Income Taxes

6 Months Ended

Jun. 30, 2019

Income Tax Disclosure [Abstract]

Income Taxes

13. Income Taxes

We file income tax returns in various federal, state and local jurisdictions. Tax years from 2014 forward remain open for examination by Federal authorities. Tax years from 2014 forward remain open for all significant state and foreign authorities.

We account for uncertain tax positions pursuant to ASC Topic 740, “Income Taxes.” As of June 30, 2019 and December 31, 2018, the liability for uncertain tax positions totaled approximately $1.0 million, which is included in “Other liabilities” on our Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets. We recognize accrued interest related to uncertain tax positions and penalties, if any, in income tax expense within the Condensed Consolidated Statements of Operations.

Certain of the Company’s undistributed earnings of our foreign subsidiaries are not permanently reinvested. Since foreign earnings have already been subject to U.S. income tax in 2017 as a result of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (the “Tax Act”), we intend to repatriate foreign-held cash as needed.  As of June 30, 2019 and December 31, 2018, we have recorded deferred income taxes of approximately $0.4 and $0.6 million, respectively, on the undistributed earnings of our foreign subsidiaries. This amount is attributable primarily to the foreign withholding taxes that would become payable should we decide to repatriate cash held in our foreign operations.

Income tax benefit was $4.2 million for the second quarter of 2019 and $3.3 million for the first six months of 2019, compared with income tax expense of $1.3 million for the second quarter of 2018 and $5.4 million for the first six months of 2018. The effective income tax rate for the second quarter of 2019 was (303.7%) compared with 317.1% for second quarter of 2018.  The effective income tax rate was (81.3%) for the first six months of 2019, compared with 52.7% for the first six months of 2018. The effective income tax rates for the three and six months ended June 30, 2019 were negative (i.e. income tax benefits), despite pre-tax income, due primarily to a tax benefit of $4.4 million upon finalization of a tax position related to the 2018 divestiture of Zhongli. Our effective tax rate is affected by certain other permanent differences, including state income taxes, non-deductible incentive stock-based compensation, the Global Intangible Low-Taxed Income inclusion and Foreign-Derived Intangible Income deduction, tax credits, return-to-provision adjustments, and differences in tax rates among the jurisdictions in which we operate.