11 — Income Taxes

The components of the provision for income taxes are as follows:


	For the Years Ended December 31,
	2019		2018		2017
Current taxes:
U.S. federal	$	(47,831)	$	740	$	862,725
State		58,379		37,547		186,993
Total current tax expense		10,548		38,287		1,049,718
Deferred taxes:
U.S. federal		(544,384)		(128,905)		(92,788)
State		(53,806)		(15,525)		(60,308)
Total deferred tax benefit		(598,190)		(144,430)		(153,096)
Provision for income tax (benefit) expense	$	(587,642)	$	(106,143)	$	896,622

Deferred income taxes reflect the net tax effects of temporary differences between the carrying amounts of assets and liabilities for financial reporting purposes and the amounts used for income tax purposes. Significant components of our deferred taxes are as follows:


	As of December 31,
	2019		2018
Deferred income tax assets (liabilities):
Stock compensation	$	790,357	$	927,282
Deferred revenue		446,562		499,307
Reserves and allowances		257,549		197,355
Research and development credits carryforward		146,320		43,391
Net operating loss carryforward		688,084		26,767
Depreciation and amortization		(619,528)		(611,269)
Other, net		(45,929)		5,869
Total deferred income taxes, net	$	1,663,415	$	1,088,702

As of December 31, 2019, we recorded a U.S. federal net operating loss carryforward of $613,610, which has an indefinite carryforward period, and is primarily related to tax windfalls associated with the exercise and vesting of equity awards. Additionally, as of December 31, 2019, we recorded a state net operating loss carryforward of $74,474, which expires in various years between 2031 and 2039.

A reconciliation of the statutory U.S. federal tax rate to our effective rate is as follows:


	For the Years Ended December 31,
	2019		2018		2017
Statutory U.S. federal tax rate	21.0	%	21.0	%	34.0	%
Tax Cuts and Jobs Act	—		—		33.9
Tax (windfalls) deficiencies on exercise and vesting of equity awards	(17.1)		(21.8)		5.4
Stock compensation expense	(9.8)		(0.2)		5.3
State taxes, net of federal benefit	0.1		(0.1)		5.1
Permanent items	1.2		0.5		4.4
Provision to return adjustments	(1.1)		(0.3)		(9.5)
Domestic production activities deduction	—		—		(7.2)
Research and development credits	(0.8)		(0.8)		(7.2)
Effective rate	(6.5)	%	(1.7)	%	64.2	%

As of December 31, 2019 and December 31, 2018, we had not identified or accrued for any uncertain tax positions. We are currently unaware of any uncertain tax positions that could result in significant payments, accruals or other material deviations in this estimate over the next 12 months.

We file tax returns in the United States Federal jurisdiction and many U.S. state jurisdictions. Our returns are not currently under examination by the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”). The Company remains subject to income tax examinations for our United States Federal and certain U.S. state income taxes for 2016 and subsequent years and various other U.S. state income taxes for 2015 and subsequent years.

Tax Cuts and Jobs Act

On December 22, 2017, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (“2017 Act”) was enacted. The 2017 Act includes a number of changes to existing U.S. tax laws that impact us, most notably a reduction of the U.S. corporate income tax from 34.0 percent to 21.0 percent effective January 1, 2018. The 2017 Act also provides for the acceleration of depreciation for certain assets placed into service after September 27, 2017 as well as prospective changes that began in 2018, including repeal of the domestic production activities deduction, acceleration of tax revenue recognition, capitalization of research and development expenditures and additional limitations on the deductibility of executive compensation. As a result of the 2017 Act, our deferred tax assets and deferred tax liabilities were revalued to reflect the reduction in the U.S. corporate income tax rate from 34.0 percent to 21.0 percent, resulting in a $473,899 increase in income tax expense for the year ended December 31, 2017.