XML 25 R14.htm IDEA: XBRL DOCUMENT v3.7.0.1
Note 8 - Income Taxes
3 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2017
Notes to Financial Statements  
Income Tax Disclosure [Text Block]
8.
Income Taxes
:
 
For the
three
months ended
March
31,
2017,
the Company recorded an income tax provision of
$1.7
million or
18.1%,
compared to an income tax benefit of
$0.5
million, or
38.9%,
for the
three
months ended
March
31,
2016.
In the
first
quarter of
2017,
the Company made an out-of-period adjustment to correct and
record previously unrecognized deferred tax assets, and the associated tax benefit,
related to the SERP.
The adjustment
, which has accumulated since the inception of the plan in
2005,
resulted in an increase
to after-tax
income of
$1.9
million in the
first
quarter of
2017
.  The Company determined that this adjustment was not material to its current or prior period consolidated financial statements.
 
Our tax provision or benefit for interim periods is determined using an estimate of our annual effective tax rate, adjusted for discrete items that are taken into account in the relevant period. Each quarter we update our estimate of the annual effective tax rate, and if our estimated tax rate changes, we make a cumulative adjustment.
 
Our quarterly tax provision and our quarterly estimate of our annual effective tax rate is subject to significant volatility due to several factors, including variability in accurately predicting our pre-tax and taxable income and loss and the mix of jurisdictions to which they relate, changes in law and relative changes of expenses or losses for which tax benefits are not recognized. Additionally, our effective tax rate can be more or less volatile based on the amount of pre-tax income. For example, the impact of discrete items and non-deductible expenses on our effective tax rate is greater when our pre-tax income is lower.