Note 9: Income Taxes

In December 2017, the President of the United States signed into law the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 (the “Act”), making significant changes to the Internal Revenue Code. Changes include, but are not limited to, a federal corporate tax rate of 21%, additional limitations on executive compensation, and limitations on the deductibility of interest.

The FASB issued ASU 2018-05, Income Taxes (Topic 740): "Amendments to SEC Paragraphs Pursuant to SEC Staff Accounting Bulletin No. 118" to address the application of GAAP in situations when a registrant does not have the necessary information available, prepared, or analyzed (including computations) in reasonable detail to complete the accounting for certain income tax effects of the Act.

At September 30, 2018, the Company has not completed its accounting for all of the tax effects of the Act and has not made an adjustment to the provisional tax benefit recorded under SAB 118 at December 31, 2017. We have estimated our provision for income taxes in accordance with the Act and guidance available as of the date of this filing. Our estimated annual effective tax rate may be adjusted in subsequent interim periods, due to, among other things, additional analysis, changes in interpretations and assumptions we have made, and additional regulatory guidance that may be issued.

Note 9: Income Taxes (continued)

Provision (benefit) for income taxes is as follows:

	Three Months Ended						Nine Months Ended
	September 30,						September 30,
	2018			2017			2018			2017
	(In Thousands)
Current:
Federal	$	—		$	—		$	—		$	—
State	$	1		$	—		$	(39	)	$	(39	)
Total Current	$	1		$	—		$	(39	)	$	(39	)

Deferred:
Federal	$	(2,004	)	$	(6,021	)	$	1,844		$	(9,791	)
State		(423	)		(677	)		(829	)		(911	)
Total Deferred	$	(2,427	)	$	(6,698	)	$	1,015		$	(10,702	)
Provision (benefit) for income taxes	$	(2,426	)	$	(6,698	)	$	976		$	(10,741	)

For the three and nine months ended September 30, 2018 and 2017, the current benefit for state income taxes shown above includes regular state income tax and provisions for uncertain state income tax positions.

Our estimated annual effective rate for 2018 includes the impact of permanent tax differences, limits on deductible compensation, valuation allowances, and other permanent items.

We reduce our deferred tax assets by a valuation allowance if, based upon the weight of available evidence, it is more-likely-than-not that we will not realize some portion or all of the deferred tax assets. We consider relevant evidence, both positive and negative, to determine the need for a valuation allowance. Information evaluated includes our financial position and results of operations for the current and preceding years, the availability of deferred tax liabilities and tax carrybacks, as well as an evaluation of currently available information about future years. We established a valuation allowance on a portion of our federal deferred tax assets. This valuation allowance is reflective of our quarterly analysis of the four sources of taxable income, including the calculation of the reversal of existing tax assets and liabilities, the impact of the recent financing activities and our quarterly results. Based on our analysis, we currently believe that it is more-likely-than-not that a portion of our federal deferred tax assets will not be able to be utilized and we estimate the valuation allowance to be recorded during 2018 to be approximately $11.1 million. We have also determined it was more-likely-than-not that a portion of the state deferred tax assets would not be able to be utilized before expiration and we estimate the valuation allowance associated with these state deferred tax assets to be recorded during 2018 will be approximately $5.2 million.

We will continue to evaluate both the positive and negative evidence on a quarterly basis in determining the need for a valuation allowance with respect to our deferred tax assets. Changes in positive and negative evidence, including differences between estimated and actual results and additional guidance for various provisions of the Act, could result in changes in the valuation of our deferred tax assets that could have a material impact on our consolidated financial statements. Changes in existing tax laws could also affect actual tax results and the realization of deferred tax assets over time.

The tax provision for the nine months ended September 30, 2018 was $1.0 million (2% provision on pre-tax loss) and the tax benefit for the nine months ended September 30, 2017 was $10.7 million (26% benefit on pre-tax loss). For the first nine months of 2018, the effective tax rate is less than the statutory tax rate primarily due to the impact of the valuation allowances.

LSB and certain of its subsidiaries file income tax returns in the U.S. federal jurisdiction and various state jurisdictions. With few exceptions, the 2015-2018 years remain open for all purposes of examination by the U.S. Internal Revenue Service and other major tax jurisdictions. During the third quarter of 2018, the IRS concluded their examination of our 2015 tax return. There are no changes to our financial position, results of operations or cash flow resulting from the audit.