Income Taxes

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2020

Note 4 - Income Taxes

The provision for income taxes for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2020, and 2019, consisted of the following:


	For the Three Months Ended September 30,						For the Nine Months Ended September 30,
	2020			2019			2020			2019
	(in thousands)
Current portion of income tax (expense) benefit:
Federal	$	—		$	3,826		$	—		$	3,826
State	173			(320)			(402)			(1,109)
Deferred portion of income tax (expense) benefit	22,796			(19,617)			159,064			13,620
Income tax (expense) benefit	$	22,969		$	(16,111)		$	158,662		$	16,337
Effective tax rate	18.9		%	27.6		%	20.9		%	16.1		%

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.

During the third quarter of 2020, the proportional effect of recording discrete excess tax deficiencies from share-based compensation awards and other permanent items decreased the Company’s effective tax rate for the three months ended September 30, 2020, compared with the same period in 2019.

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 benefited from was 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. The Company received the refund in July 2020.

For all years before 2016, the Company is generally no longer subject to United States federal or state income tax examinations by tax authorities.

- Definition

The entire disclosure for income taxes. Disclosures may include net deferred tax liability or asset recognized in an enterprise's statement of financial position, net change during the year in the total valuation allowance, approximate tax effect of each type of temporary difference and carryforward that gives rise to a significant portion of deferred tax liabilities and deferred tax assets, utilization of a tax carryback, and tax uncertainties information.

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