	Year Ended December 31,
	2018		2017
U.S. operations	$	38,979,638	$	27,814,653
Non-U.S. operations		6,341,308		24,249,112
Net loss before income tax benefit	$	45,320,946	$	52,063,765

	Year Ended December 31,
	2018			2017
U.S. federal
Current	$	271,356		$	2,432,088
Deferred		4,309,534			2,608,256
US state and local
Current		(1,464	)		587,711
Deferred		1,570,368			10,320
Income tax benefit	$	6,149,794		$	5,638,375

Reconciliation between the effect of applying the federal statutory rate and the effective income tax rate used to calculate the Company’s income tax benefit is as follows:

	Year Ended December 31,
	2018			2017
Federal statutory rate		21.00	%		34.00	%
State income taxes, net of federal benefit		4.53			1.20
Foreign income tax rate differential		(0.15	)		(0.05	)
Effect of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (“TCJA”) on tax rates		—			(2.16	)
Stock compensation		(0.16	)		(2.49	)
Research and development tax credit		(1.30	)		(2.33	)
Acquisition costs		—			(0.77	)
Goodwill impairment		(0.22	)		(22.69	)
Loss on warrant exchange and warrant FMV changes		(1.33	)		—
Permanent differences and other		2.14			(0.78	)
Change in valuation allowance		(10.94	)		6.90
Effective tax rate		13.57	%		10.83	%

On December 22, 2017, the President of the United States signed into law the TCJA. The TCJA makes significant changes in the U.S. tax code including the following:

In December 2017, the SEC staff issued Staff Accounting Bulletin No. 118 (“SAB 118”) to address the application of U.S. GAAP in situations when a registrant does not have the necessary information available, prepared, or analyzed (including computations) in reasonable detail to complete the accounting for income tax effects of the TCJA. The Company has recognized the provisional tax impacts in 2017, including $1,125,708 in incremental income tax provision in the fourth quarter of 2017 to re-measure our deferred tax assets to the 21% enacted rate. The Company completed its analysis within the measurement period in accordance with SAB 118 and there were no material additional adjustments necessary.

The TCJA provided for a one-time deemed mandatory repatriation of post-1986 undistributed foreign subsidiary earnings and profits through December 31, 2017. Based on the Company’s provisional analysis performed to date, we do not expect to be subject to the one-time transition tax due to our foreign subsidiaries being in a net accumulated deficit position.

The TCJA provides for a territorial tax system, beginning in 2018, it includes the following new anti-abuse provisions:

Deferred income taxes reflect the net tax effects of temporary differences between the carrying amounts of assets and liabilities for financial reporting purposes and the amounts used for income and for tax carryforwards. Significant components of the Company’s deferred tax assets and liabilities are as follows:

	December 31,
	2018			2017
Deferred tax assets:
Domestic NOLs	$	4,025,587		$	6,320,893
Foreign NOLs		5,303,154			8,323,454
Accrued expenses		162,814			19,597
Amortization		1,035,765			1,187,512
Deferred revenue		38,494			49,373
Stock compensation		568,165			589,986
Deferred rent		336,070			110,731
Depreciation		—			6,955
Research and development carryforward		73,156			—
Total deferred tax assets		11,543,205			16,608,501
Deferred tax liabilities:
IPR&D assets		(2,557,085	)		(8,856,561	)
Depreciation		(205,859	)		—
IRC §481(a) adjustment		—			(20,118	)
Total deferred tax liabilities		(2,762,944	)		(8,876,679	)
Deferred tax assets, net		8,780,261			7,731,822
Valuation allowance		(8,838,761	)		(13,670,224	)
Total deferred tax liabilities net	$	(58,500	)	$	(5,938,402	)

The Company assesses the need for a valuation allowance against our deferred tax assets and considers both positive and negative evidence related to the likelihood of realization of the deferred tax assets to determine, based on the weight of available evidence, whether it is more-likely-than-not that some or all of the deferred tax assets will not be realized. This determination requires significant judgment, including assumptions about future taxable income that are based on historical and projected information. The $4,831,463 net decrease in the valuation allowance during the year ended December 31, 2018 primarily relates to 382 limitation on U.S. NOLs identified in 2018, which resulted in the write-off of the NOL and reduction of the valuation allowance, and the write-off of a foreign subsidiary’s NOL, offset by increases for current year losses in both the U.S. and foreign locations which the Company concluded needed a full valuation allowance. The Company has recorded a valuation allowance against its gross U.S. deferred tax assets it believes are not more likely than not realizable and the net non-U.S. deferred tax assets. Deferred tax liabilities, consist primarily of indefinite life IPR&D assets located in the U.S. and a foreign subsidiary, which will be applied in the future to offset against NOLs that have an unlimited life.

At December 31, 2018, the Company had U.S. federal NOLs totaling $14,629,188, including $2,015,489 with a 20-year carry forward period and will begin to expire in 2020, and $12,613,699 with an unlimited life. U.S. state NOLs of approximately $14,629,188, including $2,015,489 with a 20-year carry forward period and will begin to expire in 2023, and $12,613,699 with an unlimited life. Also at December 31, 2018, NOLs for the Company’s U.K. subsidiaries and France subsidiary totaled $25,474,739 and $1,388,999, respectively, which do not expire as long as the U.K. and France subsidiaries continue to engage in the same trade or business. Under Section 382 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, substantial changes in the Company’s ownership may limit the amount of NOLs that can be utilized annually in the future to offset its U.S. federal and state taxable income. Specifically, this limitation may arise in the event of a cumulative change in ownership of the Company of more than 50% within any three-year period. The amount of the annual limitation is determined based on the value of the Company immediately before the ownership change. The Company recently completed a Section 382 study which evaluated ownership changes subsequent to the Merger and concluded that $5,766,281 of pre-2018 NOLs would expire unused. As a result, the Company has reduced the NOL and related valuation allowance as of December 31, 2018. Subsequent ownership changes may further affect the limitation in future years.

As of December 31, 2018 and 2017, the Company does not have any material unrecognized tax benefits. The Company files income tax returns in the United States, various U.S. states, U.K., and France. The Company is still open to examination by the applicable taxing authorities from 2009 forward, although tax attributes that were generated prior to 2009 may still be adjusted upon examination by federal, state, foreign, or local tax authorities if they either have been or will be used in a future period.