The Company mainly operates in Canada, PRC, Japan, Germany, the United States, Hong Kong, Thailand and Vietnam.

The Company was incorporated in Ontario, Canada and is subject to both federal and Ontario provincial corporate income taxes at a rate of 26.5% for the years ended December 31, 2017, 2018 and 2019.

Canadian Solar Solutions Inc. was incorporated in Ontario, Canada and is subject to both federal and Ontario provincial corporate income taxes at a rate of 25% for all years ended December 31, 2017, 2018 and 2019.

Canadian Solar (USA) Inc. was incorporated in Delaware, USA and is subject to federal and state corporate income taxes at a rate of 38.61%, 24.82% and 22.89% for the years ended December 31, 2017, 2018 and 2019, respectively.

Recurrent Energy Group Inc. was incorporated in Delaware, USA and is subject to federal and state corporate income taxes at a rate of 38.32%, 25.32% and 27.89% for the years ended December 31, 2017, 2018 and 2019, respectively.

Canadian Solar Japan K.K. was incorporated in Japan and is subject to Japanese corporate income taxes at a normal statutory rate of approximately 32.02%, 32.02% and 31.78% for the years ended December 31, 2017, 2018 and 2019, respectively.

Canadian Solar EMEA GmbH was incorporated in Munich, Germany and is subject to German corporate income tax at a rate of approximately 33% for the years ended December 31, 2017, 2018 and 2019, respectively.

Canadian Solar Manufacturing Vietnam Co., Ltd was incorporated in Vietnam on June 25, 2015 and is subject to Vietnamese corporate income taxes at a normal statutory rate of 10%. The Company enjoyed full tax exemption from 2016 to 2019 and will use a reduced statutory rate of 5% from 2020 to 2028.

Canadian Solar Manufacturing (Thailand) Co.,Ltd. was incorporated in Thailand in November 20, 2015 and is subject to Thailand corporate income taxes at a normal statutory rate of 20%. The Company currently has two Board of Investment certificates for full tax exemption which have different effective years. The licenses both started from year 2017, one of which will expire in year 2022 and the other in year 2025.

Canadian Solar International Ltd. was incorporated in Hong Kong, China, and is subject to Hong Kong profits tax at a rate of 16.5% for the years ended December 31, 2017, 2018 and 2019, respectively.

The other major operating subsidiaries, including CSI Solartronics (Changshu) Co., Ltd., CSI Solar Technologies Inc., CSI Cells Co., Ltd., Canadian Solar Manufacturing (Luoyang) Inc., CSI Solar Power Group Co., Ltd. (formerly “CSI Solar Power (China) Inc.”) and Canadian Solar Manufacturing (Changshu) Inc., and Suzhou Sanysolar Materials Technology Co., Ltd. were governed by the PRC Enterprise Income Tax Law (“EIT Law”).

CSI Solartronics (Changshu) Co., Ltd., CSI Solar Technologies Inc., Canadian Solar Manufacturing (Luoyang) Inc., CSI Solar Power Group Co., Ltd. (formerly “CSI Solar Power (China) Inc.”) are all subject to the enterprise income tax rate of 25% for the years ended December 31, 2017, 2018 and 2019.

Certain of the Company's PRC subsidiaries, such as CSI New Energy Holding and CSI Luoyang Manufacturing, were once HNTEs and enjoyed preferential enterprise income tax rates. These benefits have, however, expired. In 2019, Suzhou Sanysolar, CSI Cells, CSI Changshu Manufacturing, Changshu Tegu, Suzhou Gaochuangte New Energy Development, Canadian Solar Sunenergy (Suzhou) and Changshu Tlian enjoyed preferential enterprise income tax rates.

