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Income Taxes (Tables) | 12 Months Ended
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Dec. 31, 2017
Income Tax Disclosure [Abstract] |
Provision for Income Taxes for Continuing Operations - Benefit (Expense) | The provision for income taxes for continuing operations - benefit (expense) consists of the following:
|  | Year Ended December 31, |
|  | 2017 |  |  | 2016 |  |  | 2015 |
|  | (In thousands) |
Current: |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
Federal |  | $ | (34,877 | ) |  | $ | (43,655 | ) |  | $ | (36,241 | )
State |  |  | (7,292 | ) |  |  | (3,766 | ) |  |  | (6,414 | )
Total current |  |  | (42,169 | ) |  |  | (47,421 | ) |  |  | (42,655 | )
Deferred |  |  | 28,198 |  |  |  | (13,275 | ) |  |  | (14,410 | )
Total provision for income taxes for continuing operations - benefit (expense) |  | $ | (13,971 | ) |  | $ | (60,696 | ) |  | $ | (57,065 | )
Reconciliation of Statutory Federal Income Tax Rate with Federal and State Overall Effective Income Tax Rate from Continuing Operations | The reconciliation of the U.S. statutory federal income tax rate with Sonic’s federal and state overall effective income tax rate from continuing operations is as follows:
|  | Year Ended December 31, |
|  | 2017 |  |  | 2016 |  |  | 2015 |
U.S. statutory federal income tax rate |  |  | 35.00 | % |  |  | 35.00 | % |  |  | 35.00 | %
Effective state income tax rate |  |  | 4.58 | % |  |  | 2.04 | % |  |  | 3.26 | %
Valuation allowance adjustments |  |  | (0.59 | %) |  |  | 0.85 | % |  |  | (0.45 | %)
Uncertain tax positions |  |  | 0.71 | % |  |  | 0.17 | % |  |  | (0.14 | %)
Effect of change in future U.S. statutory federal income tax rate |  |  | (26.27 | %) |  |  | 0.00 | % |  |  | 0.00 | %
Other |  |  | (0.51 | %) |  |  | 1.05 | % |  |  | 1.64 | %
Effective income tax rate |  |  | 12.92 | % |  |  | 39.11 | % |  |  | 39.31 | %
Components of Deferred Tax Assets and Liabilities | Significant components of Sonic’s deferred tax assets and liabilities are as follows:
|  | December 31, 2017 |  |  | December 31, 2016 |
|  | (In thousands) |
Deferred tax assets: |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
Accruals and reserves |  | $ | 24,320 |  |  | $ | 34,884 |
State net operating loss carryforwards |  |  | 12,689 |  |  |  | 10,777 |
Fair value of interest rate swaps |  |  | - |  |  |  | 1,406 |
Interest and state taxes associated with the liability for uncertain income tax positions |  |  | 1,126 |  |  |  | 1,746 |
Other |  |  | 712 |  |  |  | 774 |
Total deferred tax assets |  |  | 38,847 |  |  |  | 49,587 |
Deferred tax liabilities: |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
Fair value of interest rate swaps |  |  | (696 | ) |  |  | - |
Basis difference in inventories |  |  | (965 | ) |  |  | (1,506 | )
Basis difference in property and equipment |  |  | (2,467 | ) |  |  | (9,335 | )
Basis difference in goodwill |  |  | (73,803 | ) |  |  | (101,999 | )
Other |  |  | (1,636 | ) |  |  | (3,540 | )
Total deferred tax liabilities |  |  | (79,567 | ) |  |  | (116,380 | )
Valuation allowance |  |  | (7,985 | ) |  |  | (7,211 | )
Net deferred tax asset (liability) |  | $ | (48,705 | ) |  | $ | (74,004 | )
Summary of Changes in Liability Related to Unrecognized Tax Benefits | A summary of the changes in the liability related to Sonic’s unrecognized tax benefits is presented below.
|  | 2017 |  |  | 2016 |  |  | 2015 |
|  | (In thousands) |
Unrecognized tax benefit liability, January 1 (1) |  | $ | 4,357 |  |  | $ | 4,755 |  |  | $ | 5,740 |
New positions |  |  | 653 |  |  |  | - |  |  |  | - |
Prior period positions: |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
Increases |  |  | 491 |  |  |  | 939 |  |  |  | 175 |
Decreases |  |  | (539 | ) |  |  | (415 | ) |  |  | - |
Increases from current period positions |  |  | 692 |  |  |  | 615 |  |  |  | 184 |
Settlements |  |  | - |  |  |  | - |  |  |  | - |
Lapse of statute of limitations |  |  | (781 | ) |  |  | (1,290 | ) |  |  | (1,114 | )
Other |  |  | (228 | ) |  |  | (247 | ) |  |  | (230 | )
Unrecognized tax benefit liability, December 31 (2) |  | $ | 4,645 |  |  | $ | 4,357 |  |  | $ | 4,755 |
(1) | Excludes accrued interest and penalties of $0.8 million, $1.1 million and $1.2 million at January 1, 2017, 2016 and 2015, respectively.
(2) | Excludes accrued interest and penalties of $0.6 million, $0.8 million and $1.1 million at December 31, 2017, 2016 and 2015, respectively. Amount presented is net of state net operating losses of $0.1 million, $0.3 million and $0.6 million at December 31, 2017, 2016 and 2015, respectively.

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- Definition Tabular disclosure of the components of income tax expense attributable to continuing operations for each year presented including, but not limited to: current tax expense (benefit), deferred tax expense (benefit), investment tax credits, government grants, the benefits of operating loss carryforwards, tax expense that results from allocating certain tax benefits either directly to contributed capital or to reduce goodwill or other noncurrent intangible assets of an acquired entity, adjustments of a deferred tax liability or asset for enacted changes in tax laws or rates or a change in the tax status of the entity, and adjustments of the beginning-of-the-year balances of a valuation allowance because of a change in circumstances that causes a change in judgment about the realizability of the related deferred tax asset in future years. + References Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 740 -SubTopic 10 -Section 50 -Paragraph 9 -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=84230637&loc=d3e32639-109319 + Details
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