Income Taxes

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2020

Note 4 - Income Taxes

The provision for income taxes for the three months ended March 31, 2020, and 2019, consisted of the following:



	For the Three Months Ended March 31,
	2020			2019
	(in thousands)
Current portion of income tax (expense) benefit:
Federal	$	—		$	—
State	(339		)	(965		)
Deferred portion of income tax benefit	99,347			47,003
Income tax benefit	$	99,008		$	46,038
Effective tax rate	19.4		%	20.6		%

Recorded income tax expense or benefit differs from the amounts that would be provided by applying the statutory United States federal income tax rate to income or loss before income taxes. These differences primarily relate to the effect of state income taxes, excess tax benefits and deficiencies from stock-based compensation awards, tax limitations on the compensation of covered individuals, changes in valuation allowances, and the cumulative impact of other smaller permanent differences. The quarterly rate can also be affected by the proportional impacts of forecasted net income or loss for each period presented, as reflected in the table above.

A change in the Company’s effective tax rate between reporting periods will generally reflect differences in estimating permanent differences compared to changes in forecasted net income or loss. Each quarter, the Company evaluates its deferred tax assets for potential realization, weighing both positive and negative evidence to determine, on a more likely than not basis, the future utilization by asset and jurisdiction. When the significance of negative evidence outweighs the Company’s positive support of realization, a valuation allowance is recorded.

The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (“CARES Act”) was enacted on March 27, 2020. The primary feature of the CARES Act that the Company will benefit from is the acceleration of its refundable Alternative Minimum Tax (“AMT”) credits. On April 1, 2020, the Company filed an election to accelerate its remaining refundable AMT credits of $7.6 million that are expected to be received during the second quarter of 2020.

For all years before 2015, the Company is generally no longer subject to United States federal or state income tax examinations by tax authorities.