10. Income Taxes

The tax provision (benefit) is based on the estimated annual effective tax rate for the year, which includes estimated federal, state and foreign income taxes on the Company’s projected pre-tax income (loss).

The provision (benefit) for income taxes and the effective income tax rates for the three months ended March 31 were as follows (dollars in thousands):


	2018			2017
Provision (benefit) for income taxes	$	134		$	(99	)
Effective income tax rate		3.3	%		(9.4	)%

The effective tax rate was lower than the statutory tax rate in 2018 due to the utilization of net operating carryforwards and tax credits. It was lower in 2017 due to a full valuation allowance against all net domestic deferred tax assets.

On December 22, 2017, the U.S. government enacted comprehensive tax legislation, referred to as the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (the “Tax Act”). The Tax Act makes broad and complex changes to the U.S. tax code, including, but not limited to: (1) reducing the U.S. federal corporate tax rate from 35% to 21%; (2) elimination of the corporate alternative minimum tax (“AMT”) and changing how existing AMT credits can be realized; (3) changing rules related to the usage and limitation of net operating loss carryforwards created in tax years beginning after December 31, 2017; and (4) implementing a territorial tax system, which generally eliminates the U.S. federal income tax on dividends from foreign subsidiaries, and imposes a one-time transition tax on certain earnings of foreign subsidiaries previously untaxed in the United States.

Certain impacts of the Tax Act would generally require accounting to be completed in the period of enactment. However, in response to the complexities of the Tax Act, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) issued guidance through Staff Accounting Bulletin No. 118 to provide companies with relief. Specifically, when the initial accounting for items under the Tax Act is incomplete, the guidance allows companies to include provisional amounts when reasonable estimates can be made. The SEC has provided up to a one-year measurement period for companies to finalize the accounting for the impact of the new legislation and the Company expects to finalize the accounting over the coming quarters. The Company has recognized the provisional tax impacts related to the re-measurement of its deferred tax assets and liabilities, and one-time transition tax, for the year ended December 31, 2017. The ultimate impact may differ from these provisional amounts due to, among other things, additional analysis, changes in interpretations and assumptions the Company has made, additional regulatory guidance that may be issued, and actions the Company may take as a result of the Tax Act. There were no changes to the provisional tax impacts referred to above in the first quarter of 2018.

As of March 31, 2018, the Company continues to maintain a valuation allowance of approximately $33,024,000 against all domestic net deferred tax assets, for which realization cannot be considered more likely than not at this time.

In May 2017, the Company received notice from the Internal Revenue Service that its federal corporate tax return for tax year 2015 had been selected for examination. The examination is ongoing. In January 2018, the Company received notice from the New York State Department of Taxation that its New York State tax returns for tax years 2014 through 2016 were selected for audit. On site fieldwork for this audit will take place in May 2018.