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Income taxes | 12 Months Ended
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Dec. 31, 2019
Income Tax Disclosure [Abstract] |
Income taxes | Income taxes The provision (benefit) for income taxes from continuing operations consists of the following (in thousands):
2019 | Current |  | Deferred |  | Total
Federal | $ | 59,791 |  |  | $ | 21,345 |  |  | $ | 81,136 |
State and other | 7,567 |  |  | 719 |  |  | 8,286 |
Total | $ | 67,358 |  |  | $ | 22,064 |  |  | $ | 89,422 |
2018 | Current |  | Deferred |  | Total
Federal | $ | 77,795 |  |  | $ | 15,765 |  |  | $ | 93,560 |
State and other | 9,527 |  |  | 4,280 |  |  | 13,807 |
Total | $ | 87,322 |  |  | $ | 20,045 |  |  | $ | 107,367 |
2017 | Current |  | Deferred |  | Total
Federal | $ | 81,355 |  |  | $ | (214,539 | ) |  | $ | (133,184 | )
State and other | 7,981 |  |  | (12,043 | ) |  | (4,062 | )
Total | $ | 89,336 |  |  | $ | (226,582 | ) |  | $ | (137,246 | )
Income from continuing operations before income taxes attributable to TEGNA Inc. consists entirely of domestic income. The provision for income taxes varies from the U.S. federal statutory tax rate as a result of the following differences:
| 2019 |  | 2018 |  | 2017
U.S. statutory tax rate | 21.0% |  | 21.0% |  | 35.0%
Increase (decrease) in taxes resulting from: |  |  |  |  |
State taxes (net of federal income tax benefit) | 3.1 |  | 2.9 |  | 2.4
Domestic manufacturing deduction | — |  | — |  | (3.0)
Uncertain tax positions, settlements and lapse of statutes of limitations | (1.6) |  | (0.3) |  | (0.9)
Valuation allowances, tax rate changes, & other deferred adjustments | (1.7) |  | (1.0) |  | (6.3)
Valuation allowance on equity method investment | 1.7 |  | — |  | —
Enactment of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act | — |  | (1.1) |  | (70.9)
Non-deductible transactions costs | 0.3 |  | — |  | 1.2
Net excess benefits or expense on share-based payments | 0.4 |  | 0.1 |  | (0.4)
Other, net | 0.6 |  | (0.5) |  | (1.3)
Effective tax rate | 23.8% |  | 21.1% |  | (44.2%)
Deferred income taxes reflect temporary differences in the recognition of revenue and expense for tax reporting and financial statement purposes. Deferred tax liabilities and assets are adjusted for changes in tax laws or tax rates of the various tax jurisdictions as of the enacted date. Deferred tax liabilities and assets were composed of the following as of the end of December 31, 2019 and 2018 (in thousands):
| Dec. 31,
| 2019 |  | 2018
Deferred tax liabilities |  |  |
Accelerated depreciation | $ | 62,951 |  |  | $ | 43,396 |
Accelerated amortization of deductible intangibles | 524,697 |  |  | 427,760 |
Right-of-use assets for operating leases | 25,615 |  |  | — |
Other | 3,677 |  |  | 2,655 |
Total deferred tax liabilities | 616,940 |  |  | 473,811 |
Deferred tax assets |  |  |
Accrued compensation costs | 16,180 |  |  | 13,440 |
Pension and post-retirement medical and life | 35,192 |  |  | 34,679 |
Loss carryforwards | 38,686 |  |  | 120,695 |
Operating lease liabilities | 26,008 |  |  | — |
Other | 30,914 |  |  | 34,044 |
Total deferred tax assets | 146,980 |  |  | 202,858 |
Deferred tax asset valuation allowance | 45,661 |  |  | 125,894 |
Total net deferred tax (liabilities) | $ | (515,621 | ) |  | $ | (396,847 | )
As of December 31, 2019, we had approximately $99.0 million of capital loss carryforwards for federal and state purposes including $26.1 million of which will expire if not used prior to 2022, and the remainder of which will expire if not used prior to 2023. Capital loss carryforwards can only be utilized to the extent capital gains are recognized. As of December 31, 2019, we have established a valuation allowance on all federal and state capital loss carryforwards. As of December 31, 2019, we also had approximately $12.7 million of state net operating loss carryovers that, if not utilized, will expire in various amounts beginning in 2020 through 2039 in addition to $10.7 million of federal and $4.6 million of state interest disallowance carryovers that do not expire. Included in total deferred tax assets are valuation allowances of approximately $45.7 million as of December 31, 2019 and $125.9 million as of December 31, 2018, primarily related to federal and state capital losses, minority investments, state interest disallowance carryovers, and state net operating losses available for carry forward to future years. This $80.2 million change in valuation allowance is primarily as a result of capital loss carryforwards expiring on December 31, 2019 and accounts for $77.4 million of the decrease. The capital loss carryforward deferred tax asset and associated valuation allowance are both reduced in equal amounts for the expired tax attribute. If, in the future, we believe that it is more likely than not that these deferred tax assets will be realized, the valuation allowances will be reversed in the Consolidated Statement of Income. Realization of deferred tax assets for which valuation allowances have not been established is dependent upon generating sufficient future taxable income. We expect to realize the benefit of these deferred tax assets through future reversals of our deferred tax liabilities, through the recognition of taxable income in the allowable carryback and carryforward periods, and through implementation of future tax planning strategies. Although realization is not assured, we believe it is more likely than not that all deferred tax assets for which valuation allowances have not been established will be realized. The following table summarizes the activity related to deferred tax asset valuation allowances (in thousands):
