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Income Taxes
9 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2018
Income Tax Disclosure [Abstract]  
Income Taxes

Note 15. Income Taxes

The Company provides for income taxes based upon management’s estimate of taxable income or loss for each respective period. The Company recognizes an asset or liability for the deferred tax consequences of temporary differences between the tax bases of assets and liabilities and their reported amounts in the financial statements. These temporary differences would result in deductible or taxable amounts in future years, when the reported amounts of the assets are recovered or liabilities are settled, respectively.

 

In each period since inception, the Company has recorded a valuation allowance for the full amount of its net deferred tax assets, as it is not more likely than not that these will be realized. As a result, the Company has not recorded any federal or state income tax benefit in the accompanying interim unaudited condensed statements of operations; however, state income tax expense has been recorded for state minimum taxes.

 

The Company periodically reviews its filing positions for all open tax years in all U.S. federal, state and international jurisdictions where the Company is or might be required to file tax returns or other required reports.

 

The Company applies a two-step approach to recognizing and measuring uncertain tax positions. The Company evaluates the tax position for recognition by determining if the weight of available evidence indicates that it is more likely than not that the position will be sustained in a court of last resort. The term “more likely than not” means a likelihood of more than 50 percent. Otherwise, the Company may not recognize any of the potential tax benefit associated with the position. The Company recognizes a benefit for a tax position that meets the more likely than not criterion at the largest amount of tax benefit that is greater than 50 percent likely of being realized upon its effective resolution. Unrecognized tax benefits involve management’s judgment regarding the likelihood of the benefit being sustained. The final resolution of uncertain tax positions could result in adjustments to recorded amounts and may affect the Company’s results of operations, financial position and cash flows. The Company has not identified any uncertain tax positions at September 30, 2018 or December 31, 2017.

 

The Company’s policy is to recognize interest and/or penalties related to income tax matters in income tax expense. The Company had no accrual for interest or penalties at September 30, 2018 and December 31, 2017, respectively, and has not recognized interest or penalties of significance during the three months ended September 30, 2018 and 2017, respectively, since there are no material unrecognized tax benefits. The Company has not made or had payments due for income taxes for the periods ended September 30, 2018 or December 31, 2017, other than state minimum taxes. Management believes no material change to the amount of unrecognized tax benefits will occur within the next 12 months.

 

The Company has established a valuation allowance against the entire net deferred tax asset. A preliminary analysis of past and subsequent equity offerings by the Company, and other transactions that have an impact on the Company’s ownership structure, concluded that the Company may have experienced one or more ownership changes under Sections 382 and 383 of the Internal Revenue Code or IRC. Provisions of the IRC place special limitations on the usage of net operating losses and credits following an ownership change. Such limitations may limit or eliminate the potential future tax benefit to be realized by the Company from its accumulated net operating losses and research and development credits.

 

On December 22, 2017, federal tax legislation commonly referred to as the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (“Tax Act”) was signed into law. The Tax Act, among other changes, reduced the U.S. federal corporate tax rate from 35% to 21%, effective January 1, 2018. Consequently, for the year ended December 31, 2017, the Company recorded a decrease related to deferred tax assets of $16,232,211, exclusive of the corresponding change in the valuation allowance. Due to the full valuation allowance on the deferred tax assets, there was no net adjustment to the deferred tax expense or benefit due to the reduction of the corporate tax rate. Other changes effective January 1, 2018 include, but are not limited to, creating a new limitation on deductible interest expense, eliminating the corporate alternative minimum tax, modifying the rules related to uses and limitations of net operating loss carryforwards generated in tax years ending after December 31, 2017, limiting the deductibility of certain executive compensation, enhancing and liberalizing bonus depreciation, and changing the rules pertaining to the taxation of profits earned abroad. The Company expects to be subject to the new limitation on deductible interest expense in 2018; however, the disallowed interest may be carried forward indefinitely. The Company’s net operating losses generated in 2018 and thereafter, if any, will be subject to a new indefinite carryforward period; however, utilization of these net operating losses will be limited to 80% of taxable income in the year utilized. Net operating loss carryforwards existing as of December 31, 2017 will not be subject to this new limitation; however, those carryforwards will remain subject to the 20-year expiration period.