The domestic and foreign components of income before provision for income taxes are as follows for the years ended December 31:

	2020			2019			2018
Current:
Federal	$	14,645		$	14,123		$	9,700
State		5,198			5,698			4,035
Foreign		1,736			1,537			2,418
Total current		21,579			21,358			16,153
Deferred:
Federal		(1,721	)		320			4,072
State		314			(25	)		1,452
Foreign		(458	)		(418	)		(250	)
Total deferred		(1,865	)		(123	)		5,274
Income tax expense	$	19,714		$	21,235		$	21,427

Deferred income taxes reflect the net tax effects of temporary differences between the carrying amounts of assets and liabilities for financial reporting purposes and income tax purposes.

	2020			2019
Deferred Tax Assets
Allowance for bad debt	$	1,687		$	888
Accrued paid time off		2,423			1,671
Foreign net operating loss (NOL) carry forward		957			866
State net operating loss (NOL) carry forward		714			714
Stock option compensation		2,308			2,666
Deferred rent		3,091			3,129
Deferred compensation		4,598			3,902
Foreign tax credits		5,882			4,508
State tax credits		2,108			2,026
Foreign exchange		5,370			3,579
Foreign deferred		650			200
Accrued bonus		4,126			884
Accrued liabilities and other		5,701			4,434
		39,615			29,467
Less: Valuation Allowance		(6,839	)		(5,374	)
Total Deferred Tax Assets		32,776			24,093

Deferred Tax Liabilities
Retention		(1,003	)		(1,395	)
Prepaid expenses		(1,089	)		(1,451	)
Payroll taxes		(489	)		(593	)
Unbilled revenue		(1,451	)		(2,691	)
Depreciation		(1,731	)		(3,112	)
Amortization		(60,392	)		(52,076	)
Deferred gain and other		(951	)		(396	)
Total Deferred Tax Liabilities		(67,106	)		(61,714	)
Total Net Deferred Tax Liability	$	(34,330	)	$	(37,621	)

On December 20, 2017, the U.S. Congress passed the Tax Cuts and Job Act of 2017 (the “Tax Act”), which was signed into law on December 22, 2017 and is generally effective beginning January 1, 2018. The Company was impacted in several ways as a result of the Tax Act, including, but not limited to, provisions which include a permanent reduction in the U.S. federal corporate income tax rate from 35% to 21%, the revaluation of deferred tax assets and liabilities required as a result of the tax rate change and the application of a mandatory one-time “transition tax” on unremitted earnings of certain foreign subsidiaries that were previously tax deferred.

Pursuant to U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Staff Accounting Bulletin 118 (“SAB 118”), the Company completed its accounting for the tax effects of enactment of the Tax Act and refined its provisional estimates during the measurement period ended December 22, 2018. The Company recorded its adjustments to both the provisional estimate of the effects on existing deferred tax balances and the one-time transition tax in the period of enactment. The Company recognized the adjustments to the provisional estimate of the transition tax as a decrease in the provision for income taxes. The provisional amount recorded related to the re-measurement of the deferred tax balances was adjusted as an increase in the provision for income taxes, including adjustments to valuation allowances, of approximately $1.0 million.

The Company re-measured certain deferred tax assets and liabilities based on the rates at which they are expected to reverse in the future, which is now generally 26.4%.

As of December 31, 2020, the cumulative foreign tax credit carryforward balance increased by approximately $1.4 million and the valuation allowance required increased by approximately $1.4 million. No additional income taxes have been provided for on any remaining undistributed foreign earnings not subject to the transition tax. No additional deferred income taxes have been provided for the $0.1 million of additional favorable outside basis differences inherent in these foreign entities as of December 31, 2020 because these amounts continue to be permanently reinvested in foreign operations.

As of December 31, 2020 and 2019, the Company had approximately $2.5 million of foreign operating loss carryforward for income taxes which may be carried forward indefinitely.

As of December 31, 2020, the Company had NOL carryforwards for state income tax purposes of approximately $7.8 million, which expires in 2034. The Company acquired these NOLs as a result of its purchase of Olson in November 2014. Internal Revenue Code Section 382 imposes an annual limitation on the use of a corporation’s NOLs, tax credits and other carryovers after an “ownership change” occurs. Section 382 imposes an annual limitation on the amount of post-ownership change taxable income a corporation may offset with pre-ownership change NOLs and credits. In general, the annual limitation is determined by multiplying the value of the corporation’s stock immediately before the ownership change (subject to certain adjustments) by the applicable long-term tax-exempt rate. Any unused portion of the annual limitation is available for use in future years until such NOLs are scheduled to expire (in general, NOLs may be carried forward 20 years). The Company presently estimates that it will be able to fully utilize the remaining acquired NOLs prior to their expiration.

