Income Taxes Income Taxes (Notes)

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2015

Income Tax Disclosure [Abstract]

Income Taxes

The income tax expense included in the accompanying statements of income consists of the following (in thousands):

	Three Months Ended March 31,
	2015			2014
Current income tax expense	$	3,438		$	2,016
Deferred income tax (benefit) expense	(1,535		)	(857		)
Income tax expense	$	1,903		$	1,159

Net deferred tax assets totaled $11.0 million at March 31, 2015 and $12.7 million at December 31, 2014. The decrease in net deferred tax assets resulted from an increase in unrealized gains on securities available for sale. No valuation allowance for deferred tax assets was recorded at March 31, 2015 or December 31, 2014, as management believes it is more likely than not that all of the deferred tax assets will be realized in future years. There was approximately $50,000 in unrecognized tax benefits at March 31, 2015.

We recognized income tax expense of $1.9 million, for an effective tax rate of 16.9%, for the three months ended March 31, 2015, compared to income tax expense of $1.2 million, for an effective tax rate of 12.4%, for the three months ended March 31, 2014. The higher effective tax rate for the three months ended March 31, 2015 was due to a decrease in tax-exempt income as a percentage of pre-tax income as compared to the same period in 2014. We file income tax returns in the U.S. federal jurisdiction and in certain states. We are no longer subject to U.S. federal income tax examinations by tax authorities for years before 2011.