Income Taxes

The Company’s income tax provision (benefit) consisted of the following components for the years ended December 31, 2015, 2014 and 2013 (in thousands):



	Year Ended December 31,
	2015		2014			2013
Current
Federal	$	—	$	(1,160	)	$	3,842
State	123		(1,133		)	1,842
	123		(2,293		)	5,684
Deferred
Federal	—		—			—
State	—		—			—
	—		—			—
Total provision (benefit)	123		(2,293		)	5,684
Less: income tax provision attributable to noncontrolling interest	90		283			308
Total provision (benefit) attributable to SandRidge Energy, Inc.	$	33	$	(2,576	)	$	5,376

A reconciliation of the provision (benefit) for income taxes at the statutory federal tax rate to the Company’s actual income tax benefit is as follows for the years ended December 31, 2015, 2014 and 2013 (in thousands):



	2015			2014			2013
Computed at federal statutory rate	$	(1,512,325	)	$	122,362		$	(178,078	)
State taxes, net of federal benefit	(19,988		)	4,145			(886		)
Non-deductible expenses	816			1,895			2,589
Non-deductible debt costs	10,228			—			—
Stock-based compensation	6,700			1,467			7,611
Net effects of consolidating the non-controlling interests’ tax provisions	218,196			(34,614		)	(13,901		)
Change in valuation allowance	1,296,405			(96,769		)	188,599
Other	1			(1,062		)	(558		)
Total provision (benefit) attributable to SandRidge Energy, Inc.	$	33		$	(2,576	)	$	5,376

Deferred income taxes are provided to reflect the future tax consequences of temporary differences between the tax basis of assets and liabilities and their reported amounts in the financial statements. The Company’s deferred tax assets have been reduced by a valuation allowance due to a determination made that it is more likely than not that some or all of the deferred assets will not be realized based on the weight of all available evidence. As of December 31, 2015, 2014 and 2013 the balance of the valuation allowance was $2.0 billion, $649.6 million, and $753.5 million, respectively. The Company continues to closely monitor and weigh all available evidence, including both positive and negative, in making its determination whether to maintain a valuation allowance. As a result of the significant weight placed on the Company’s cumulative negative earnings position, the Company continued to maintain the full valuation allowance against its net deferred tax asset at December 31, 2015. Thus, the Company’s effective tax rate and tax expense for the year ended December 31, 2015 continue to be low as a result of the Company not recognizing an income tax benefit associated with its net loss from the same period.

Significant components of the Company’s deferred tax assets and liabilities are as follows (in thousands):



	December 31,
	2015			2014
Deferred tax liabilities
Investments(1)	$	138,310		$	272,902
Property, plant and equipment	—			364,576
Derivative contracts	30,989			113,735
Long-term debt	10,017			—
Total deferred tax liabilities	179,316			751,213
Deferred tax assets
Property, plant and equipment	807,275			—
Allowance for doubtful accounts	18,702			19,086
Net operating loss carryforwards	1,190,799			1,265,458
Compensation and benefits	18,607			19,867
Alternative minimum tax credits and other carryforwards	44,302			43,840
Asset retirement obligations	38,314			21,946
CO₂ under-delivery shortfall penalty	40,654			27,674
Other	4,305			2,934
Total deferred tax assets	2,162,958			1,400,805
Valuation allowance	(1,983,642		)	(649,592		)
Net deferred tax liability	$	—		$	—

____________________


(1)	Includes the Company’s deferred tax liability resulting from its investment in the Royalty Trusts. See Note 4 for further discussion of the Royalty Trusts.

As of December 31, 2015, the Company had approximately $9.3 million of alternative minimum tax credits available that do not expire. In addition, the Company had approximately $3.2 billion of federal net operating loss carryovers that expire during the years 2025 through 2035. Excess tax benefits of approximately $17.7 million associated with the vesting of restricted stock awards are included in the federal net operating loss carryovers, but will not be recognized as a tax benefit recorded to additional paid-in capital until realized.

Internal Revenue Code (“IRC”) Section 382 addresses company ownership changes and specifically limits the utilization of certain deductions and other tax attributes on an annual basis following an ownership change. The Company experienced ownership changes within the meaning of IRC Section 382 during 2008 and 2010 that subjected certain of the Company’s tax attributes, including $929.4 million of federal net operating loss carryforwards, to an IRC Section 382 limitation. The limitation could result in all or a portion of the remaining $552.6 million limited net operating loss carryforwards expiring unused. The limitation did not result in a current federal tax liability at December 31, 2015.

At December 31, 2015 and 2014, the Company had a liability of approximately $0.1 million for unrecognized tax benefits. A reconciliation of the beginning and ending amount of unrecognized tax benefits is as follows (in thousands):



	December 31,
	2015		2014
Unrecognized tax benefit at January 1	$	77	$	1,382
Changes to unrecognized tax benefits related to a prior year	4		(17		)
Decreases to unrecognized tax benefits for settlements with tax authorities	—		(1,288		)
Unrecognized tax benefit at December 31	$	81	$	77

Consistent with its policy to record interest and penalties on income taxes as a component of the income tax provision, the Company has included insignificant amounts of accrued gross interest with respect to unrecognized tax benefits in its accompanying consolidated statements of operations during the years ended December 31, 2015, 2014 and 2013. The Company does not expect a significant change in its gross unrecognized tax benefits balance within the next 12 months.

The Company’s only taxing jurisdiction is the United States (federal and state). The Company’s tax years 2012 to present remain open for federal examination. Additionally, tax years 2005 through 2011 remain subject to examination for the purpose of determining the amount of federal net operating loss and other carryforwards. The number of years open for state tax audits varies, depending on the state, but are generally from three to five years.