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Income Taxes
6 Months Ended
Jun. 30, 2018
Income Tax Disclosure [Abstract]  
Income Taxes

14. INCOME TAXES

Prior to the Company’s reorganization and IPO of Moelis & Company, the Company had been primarily subject to the New York City unincorporated business tax (“UBT”) and certain other foreign, state, and local taxes. The Company’s operations are comprised of entities that are organized as limited liability companies and limited partnerships. For U.S. federal income tax purposes, taxes related to income earned by these entities represent obligations of their interest holders, which were primarily made up of individual partners prior to the IPO and have historically not been reflected in the condensed consolidated statements of financial condition. In connection with the Company’s reorganization and IPO, the Company became subject to U.S. corporate federal, state, and local income tax on its allocable share of results of operations from Group LP.

The Company’s provision for income taxes and effective tax rate were $6,027 and 10% and $9,549 and 16% for the three months ended June 30, 2018 and 2017, respectively. For the six months ended June 30, 2018 and 2017, the Company’s provision for income taxes and effective tax rate were $8,590 and 7% and $16,546 and 16% respectively. The income tax provision for the aforementioned periods primarily reflects the Company’s allocable share of earnings from Group LP at the prevailing U.S. federal, state, and local corporate income tax rates and the effect of the allocable earnings to noncontrolling interests being subject to UBT and certain other foreign, state, and local entity-level taxes.

The Company recorded an increase in the net deferred tax asset of $79,923 for the six months ended June 30, 2018, which was primarily attributable to the step-up in tax basis in Group LP assets resulting from the redemption of Class A partnership units in connection with the Company’s follow-on offering in March 2018. Approximately $78,645 of this deferred tax asset is attributable to exchanges by certain partners of Group LP who are party to the tax receivable agreement. Pursuant to this agreement, 85% (or $66,848) of the tax benefits associated with this portion of the deferred tax asset are payable to such exchanging partners over the next 15 years and recorded as amount due pursuant to tax receivable agreement in the condensed consolidated statements of financial condition. The remaining tax benefit is allocable to the Company and is recorded in additional paid-in-capital. The Company also recorded an increase in the deferred tax asset related to deferred equity compensation, which was principally offset by the vesting and delivery of equity awards during the first half of 2018.

On December 22, 2017, the U.S. enacted comprehensive tax legislation commonly referred to as the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (“Tax Act”). The Tax Act made broad and complex changes to the U.S. tax code including, but not limited to, reducing the U.S. federal corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 21 percent, effective January 1, 2018. The SEC staff issued SAB 118, which provides guidance on accounting for the tax effects of the Tax Act. SAB 118 provides a measurement period that should not extend beyond one year from the tax legislation enactment date for companies to complete the accounting under ASC 740. In accordance with SAB 118, a company must reflect the income tax effects of those aspects of the Tax Act for which the accounting under ASC 740 is complete or a reasonable estimate if such accounting is incomplete. The Company recorded a provisional amount related to its analysis of the impact of the Tax Act in its consolidated statements of financial condition for the year ended December 31, 2017. The impact of the Tax Act may differ from the estimated amounts recorded due to, among other things, further refinement of the Company’s calculations, changes in interpretations and assumptions the Company has made in conjunction with the release of additional regulatory guidance that may be issued, and actions the Company may take as a result of Tax Act. The Company has not yet finalized its analysis and no adjustment to the provisional estimate has been recorded as of June 30, 2018.