INCOME TAXES

The federal and state income tax expense from continuing operations consisted of the following (in thousands):



	Three Months Ended March 31,
	2019		2018
Current
Federal	$	—	$	—
State	10		17
Total current	10		17
Deferred
Federal	—		—
State	6		31
Total deferred	6		31
Total income tax expense	$	16	$	48

A reconciliation of the federal statutory rate to the effective income tax rate from continuing operations is as follows (in thousands):



	Three Months Ended March 31,
	2019			2018
Tax benefit at statutory rate	$	(2,156	)	$	(2,729	)
State tax expense, net of federal taxes	16			48
Change in valuation allowance	2,949			3,419
Other	(793		)	(690		)
Income tax expense	$	16		$	48

On December 22, 2017, the President of the United States signed into law the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 or U.S. Federal Tax Reform (the “Reform”). The enactment included broad tax changes that are applicable to BioScrip, Inc. Most notably, the Reform decreased the U.S. corporate income tax rate from a high of 35% to a flat 21% rate effective January 1, 2018. As a result, the Company has revalued its ending net deferred tax assets as of December 31, 2017. At March 31, 2019, the Company had Federal net operating loss carry forwards of approximately $432.4 million, of which $11.7 million is subject to an annual limitation, which will begin expiring in 2026 and later. The Company also has a carryforward of approximately $61.1 million related to the interest expense limitation, which is not subject to an expiration period. The Company has post-apportioned state net operating loss carry forwards of approximately $484.6 million, the majority of which will begin expiring in 2019 and later.