Reconciliation between the provision for income tax computed by applying Canadian federal and provincial statutory tax rates to income before income taxes and the actual provision and benefit for income taxes is as follows:

The components of the deferred tax assets and liabilities are presented as follows:

In accordance with the EIT Law, dividends, which arise from profits of foreign invested enterprises in PRC earned after January 1, 2008, are subject to a 10% withholding income tax. Under applicable accounting principles, a deferred tax liability should be recorded for taxable temporary difference attributable to excess of financial reporting basis over tax basis in the investment in a foreign subsidiary. However, a deferred tax liability is not recognized if the basis difference is not expected to reverse in the foreseeable future and is expected to be permanent in duration. As of December 31, 2019, all of the undistributed earnings of approximately $625.9 million attributable to the Company’s PRC subsidiaries and affiliates are considered to be permanently reinvested, and no provision for PRC withholding income tax on dividend has been made thereon accordingly. Upon distribution of those earnings generated after January 1, 2008, in the form of dividends or otherwise, the Company would be subject to the then applicable PRC tax laws and regulations. Distributions of earnings generated before January 1, 2008 are exempt from PRC dividend withholding tax. The amounts of unrecognized deferred tax liabilities for these earnings are in the range of $31.3 million to $62.6 million, as the withholding tax rate of the profit distribution will be 5% or 10% depends on whether the immediate offshore companies can enjoy the preferential withholding tax rate of 5%.

As of December 31, 2019, the Company has accumulated net operating losses of $670,541 of which $186,360 will expire between 2020 and 2039, and the remaining can be carried forward and back.

The Company considers positive and negative evidences to determine whether some portion or all of the deferred tax assets will not be realized. This assessment considers, among other matters, the nature, frequency and severity of recent losses, forecasts of future profitability, the duration of statutory carry-forward periods, the Company’s experience with tax attributes expiring unused and tax planning alternatives. The Company has considered the following possible sources of taxable income when assessing the realization of deferred tax assets:

18. INCOME TAXES (Continued)

The ultimate realization of deferred tax assets is dependent upon the generation of future taxable income during the periods in which those temporary differences become deductible for tax purposes. As a result, the Company has recognized a valuation allowance of $76,522 and $70,627 as at December 31, 2018 and 2019, respectively.

Uncertain tax positions

The Company makes an assessment of the level of authority for each of its uncertain tax positions (including the potential application of interest and penalties) based on their technical merits, and has measured the unrecognized benefits associated with such tax positions. This liability is recorded as liability for uncertain tax positions in the consolidated balance sheets. In accordance with its policies, the Company accrues and classifies interest and penalties associated with such unrecognized tax benefits as a component of its income tax provision. The amount of interest and penalties accrued as of December 31, 2018 and 2019 was $4,398 and $4,795, respectively. The Company does not anticipate any significant changes to its liability for unrecognized tax positions within the next 12 months.

The following table illustrates the movement and balance of the Company’s liability for uncertain tax positions (excluding interest and penalties) for the years ended December 31, 2017, 2018 and 2019, respectively.


	Years Ended December 31,
	2017	2018	2019
	$	$	$
Beginning balance	5,684	6,181	15,730
Addition for tax positions related to the current year	1,376	9,806	11
Reductions for tax positions from prior years/Statute of limitations expirations	(1,094)	—	(5,720)
Foreign exchange effect	215	(257)	536
Ending balance	6,181	15,730	10,557

The Company is subject to taxation in various jurisdictions where it operates, mainly including Canada, China and the United States. Generally, the Company’s taxation years from 2014 to 2019 are open for reassessment to the Canadian tax authorities. The Company is subject to taxation in the United States and various state jurisdictions. The Company is not currently under examination by the federal or state tax authorities. The Company's income tax returns for 2015 through 2019 remain open to examination by the U.S. tax authorities.

According to the PRC Tax Administration and Collection Law, the statute of limitations is three years if the underpayment of income taxes has resulted from the computational errors of the taxpayer. The statute of limitations could be extended to five years under special circumstances. For income tax adjustments relating to transfer pricing matters, the statute of limitations is ten years. Therefore, the Company’s Chinese subsidiaries might be subject to reexamination by the Chinese tax authorities on non-transfer pricing matters for taxation years up to 2014 retrospectively, and on transfer pricing matters for taxation years up to 2009 retrospectively. There is no statute of limitations in case of tax evasion in China.