Income Taxes

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2023

Income Tax Disclosure [Abstract]

Income Taxes

12. INCOME TAXES

For financial reporting purposes, income (loss) before provision for income taxes, includes the following components (in thousands):

	December 31,
	2023			2022
Domestic	$	(95,989	)	$	(89,055	)
Foreign		—			—
Loss before income taxes	$	(95,989	)	$	(89,055	)

Provision for Income Taxes

The provision for income taxes consisted of the following (in thousands).

	December 31,
	2023		2022
Current:
Federal	$	—	$	—
State		1		1
Total current		1		1
Total deferred		—		—
Provision for income taxes	$	1	$	1

A reconciliation of the provision for income taxes computed using the U.S. statutory federal income tax rate compared to the income tax provision included in the statement of operations and comprehensive loss is as follows (in thousands).

	December 31,
	2023			2022
Tax on U.S. statutory rate on income before income taxes	$	(20,158	)	$	(18,702	)
State taxes		(489	)		3,583
State valuation allowance		490			(3,582	)
Federal valuation allowance		21,250			19,643
Tax credits		(1,598	)		(710	)
Other		506			(231	)
Provision for income taxes	$	1		$	1

Deferred Tax Assets and Liabilities

Deferred tax assets and liabilities are determined based on the differences between financial reporting and income tax bases of assets and liabilities, as well as net operating loss carryforwards and are measured using the enacted tax rates and laws in effect when the differences are expected to reverse. The significant components of the Company’s net deferred tax assets and liabilities are as follows (in thousands).

	December 31,
	2023			2022
Deferred tax assets:
Federal and state NOL carryforward	$	27,539		$	21,945
Research and other credits		6,051			3,762
Capitalized R&D		25,264			12,731
Fixed assets		3			2
Reserves and accruals		755			519
Stock based compensation		2,978			1,430
Other intangibles		8,313			8,583
Other DTA		384			402
Lease liability		804			1,360
Total gross DTA		72,091			50,734
Less: valuation allowance		(71,372	)		(49,648	)
Total deferred tax assets		719			1,086
Deferred tax liabilities:
Right of use		(619	)		(1,086	)
Other DTL		(100	)		—
Total gross DTL		(719	)		(1,086	)
Net deferred tax assets	$	—		$	—

As of December 31, 2023, the Company has federal and state net operating loss carryforwards of $118.9 million and $35.7 million, respectively, of which $10.2 million of federal net operating loss carryforwards and $0.3 million of state net operating carryforwards will begin expiring in the year 2032 and 2036, respectively, if not utilized. The Company also has $109.0 million of federal net operating loss carryforwards as of December 31, 2023 that does not expire as a result of recent tax law changes. The Company has $5.4 million of federal research and development tax credit carryforwards, which begin to expire in the year 2037. The Company has $2.2 million of state research and development tax credit carryforwards, which have no expiration date.

Utilization of the federal and state net operating loss and tax credit carryforwards may be subject to a substantial annual limitation due to the “change in ownership” provisions of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986. The annual limitation may result in the expiration of net operating losses and credits before utilization. The Company has not performed an analysis to determine if such ownership changes have occurred. An analysis will be performed prior to recognizing the benefits of any losses or credits in the financial statements.

Management assesses the available positive and negative evidence to estimate if sufficient future taxable income will be generated to use the existing deferred tax assets. Based on the weight of all evidence including a history of operating losses, management has determined that it is not more likely than not that the net deferred tax assets will be realized. A valuation allowance of $71.4 million and $49.6 million for the year ended December 31, 2023 and 2022 has been established to offset the deferred tax assets as realization of such assets is uncertain.

Uncertain Tax Benefits

The Company has the following activity relating to the gross amount of unrecognized tax benefits (in thousands):

	Year Ended December 31,
	2023		2022
Beginning balance	$	941	$	668
Additions based on tax positions related to prior year		—		19
Decreases based on tax positions related to prior year		—		(11	)
Additions based on tax positions related to current year		572		265
Ending balance	$	1,513	$	941

The Company accounts for income taxes in accordance with authoritative accounting guidance which states the impact of an uncertain income tax position is recognized at the largest amount that is “more likely than not” to be sustained upon audit by the relevant taxing authority. An uncertain tax position will not be recognized if it has less than a 50% likelihood of being sustained. None of these uncertain tax positions will impact the Company’s effective tax rate if assessed. The Company’s policy is to classify interest and penalties associated with unrecognized tax benefits as income tax expense. The Company had no interest or penalty accruals associated with uncertain tax benefits in its balance sheet and statement of operations for the years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022. The Company files income tax returns in the U.S. and California. The Company is not currently under examination by any major tax jurisdictions nor has it been in the past. Because of net operating losses and research credit carryovers, substantially all of our tax years

remain open to examination. Although it is reasonably possible that certain unrecognized tax benefits may increase or decrease within the next 12 months due to tax examination changes, settlement activities, expirations of statute of limitations, or the impact on recognition and measurement considerations related to the results of published tax cases or other similar activities, the Company does not anticipate any significant changes to unrecognized tax benefits over the next 12 months.