| 2019 |  | 2018 |  | 2017
Beginning at beginning of period | $ | 125,894 |  |  | $ | 136,418 |  |  | $ | 209,939 |
Additions to valuation allowance | 9,545 |  |  | 3,908 |  |  | 40,180 |
Reductions to valuation allowance | (89,778 | ) |  | (14,432 | ) |  | (113,701 | )
Balance at the end of the period | $ | 45,661 |  |  | $ | 125,894 |  |  | $ | 136,418 |
Tax Matters Agreements Prior to the May 31, 2017 spin-off of the Cars.com business and the June 29, 2015 spin-off of our publishing businesses, we entered into a Tax Matters Agreement with each of Cars.com Inc. and Gannett Co. Inc. that governs each company’s respective rights, responsibilities, and obligations with respect to tax liabilities and benefits, tax attributes, tax contests and other matters regarding income taxes, non-income taxes and related tax returns. Each agreement provides that we will generally indemnify the spun-off business (Cars.com Inc. or Gannett Co. Inc. as applicable) against taxes attributable to assets or operations for all tax periods or portions thereof prior to the spin-off date including separately-filed U.S. federal, state, and foreign taxes. As of September 15, 2019, TEGNA’s 2015 tax year (including the tax-free treatment of the spin-off of our publishing businesses) is no longer subject to examination by the Internal Revenue Service. Uncertain Tax Positions The following table summarizes the activity related to unrecognized tax benefits, excluding the federal tax benefit of state tax deductions (in thousands):
| 2019 |  | 2018 |  | 2017
Change in unrecognized tax benefits |  |  |  |  |
Balance as of beginning of year | $ | 12,843 |  |  | $ | 15,043 |  |  | $ | 17,300 |
Additions based on tax positions related to the current year | — |  |  | 40 |  |  | 156 |
Additions for tax positions of prior years | — |  |  | 2,631 |  |  | 11 |
Reductions for tax positions of prior years | (959 | ) |  | — |  |  | (636 | )
Settlements | (288 | ) |  | (182 | ) |  | (852 | )
Reductions due to lapse of statutes of limitations | (3,546 | ) |  | (4,689 | ) |  | (936 | )
Balance as of end of year | $ | 8,050 |  |  | $ | 12,843 |  |  | $ | 15,043 |
The total amount of unrecognized tax benefits that, if recognized, would impact the effective tax rate was $6.4 million as of December 31, 2019, and $10.6 million as of December 31, 2018. This amount includes the federal tax benefit of state tax deductions. We recognize interest and penalties related to unrecognized tax benefits as a component of income tax expense. We also recognize interest income attributable to overpayment of income taxes and from the reversal of interest expense previously recorded for uncertain tax positions which are subsequently released as a component of income tax expense. We recognized income from the reversal of previously recorded interest expense for uncertain tax positions of $1.7 million in 2019, $0.2 million in 2018, and $0.3 million in 2017. The amount of accrued interest expense and penalties payable related to unrecognized tax benefits was $0.1 million as of December 31, 2019 and $1.4 million as of December 31, 2018. We file income tax returns in the U.S. and various state jurisdictions. The 2016 through 2019 tax years remain subject to examination by the Internal Revenue Service and state authorities. Tax years before 2016 remain subject to examination by certain states due to ongoing audits. It is reasonably possible that the amount of unrecognized benefit with respect to certain of our unrecognized tax positions will increase or decrease within the next 12 months. These changes may be the result of settlement of ongoing audits, lapses of statutes of limitations or other regulatory developments. At this time, we estimate the amount of our gross unrecognized tax positions may decrease by up to approximately $1.3 million within the next 12 months primarily due to lapses of statutes of limitations and settlement of ongoing audits in various jurisdictions.

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- 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. + References Reference 1: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 740 -URI http://asc.fasb.org/topic&trid=2144680 + Details
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