INCOME AND MINING TAXES

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2019

INCOME AND MINING TAXES.

INCOME AND MINING TAXES

NOTE 19 INCOME AND MINING TAXES

The Company’s deferred income and mining tax benefit consisted of:

	2019		2018		2017
United States	$	2,420	$	2,185	$	10,349
Foreign		1,424		585		5,020
Deferred tax benefit	$	3,844	$	2,770	$	15,369

The Company’s net loss before income and mining tax consisted of:

	2019		2018		2017
United States	$	(22,319)	$	(27,001)	$	(19,913)
Foreign		(41,272)		(20,639)		(6,090)
Loss before income and mining taxes	$	(63,591)	$	(47,640)	$	(26,003)

A reconciliation of the tax provision for 2019, 2018 and 2017 at statutory U.S. Federal and State income tax rates to the actual tax provision recorded in the financial statements is computed as follows:

Expected tax recovery at	2019		2018		2017
Loss before income and mining taxes	$	(63,591)	$	(47,640)	$	(26,003)
Statutory tax rate		21%		21%		35%
US Federal and State tax expense at statutory rate		(13,354)		(10,004)		(9,101)
Reconciling items:
Equity pickup in MSC		2,626		2,966		(16)
Deferred foreign income inclusion		598		5,963		21,002
Realized flow-through expenditures		3,150		2,100		—
Realized flow-through premium		(2,954)		(1,675)		—
Foreign tax credits		—		—		(16,628)
Tax rate changes		976		—		28,048
Adjustment for foreign tax rates		(200)		40		115
Other permanent differences		8,540		4,419		(1,761)
Unrealized foreign exchange rate (loss)/gain		(1,095)		(6,935)		2,469
NOL expires and revisions		810		(120)		(2,806)
Valuation allowance		(2,941)		476		(36,691)
Income and mining tax recovery	$	(3,844)	$	(2,770)	$	(15,369)

The tax effects of temporary differences that give rise to significant portions of the deferred tax assets and deferred tax liabilities as at December 31, 2019 and 2018 respectively are presented below:

	2019		2018
Deferred tax assets:
Net operating loss carryforward	$	57,667	$	55,515
Mineral Properties		60,299		62,345
Other temporary differences		14,356		15,198
Total gross deferred tax assets		132,322		133,058
Less: valuation allowance		(121,212)		(124,153)
Net deferred tax assets	$	11,110	$	8,905
Deferred tax liabilities:
Acquired mineral property interests		(16,024)		(15,331)
Total deferred tax liabilities	$	(16,024)	$	(15,331)
Deferred income and mining tax liability	$	(4,914)	$	(6,426)

The Company reviews the measurement of its deferred tax assets at each balance sheet date. On the basis of available information at December 31, 2019, the Company has provided a valuation allowance for certain of its deferred assets where the Company believes it is more likely than not that some portion or all of such assets will not be realized. The change in valuation allowance of approximately $2.9 million primarily reflects the impact of the Argentina peso devaluation and Argentina tax inflationary adjustments.

The table below summarizes changes to the valuation allowance:

For the year ended December 31,	Balance at beginning of period		Additions(a)		Deductions(b)		Balance at end of period
2019	$	124,153	$	2,104	$	(5,045)	$	121,212
2018		123,648		12,232		(11,727)		124,153
2017		111,621		51,220		(39,193)		123,648

(a) The additions to valuation allowance mainly results from the Company and its subsidiaries incurring losses and exploration expenses for tax purposes which do not meet the more-likely-than-not criterion for recognition of deferred tax assets.

(b) The reductions to valuation allowance mainly results from release of valuation allowance, expiration of the Company’s tax attributes, foreign exchange reductions of tax attributes in Canada, Mexico and Argentina and inflationary adjustments to tax attributes in Argentina.

As at December 31, 2019 and 2018, the Company did not have any income-tax related accrued interest and tax penalties.

The following table summarizes the Company’s losses that can be applied against future taxable profit:

Country	Type of Loss	Amount		Expiry Period
United States(a)	Net-operating losses	$	129,409	2020-2039
Mexico	Net-operating losses		34,876	2020-2029
Canada(a)	Net-operating losses		36,692	2020-2039
Argentina(a)	Net-operating losses		41,922	2020-2024

(a) The losses in the United States, Canada, and Argentina are part of multiple consolidating groups, and therefore, may be restricted in use to specific projects.

The Company or its subsidiaries file income tax returns in the United States, Canada, Mexico, and Argentina. These tax returns are subject to examination by local taxation authorities provided the tax years remain open to audit under the relevant statute of limitations. The following summarizes the open tax years by major jurisdiction:

United States: 2016 to 2019

Canada: 2012 to 2019

Mexico: 2015 to 2019

Argentina: 2015 to 2019

On December 22, 2017 the US Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (the “Act”) was enacted. The Act reduced the US federal corporate tax rate from 35% to 21%, required companies to pay a one-time transition tax on earnings of certain foreign subsidiaries that were previously tax deferred and creates new taxes on certain foreign sourced earnings.

In 2017, the Company re-measured certain deferred tax assets and liabilities based on the rates at which they are expected to reverse in the future, which is generally 21%. The impact of this re-measurement was $28.0 million.

As at December 31, 2018, the Company completed the accounting for the transition tax corresponding to the 2017 tax year. Proposed regulations under Section 965 of the Internal Revenue Code, issued during the third quarter of 2018, limited the use of certain foreign tax credits which would have redeemed the one-time transition tax. The Company’s foreign tax credits originating from MSC are captured under the proposed regulation changes. As a result of the proposed changes, the Company reported in its 2017 US tax return, $13.6 million of taxable income. The taxable income was offset by the use of net-operating losses.

Effective January 1, 2018, the Act also subjects a US shareholder to tax on global intangible low-taxed income (“GILTI”) earned by certain foreign subsidiaries. The FASB Staff Q&A, Topic 740, No. 5, Accounting for Global Intangible Low-Taxed Income, states that an entity can make an accounting policy election to either recognize deferred taxes for temporary basis differences expected to reverse as GILTI in future years or provide for the tax expense related to GILTI in the year the tax is incurred as a period expense only. The Company has elected to account for GILTI as a tax expense in the year the tax is incurred, as a period expense only.