As of December 31, 2020, the Company had gross state income tax credit carryforwards of approximately $2.7 million, which expire between 2021 and 2029. A deferred tax asset of approximately $2.1 million, net of federal benefit, has been established related to these state income tax credit carryforwards as of December 31, 2020.

The need to establish valuation allowances for deferred assets is based on a more-likely-than-not threshold that the benefit of such assets will be realized in future periods. Appropriate consideration has been given to all available evidence, including historical operating results, projections of taxable income, and tax planning alternatives. The Company concluded that a valuation allowance of approximately $1.0 million and $0.9 million was required for tax attributes related to specified foreign jurisdictions as of December 31, 2020 and 2019, respectively, and an additional $5.8 million valuation allowance is required against our U.S. foreign tax credit carry forwards.

The total amount of unrecognized tax benefits as of December 31, 2020 was $0.8 million, which includes $0.8 million of tax positions that, if recognized, would impact the effective rate. There were no unrecognized tax benefits as of December 31, 2019.

The unrecognized tax benefit reconciliation, excluding penalty and interest, is as follows:

Unrecognized tax benefits at January 1, 2018	$	820
Increase attributable to tax positions taken during the current period		216
Decrease attributable to settlements with taxing authorities		(37	)
Decrease attributable to lapse of statute of limitations		(783	)
Unrecognized tax benefits at December 31, 2018		216
Decrease attributable to tax positions taken during a prior period		(216	)
Unrecognized tax benefits at December 31, 2019		—
Increase attributable to tax positions taken during the current period		811
Unrecognized tax benefits at December 31, 2020	$	811

The Company’s policy is not to recognize accrued interest and penalties related to unrecognized tax benefits as a component of tax expense. The Company had approximately $0.1 million accrued penalty and interest at December 31, 2020. The Company did not have any accrued penalty and interest at December 31, 2019

The Company’s 2017 to 2019 tax years remain subject to examination by the Internal Revenue Service for federal tax purposes. Certain significant state and foreign tax jurisdictions are also either currently under examination or remain open under the statutes of limitation and subject to examination for the tax years from 2016 to 2019.

Although the Company believes it has adequately provided for all uncertain tax positions, amounts asserted by taxing authorities could be greater than the Company’s accrued position. Accordingly, additional provisions on federal, state and foreign income tax related matters could be recorded in the future as revised estimates are made or the underlying matters are effectively settled or otherwise resolved. Conversely, the Company could settle positions with the tax authorities for amounts lower than have been accrued. The Company believes it is reasonably possible that, during the next 12 months, the Company’s liability for uncertain tax positions may not change.

The Company’s provision for income taxes differs from the federal statutory rate. The differences between the statutory rate and the Company’s provision are as follows:

	2020			2019			2018
Taxes at statutory rate		21.0	%		21.0	%		21.0	%
State taxes, net of federal benefit		5.6	%		5.3	%		5.2	%
Foreign tax rate differential		0.3	%		0.3	%		0.5	%
Executive compensation		2.4	%		0.6	%		1.0	%
Other permanent differences		0.1	%		0.7	%		0.8	%
Prior year tax adjustments		(1.1	)%		(1.0	)%		0.2	%
Unrecognized tax benefits		1.0	%		(0.2	)%		(0.6	)%
Valuation allowance		1.6	%		1.1	%		1.3	%
Equity-based compensation		(3.8	)%		(3.6	)%		(3.0	)%
Tax credits		(0.7	)%		(0.6	)%		(0.5	)%
Taxes at effective rate		26.4	%		23.6	%		25.9	%

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. federal, state and local governments, as well as numerous foreign governments, have enacted tax-related relief programs to provide both direct and indirect tax assistance in the form of tax subsidies, exemptions, deferrals and credits. The Company is continuously analyzing these programs as they are introduced in order to determine its eligibility and the risks and benefits of participation. During the year ended December 31, 2020, the Company elected to participate in several COVID-19 tax-relief programs for which it was eligible

Pursuant to the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (“CARES”) Act, the Company exercised the option to defer payment of the employer portion of the Social Security tax, with 50% to be repaid by December 31, 2021 and the remainder by December 31, 2022. The Company deferred payment of approximately $20.9 million of employer Social Security taxes during the year ended December 31, 2020. As of December 31, 2020, the current portion of the deferred payments are included in accrued salaries and benefits, and the remaining deferred payments are included in other long-term liabilities in the Company’s consolidated balance sheet. We are currently participating in several international government subsidy programs, providing approximately $3.0 million as of December 31, 2020, whose objective is to encourage eligible companies to keep employees on the payroll during the COVID-19 pandemic. A requirement of these subsidies is that we continue to employ the identified employees who might otherwise have been impacted by a reaction to COVID-19. The subsidies are limited in the amount and time in which payroll costs are covered.