14. INCOME TAXES

The Company's consolidated Federal, State and City income tax provisions were comprised of the following:

	Year Ended December 31,						Year Ended December 31,								Year Ended December 31,
			2014						2013									2012
	Federal		State and City		Total		Federal		State and City			Total			Federal			State and City			Total
Current	$	21,232	$	8,121	$	29,353	$	22,475	$	7,806		$	30,281		$	21,607		$	7,351		$	28,958
Deferred		540		231		771		362		(1,302	)		(940	)		(1,395	)		(673	)		(2,068	)
TOTAL	$	21,772	$	8,352	$	30,124	$	22,837	$	6,504		$	29,341		$	20,212		$	6,678		$	26,890

The preceding table excludes tax effects recorded directly to stockholders' equity in connection with unrealized gains and losses on securities available-for-sale (including losses on such securities upon their transfer to held-to-maturity), stock-based compensation plans, and adjustments to other comprehensive income relating to the minimum pension liability, unrecognized gains of pension and other postretirement obligations and changes in the non-credit component of OTTI. These tax effects are disclosed as part of the presentation of the consolidated Statements of Changes in Stockholders' Equity and Comprehensive Income.

The provision for income taxes differed from that computed at the Federal statutory rate as follows:

	Year Ended December 31,
	2014			2013			2012
Tax at Federal statutory rate	$	26,029		$	25,511		$	23,519
State and local taxes, net of federal income tax benefit		5,466			4,228			4,341
Benefit plan differences		(156	)		(445	)		(114	)
Adjustments for prior period returns and tax items		(164	)		422			63
Investment in BOLI		(610	)		(585	)		(591	)
Other, net		(441	)		210			(328	)
TOTAL	$	30,124		$	29,341		$	26,890
Effective tax rate		40.51	%		40.25	%		40.02	%

Deferred tax assets and liabilities are recorded for temporary differences between the book and tax bases of assets and liabilities. The components of Federal, State and City deferred income tax assets and liabilities were as follows:

	At December 31,
Deferred tax assets:	2014		2013
Allowance for loan losses	$	8,261	$	9,518
Employee benefit plans		19,487		15,478
Credit component of OTTI		4,023		4,088
Tax effect of other components of income on investment securities and MBS		109		-
Other		1,515		2,435
Total deferred tax assets		33,395		31,519
Deferred tax liabilities:
Tax effect of other components of income on investment securities and MBS		-		559
Difference in book and tax carrying value of fixed assets		983		986
Other		16		109
Total deferred tax liabilities		999		1,654
Net deferred tax asset (recorded in other assets)	$	32,396	$	29,865

No valuation allowances were recognized on deferred tax assets during the years ended December 31, 2014 and 2013, since, at each period end, it was deemed more likely than not that the deferred tax assets would be fully realized.

At December 31, 2014 and 2013, the Bank had accumulated bad debt reserves totaling $15,158 for which no provision for income tax was required to be recorded. These bad debt reserves could be subject to recapture into taxable income under certain circumstances, including a distribution of the bad debt benefits to the Holding Company or the failure of the Bank to qualify as a bank for federal income tax purposes. Should the reserves as of December 31, 2014 be fully recaptured, the Bank would recognize $6,844 in additional income tax expense. Should the reserves as of December 31, 2013 be fully recaptured, the Bank would recognize $6,844 in additional income tax expense. The Company expects to take no action in the foreseeable future that would require the establishment of a tax liability associated with these bad debt reserves.

The Company is subject to regular examination by various tax authorities in jurisdictions in which it conducts significant business operations. The Company regularly assesses the likelihood of additional examinations in each of the tax jurisdictions resulting from ongoing assessments.

Under current accounting rules, all tax positions adopted are subjected to two levels of evaluation. Initially, a determination is made, based on the technical merits of the position, as to whether it is more likely than not that a tax position will be sustained upon examination, including resolution of any related appeals or litigation processes. In conducting this evaluation, management is required to presume that the position will be examined by the appropriate taxing authority possessing full knowledge of all relevant information. The second level of evaluation is the measurement of a tax position that satisfies the more-likely-than-not recognition threshold. This measurement is performed in order to determine the amount of benefit to recognize in the financial statements. The tax position is measured at the largest amount of benefit that is greater than 50 percent likely to be realized upon ultimate settlement. The Company had no unrecognized tax benefits as of December 31, 2014 or 2013. The Company does not anticipate any material change to unrecognized tax benefits during the year ending December 31, 2015.

As of December 31, 2014, the tax years ended December 31, 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014 remained subject to examination by all of the Company's relevant tax jurisdictions. While the Company is currently under audit by

certain taxing jurisdictions, no material impact to the financial statements is expected to result from these examinations.