Income Taxes (Tables)

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2019

Income Tax Disclosure [Abstract]

Reconciliations of statutory U.S. federal income tax rates to our effective tax rate

Reconciliations of the statutory U.S. federal income tax rates to our effective tax rate for continuing operations follow:

	Years Ended December 31,
	2019		2018		2017
Statutory rate	21.0	%	21.0	%	35.0	%
Tax reform	—		(0.3	)	3.1
State tax, net of federal benefit	3.9		3.8		2.6
Business tax credits	(3.5	)	(0.5	)	(0.1	)
Reverse federal impact of indemnification adjustments	0.3		3.5		2.5
Unrecognized tax benefits, U.S. federal and state, net of federal benefit	(0.1	)	(15.9	)	(2.0	)
Excess tax benefits/deficiencies for employee stock-based compensation, federal and state, net of federal benefit	(0.3	)	(0.6	)	(1.7	)
Impact of state rate change on net deferred tax liabilities, net of federal benefit	—		(0.4	)	0.6
State, valuation allowance adjustments on net operating losses	0.1		0.4		0.2
Other, net	0.9		1.9		1.0
Effective tax rate	22.3	%	12.9	%	41.2	%

Components of provision for income tax expense (benefit)

Income tax expense consists of:

 

	December 31,
	2019			2018			2017
Current provision:
Federal	$	150,800		$	102,516		$	248,191
State	24,378			32,638			13,092
Total current provision	175,178			135,154			261,283
Deferred benefit:
Federal	(8,240		)	(57,076		)	(58,124		)
State	(1,474		)	(6,225		)	(628		)
Total deferred benefit	(9,714		)	(63,301		)	(58,752		)
Provision for income tax expense	$	165,464		$	71,853		$	202,531

Schedule of deferred tax assets and liabilities

The tax effect of temporary differences that give rise to deferred tax assets and liabilities is summarized below.

	December 31,
	2019		2018
Deferred tax assets:
Loan reserves	$	109,369	$	85,100
Stock-based compensation plans	10,022		9,312
Deferred revenue	1,017		1,081
Operating loss carryovers	—		—
Accrued expenses not currently deductible	12,599		12,896
Net unrealized losses	2,124		—
Unrecorded tax benefits	6,049		5,106
Market value adjustments on student loans, investments and derivatives	—		1,460
Other	874		953
Total deferred tax assets	142,054		115,908
Deferred tax liabilities:
Fixed assets	10,475		7,150
Acquired intangible assets	5,453		5,179
Market value adjustments on student loans, investments and derivatives	3,175		—
Net unrealized gains	—		3,436
Federal deferred for state receivable	5,368		2,083
Student loan premiums and discounts, net	3,398		1,971
Other	285		285
Total deferred tax liabilities	28,154		20,104
Net deferred tax assets	$	113,900	$	95,804

Summary of changes in unrecognized tax benefits

The following table summarizes changes in unrecognized tax benefits: 

	December 31,
	2019			2018			2017
Unrecognized tax benefits at beginning of year	$	52,159		$	131,608		$	152,581
Increases resulting from tax positions taken during a prior period	12,333			4,121			7,482
Decreases resulting from tax positions taken during a prior period	(851		)	—			(7,025		)
Increases resulting from tax positions taken during the current period	4,572			3,169			1,656
Decreases related to settlements with taxing authorities	(8,670		)	(601		)	(3,594		)
Reductions related to the lapse of statute of limitations	(6,034		)	(86,138		)	(19,492		)
Unrecognized tax benefits at end of year	$	53,509		$	52,159		$	131,608