect of other components of income on securities available-for-sale		38,140		3,265
Tax effect of other components of income on securities held-to-maturity		8,138		343
Operating lease liability		19,256		20,532
Other		2,074		1,976
Total deferred tax assets		95,783		55,893
Deferred tax liabilities:
Tax effect of other components of income on derivatives		5,394		1,371
Employee benefit plans		976		2,803
Tax effect of purchase accounting fair value adjustments		2,352		3,945
Difference in book and tax carrying value of fixed assets		4,261		3,950
Difference in book and tax basis of unearned loan fees		2,431		2,413
Operating lease asset		18,414		19,871
States taxes		2,801		(189)
Other		1,002		1,330
Total deferred tax liabilities		37,631		35,494
Net deferred tax asset (recorded in other assets)	$	58,152	$	20,399

The Company and its subsidiary are subject to U.S. federal income tax as well as income tax of the State, City of New York and the State of New Jersey.

Under generally accepted accounting principles, the Company uses the asset and liability method of accounting for income taxes. Under this method, deferred tax assets and liabilities are recognized for the future tax consequences attributable to differences between the financial statement carrying amounts of existing assets and liabilities and their respective tax basis. Deferred tax assets and liabilities are measured using enacted tax rates expected to be recovered or settled.

No valuation allowances were recognized on deferred tax assets during the years ended December 31, 2022 or 2021, since, at each period end, it was deemed more likely than not that the deferred tax assets would be fully realized.

In connection with the Merger, the Company acquired a federal net operating loss (“NOL”) carryforward subject to Internal Revenue Code Section 382. The Company recorded a deferred tax asset that it expects to realize within the carryforward period. At December 31, 2022, the remaining federal NOL carryforward was $2.4 million. At December 31, 2022, the Company had New York State NOL carryforward of $1.1 million, and recorded a deferred tax asset that it expects to recover within the carryforward period. At December 31, 2022, the Company had New York City NOL carryforward of zero. The New York State NOLs at December 31, 2021 included NOLs acquired in connection with the Merger.

At December 31, 2022 and 2021, the Bank had accumulated bad debt reserves totaling $15.1 million for which no provision for income tax was required to be recorded. These bad debt reserves could be subject to recapture into taxable income under certain

circumstances, including a distribution of the bad debt benefits to the Holding Company or the failure of the Bank to qualify as a bank for federal income tax purposes. Should the reserves as of December 31, 2022 be fully recaptured, the Bank would recognize $4.8 million in additional income tax expense. The Company expects to take no action in the foreseeable future that would require the establishment of a tax liability associated with these bad debt reserves.

The Company is subject to regular examination by various tax authorities in jurisdictions in which it conducts significant business operations. The Company regularly assesses the likelihood of additional examinations in each of the tax jurisdictions resulting from ongoing assessments.

Under current accounting rules, all tax positions adopted are subjected to two levels of evaluation. Initially, a determination is made, based on the technical merits of the position, as to whether it is more likely than not that a tax position will be sustained upon examination, including resolution of any related appeals or litigation processes. In conducting this evaluation, management is required to presume that the position will be examined by the appropriate taxing authority possessing full knowledge of all relevant information. The second level of evaluation is the measurement of a tax position that satisfies the more-likely-than-not recognition threshold. This measurement is performed in order to determine the amount of benefit to recognize in the financial statements. The tax position is measured at the largest amount of benefit that is greater than 50% likely to be realized upon ultimate settlement. The Company had no unrecognized tax benefits as of December 31, 2022 or 2021. The Company does not anticipate any material change to unrecognized tax benefits during the year ended December 31, 2023.

As of December 31, 2022, the tax years ended December 31, 2022, 2021, 2020, and 2019, remained subject to examination by all of the Company's relevant tax jurisdictions. The Company is currently not under audit in any taxing jurisdictions.