In December 2017, the President of the United States signed into law the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 (the “Act”), making significant changes to the Internal Revenue Code. Changes include, but are not limited to, a federal corporate tax rate of 21%, additional limitations on executive compensation, and limitations on the deductibility of interest.

The FASB issued ASU 2018-05, Income Taxes (Topic 740): Amendments to SEC Paragraphs Pursuant to SEC Staff Accounting Bulletin No. 118 to address the application of GAAP in situations when a registrant does not have the necessary information available, prepared, or analyzed (including computations) in reasonable detail to complete the accounting for certain income tax effects of the Act.

For the first nine months of 2018, we recorded provisional amounts for certain enactment-date effects of the Act by applying the guidance in SAB 118 because we had not yet completed our enactment-date accounting for these effects. In 2018, we recorded tax expense related to these effects including the decrease in the federal corporate tax rate, additional limitations on executive compensation, and limitations on the deductibility of interest. During the fourth quarter of 2018, we completed the accounting for tax reform and there was no adjustment to provisional amounts recorded.

	Three Months Ended
	March 31,
	2019			2018
	(In Thousands)
Current:
Federal	$	—		$	—
State	$	(45	)	$	(12	)
Total Current	$	(45	)	$	(12	)

Deferred:
Federal	$	323		$	(785	)
State		122			(125	)
Total Deferred	$	445		$	(910	)
Provision (benefit) for income taxes	$	400		$	(922	)

For the three months ended March 31, 2019 and 2018, the current provision for state income taxes shown above includes regular state income tax and provisions for uncertain state income tax positions, and other similar adjustments.

Our estimated annual effective rate for 2019 includes the impact of permanent tax differences, limits on deductible compensation, valuation allowances, and other permanent items.

We considered both positive and negative evidence in our determination of the need for valuation allowances for deferred tax assets. Information evaluated includes our financial position and results of operations for the current and preceding years, the availability of deferred tax liabilities and tax carrybacks, as well as an evaluation of currently available information about future years. In the second quarter of 2018, we established a valuation allowance on a portion of our federal deferred tax assets. Valuation allowances are reflective of our quarterly analysis of the four sources of taxable income, including the calculation of the reversal of existing tax assets and liabilities, the impact of the recent financing activities and our quarterly results. Based on our analysis, we currently believe that it is more-likely-than-not that a portion of our federal deferred tax assets will not be able to be utilized and we estimate the valuation allowance to be recorded during 2019 to be approximately $8.3 million. We have also determined it was more-likely-than-not that a portion of the state NOL carryforwards would not be able to be utilized before expiration and we estimate the valuation allowance associated with these state deferred tax assets to be recorded during 2019 will be approximately $3.8 million.

We will continue to evaluate both the positive and negative evidence on a quarterly basis in determining the need for a valuation allowance with respect to our deferred tax assets. Changes in positive and negative evidence, including differences between estimated and actual results and additional guidance for various provisions of the Act, could result in changes in the valuation of our deferred tax assets that could have a material impact on our consolidated financial statements. Changes in existing tax laws could also affect actual tax results and the realization of deferred tax assets over time.

The tax provision for the three months ended March 31, 2019 was $0.4 million (4% provision on pre-tax loss) and the tax benefit for the three months ended March 31, 2018 was $0.9 million (14% benefit on pre-tax loss). For the three months of 2019, the effective tax rate is less than the statutory tax rate primarily due to the impact of the valuation allowances.

LSB and certain of its subsidiaries file income tax returns in the U.S. federal jurisdiction and various state jurisdictions. With few exceptions, the 2015-2018 years remain open for all purposes of examination by the U.S. Internal Revenue Service and other major tax jurisdictions.