(

)

Income Taxes

The Company accounts for income taxes under the liability method. Accordingly, deferred income taxes have been provided for temporary differences between the recognition of revenue and expenses for financial and income tax reporting purposes and between the tax basis of assets and liabilities and their reported amounts in the consolidated financial statements.

The components of income (loss) before taxes are as follows (in thousands):

	Year ended December 31,
	2019			2018
Domestic	$	(5,337	)	$	(5,331	)
Foreign		1,384			1,621
Total	$	(3,953	)	$	(3,710	)

The components of income tax (benefit) expense are as follows (in thousands):

	Year ended December 31,
	2019			2018
Current:
Federal	$	0		$	0
State		(14	)		2
Foreign		270			302
Total current income tax expense		256			304
Deferred:
Federal		(217	)		(191	)
State		(23	)		(21	)
Foreign		(20	)		(297	)
Total deferred income tax (benefit) expense		(260	)		(509	)
Income tax (benefit) expense, net	$	(4	)	$	(205	)

Income tax (benefit) expense for each year is allocated to continuing operations, discontinued operations, extraordinary items, other comprehensive income, the cumulative effects of accounting changes, and other charges or credits recorded directly to shareholders’ equity. ASC

740

Income Taxes, Intraperiod Tax Allocation, Other Presentation Matters

includes an exception to the general principle of intraperiod tax allocations. The codification source states that the tax effect of pretax income or loss from continuing operations generally should be determined by a computation that considers only the tax effects of items that are included in continuing operations. The exception to that incremental approach is that all items (i.e. other comprehensive income, discontinued operations, etc.) be considered in determining the amount of tax benefit that results from a loss from continuing operations and that benefit should be allocated to continuing operations. That is, when a company has a current period loss from continuing operations, management must consider income recorded in other categories in determining the tax benefit that is allocated to continuing operations. This includes situations in which a company has recorded a full valuation allowance at the beginning and end of the period, and the overall tax provision for the year is zero. The intraperiod tax allocation is performed once the overall tax provision has been computed and allocates that provision to various income statement (continuing operations, discontinued operations), other comprehensive income and balance sheet captions. While the intraperiod tax allocation does

not

change the overall tax provision, it results in a gross-up of the individual components. Additionally, tax jurisdictions must be considered separately; therefore the allocation to the U.S. and Mexico must be looked at separately.

As the Company experienced a net loss from operations in the U.S. for the years ended

December

31,

2019

and

2018

and other comprehensive income from employee benefit adjustments, the Company has allocated income tax expense against the components of other comprehensive income in

2019

and

2018

using a

23.3%

effective tax rate. Income tax benefit for the years ended

December

31,

2019

and

2018

includes a benefit of

$240,000

and

$212,000,

respectively due to the required intraperiod tax allocation. Conversely, other comprehensive income for the years ended

December

31,

2019

and

2018

includes income tax expense of

$240,000

and

$212,000,

respectively.

December 22, 2017,

the U.S. bill commonly referred to as the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (“Tax Reform Act”) was enacted, which significantly changed U.S. tax law by, among other things, lowering corporate income tax rates, implementing a territorial tax system and imposing a

one

-time repatriation tax on deemed repatriated earnings of foreign subsidiaries. The Tax Reform Act reduced the U.S. corporate income tax rate from a maximum of

35%

to a flat

21%

rate, effective

January 1, 2018.

The Tax Reform Act also provided for a

one

-time deemed repatriation of post-

1986

undistributed foreign subsidiary earnings and profits (“E&P”) through the year ended

December 31, 2017.

The Global Intangible Low-Taxed Income (“GILTI”) provisions of the Tax Reform Act require the Company to include in its U.S. income tax return foreign subsidiary earnings in excess of an allowable return on the foreign subsidiary’s tangible assets. The Company is subject to incremental U.S. tax on GILTI income due to expense allocations required by the U.S. foreign tax credit rules. The Company has elected to account for the GILTI tax in the period in which it is incurred, and therefore has

not

provided any deferred tax impacts of GILTI in its consolidated financial statements.

The Company files a consolidated federal income tax return which includes all domestic subsidiaries. State income taxes paid in the U.S. during

2019

and

2018

totaled

$37,000

and

$33,000,

respectively. State income tax refunds received in the U.S. during

2019

and

2018

totaled

$51,000

and

$12,000,

respectively. Foreign income taxes paid during

2019

and

2018

totaled

$293,000

and

$109,000,

respectively. There were

foreign refunds received in

2019

and

2018.

There were

federal taxes paid in

2019

and

2018.

