7. Income Taxes

For financial reporting purposes, (loss) income from continuing operations before income taxes includes the following components:


	December 31,
	2016		2015
United States	$	(6,358,000)	$	1,818,000
Foreign		(13,036,000)		(2,407,000)
Total	$	(19,394,000)	$	(589,000)

Our income tax benefit consists of the following components for 2016 and 2015:



	December 31,
	2016		2015
Current
Federal	$	-	$	-
State		-		-
Foreign		-		-
		-		-
		-		-
Deferred
Federal		-		-
State		-		-
Foreign		(556,000)		(73,000)
		(556,000)		(73,000)
Total	$	(556,000)	$	(73,000)

Significant components of our deferred tax assets and liabilities are as follows:



	December 31,
	2016		2015
Deferred tax assets/(liabilities)
Net operating loss carry-forwards	$	67,479,000	$	65,425,000
Research and orphan drug credit carry-forwards		3,109,000		5,181,000
Depreciation and amortization		4,000		(3,000)
Stock options and other		1,010,000		479,000
Intangible assets		(2,367,000)		(3,079,000)
Net deferred tax assets		69,235,000		68,003,000
Valuation allowance for deferred tax assets		(71,684,000)		(71,008,000)
Net deferred tax liabilities	$	(2,449,000)	$	(3,005,000)

At December 31, 2016, the Company had U.S. gross net operating loss carry-forwards, or “NOLs”, of approximately $190.7 million, foreign NOLs of $8.9 million, $0.3 million of which was generated in 2016 and domestic research tax credit carry-forwards of approximately $3.1 million, net of a reserve for uncertain tax positions. The carry-forwards may be further subject to the application of Section 382 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 or the “Code”, as discussed further below. The NOL carry-forwards will begin to expire in 2018. The domestic research tax credit carry-forward will begin to expire in 2018. The Company has provided a valuation allowance to offset the deferred tax assets due to the uncertainty of realizing the benefits of the net deferred tax asset.



	December 31,
	2016		2015
Percent of pre-tax income:
U.S. federal statutory income tax rate	34.0	%	34.0	%
Warrant liability and preferred stock conversion liability	8.0	%	573.8	%
Difference in foreign vs U.S. statutory rates	(1.5)	%	(21.8)	%
Stock option forfeitures & expirations	(0.6)	%	(138.2)	%
State taxes, net of federal benefit	(3.8)	%	-	%
Non-deductible stock issuance costs	(1.0)	%	(17.9)	%
Australia Refundable R&D tax offset	(5.2)	%	27.8	%
Effect of tax rate changes	0.3	%	12.4	%
Goodwill Impairment	(13.2)	%	-	%
Change in reserve of uncertain tax positions	(10.7)	%	-	%
All other	0.1	%	(2.9)	%
Subtotal	6.4	%	467.2	%
Change in valuation allowance	(3.5) )	%	(454.8)	%
Effective income tax rate	2.9	%	12.4	%

We recorded an income tax benefit of $0.6 million in the year ended December 31, 2016, comprised of a $0.4 million income tax benefit related to a reduction of the existing deferred tax liability as a result of a $2.0 impairment charge for our IPR&D asset discussed above, and a $0.2 million income tax benefit as a result of reduction of deferred tax liability resulting from changes in UK enacted tax rates from 20% to 17% in 2016.

The Company’s past sales and issuances of common and preferred stock have likely resulted in ownership changes as defined by Section 382 of the Code. The Company has not conducted a Section 382 study to date. It is possible that a future analysis may result in the conclusion that a substantial portion, or perhaps substantially all, of the NOLs and credits will expire due to the limitations of Sections 382 and 383 of the Code. As a result, the utilization of the NOLs and tax credits may be limited and a portion of the carry-forwards may expire unused.

The Company has unrecognized tax benefits of approximately $2.1 million related to its domestic research tax credits as of December 31, 2016. The credits are subject to a valuation allowance and thus, any change to the uncertain tax position reserve would not result in an income tax benefit or expense.

The Company is subject to U.S. federal tax examinations by tax authorities for the years 1998 to 2015 due to the fact that NOLs exist going back to 1998 that may be utilized on a current or future year tax return.

The Company has a policy of recognizing tax related interest and penalties as additional tax expense when incurred. During the years ended December 31, 2016 and 2015, the Company did not recognize any interest or penalties. The Company does not expect its unrecognized tax benefits will change significantly over the next twelve months.