9.	Income Tax

Income tax expense was $2.6 million and $2.0 million during the three months ended March 31, 2017 and 2016, respectively.

We assess whether a valuation allowance should be established against our deferred tax assets based on the consideration of all available evidence using a “more likely than not” standard. The ultimate realization of this asset is primarily based on generating future income. We concluded at both March 31, 2017 and 2016, that the realization of substantially all of our deferred tax assets continues to be more likely than not.

We did maintain a valuation allowance against our deferred tax assets of approximately $1.1 million at both March 31, 2017 and December 31, 2016. This valuation allowance on our deferred tax assets primarily relates to state income taxes at Mepco. In this instance, we determined that the future realization of these particular deferred tax assets was not more likely than not. This conclusion was primarily based on the pending sale of Mepco’s payment plan business.

At both March 31, 2017 and December 31, 2016, we had approximately $0.8 million, of gross unrecognized tax benefits. We do not expect the total amount of unrecognized tax benefits to significantly increase or decrease during the balance of 2017.