The Company received federal refunds of

$92,000

2019

and there were

federal refunds received in

2018.

December

31,

2019,

the Company had

$136,127,000

of federal net operating loss carryforwards available to offset future federal taxable income. The pre-

2018

federal net operating loss carryforwards expire in various amounts from

2026

2037.

Federal net operating loss carryforwards generated in

2018

and forward will have an unlimited carryforward period as part of the Tax Act. The indefinite lived net operating loss carryforwards as of

December 31, 2019

are approximately

$1,769,000.

December

31,

2019,

the Company had

$2,537,000

of state net operating loss carryforwards available to offset future state taxable income, the majority of which relates to Florida and Kentucky. The pre-

2018

state net operating loss carryforwards totaling approximately

2,431,000

expire in various amounts from

2026

2037.

State net operating loss carryforwards generated in

2018

and forward will have an unlimited carryforward The indefinite lived state net operating loss carryforwards as of

December 31, 2019

are approximately

$106,000.

The following is a reconciliation of income tax (benefit) expense to that computed by applying the federal statutory rate to income (loss) before income taxes (in thousands):

	Year ended December 31,
	2019			2018
Federal tax expense at the statutory rate	$	(830	)	$	(779	)
Current year permanent differences		257			82
State income taxes, net of federal tax impact		(131	)		(118	)
Effect of tax rates of foreign subsidiaries		125			154
Currency translation effect on temporary differences		312			189
Change in valuation allowance		(2,377	)		358
Intraperiod tax allocation		(240	)		(212	)
State NOL carryforwards		3,326			320
Other items		(446	)		(199	)
Income tax (benefit) expense, net	$	(4	)	$	(205	)

ASC

740,

Income Taxes

requires that a valuation allowance be established when it is more likely than

not

that all or a portion of a deferred tax asset will

not

be realized. The net cumulative domestic and foreign losses for the current and prior

two

years represents negative evidence under the provisions of ASC

740

requiring the Company to establish a valuation allowance against all U.S. deferred tax assets and a portion of its non-U.S. deferred tax assets. Until an appropriate level and characterization of profitability is attained, the Company expects to continue to maintain a valuation allowance on its net deferred tax assets related to future U.S. and a portion of its non-U.S. tax benefits.

The gross deferred tax asset for the Company’s Mexican subsidiaries was

$4,054,000

and

$4,434,000

as of

December

31,

2019

and

2018,

respectively.

Deferred income tax assets and liabilities are as follows (in thousands):

	December 31,
	2019			2018
Deferred tax assets:
Compensation and benefit accruals	$	359		$	450
Inventory valuation		866			759
Federal and state net operating loss carryforwards		30,591			33,567
Deferred revenue		975			90
Accounts receivable allowance		8			11
Depreciation		85			39
Defined benefit pension plan		591			573
Lease liabilities		1,334			0
Foreign deferred revenue and other provisions		4,054			4,434
Other		661			874
Total		39,524			40,797
Domestic valuation allowance		(34,338	)		(36,363	)
Foreign valuation allowance		(3,717	)		(4,137	)
Total deferred tax assets		1,469			297
Deferred tax liabilities:
Right-of-use assets, net		(1,132	)		0
Total deferred tax liabilities		(1,132	)		0
Net deferred tax asset	$	337		$	297

The ASC Income Tax topic includes guidance for the accounting for uncertainty in income taxes recognized in an enterprise’s financials. Specifically, the guidance prescribes a recognition threshold and measurement attribute for the financial statement recognition and measurement of a tax position taken or expected to be taken in a tax return and also provides guidance on derecognition, classification, interest and penalties, accounting in interim periods, disclosure, and transition. The total amount of gross unrecognized tax benefits as of

December 31, 2019

and

2018

was

200,000

There were

changes to the unrecognized tax benefit balance during the years ended

December

31,

2019

and

2018.

If the Company’s positions are sustained by the taxing authority, the entire balance at

December

31,

2019

would reduce the Company’s effective tax rate. The Company does

not

expect its unrecognized tax benefits to change significantly over the next

months. The Company recognizes accrued interest and penalties related to uncertain tax positions in income tax expense. As of

December

31,

2019

and

2018,

the Company does

not

have an accrual for the payment of tax-related interest and penalties.

The Company files income tax returns in the U.S. federal jurisdiction, and various state and foreign jurisdictions. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is

not

currently examining the Company’s U.S. income tax returns for

2016

through

2018,

for which the statute has yet to expire. In addition, open tax years related to state and foreign jurisdictions remain subject to examination.