Note 9 - Income Taxes

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2022

Notes to Financial Statements

Income Tax Disclosure [Text Block]

9.     INCOME TAXES

The Company and its subsidiaries file income tax returns in the U.S. federal jurisdiction and various states and foreign jurisdictions.  The Company is no longer subject to U.S. federal examinations by tax authorities for years before 2019 and for state examinations before 2016.   Regarding foreign subsidiaries, the Company is no longer subject to examination by tax authorities for years before 2012 in Asia and generally 2014 in Europe. 

At December 31, 2022 and 2021, the Company has approximately $24.8 million and $28.4 million, respectively, of liabilities for uncertain tax positions. These amounts, if recognized, would reduce the Company’s effective tax rate.  As of December 31, 2022, approximately $5.6 million of the Company’s liabilities for uncertain tax positions are expected to be resolved during the next twelve months by way of expiration of the related statute of limitations.

A reconciliation of the beginning and ending amount of the liability for uncertain tax positions, including the portion included in income taxes payable, is as follows:

	Year Ended December 31,
	2022			2021
Liability for uncertain tax positions - January 1	$	28,434		$	28,516
Additions based on tax positions related to the current year		1,284			2,054
Translation adjustment		(1,121	)		331
Settlement/expiration of statutes of limitations		(3,799	)		(2,467	)
Liability for uncertain tax positions - December 31	$	24,798		$	28,434

The Company’s policy is to recognize interest and penalties related to uncertain tax positions as a component of the current provision for income taxes.  During the years ended December 31, 2022 and 2021, the Company recognized $0.6 million and $0.7 million, respectively, in interest and penalties in the consolidated statements of operations.  During the years ended December 31, 2022 and 2021, the Company recognized a benefit of $1.6 million and $1.0 million, respectively, for the reversal of such interest and penalties, relating to the expiration of statues of limitations and settlement of the acquired liability for uncertain tax positions, respectively.  The Company has approximately $4.0 million and $5.0 million accrued for the payment of interest and penalties at December 31, 2022 and 2021, respectively, which is included in both income taxes payable and liability for uncertain tax positions in the consolidated balance sheets. 

The Company’s total earnings before provision for income taxes included losses from domestic operations of $14.2 million and $7.3 million for 2022 and 2021, respectively, and earnings before provision for income taxes from foreign operations of $44.8 million and $20.0 million for 2022 and 2021, respectively.

The provision (benefit) for income taxes consists of the following:

	Year Ended December 31,
	2022			2021
Current:
Federal	$	9,175		$	520
State		787			126
Foreign		1,002			1,419
		10,964			2,065
Deferred:
Federal		(4,064	)		863
State		(255	)		(54	)
Foreign		(275	)		(368	)
		(4,594	)		441
	$	6,370		$	2,506

A reconciliation of taxes on income computed at the U.S. federal statutory rate to amounts provided is as follows:

	Year Ended December 31,
	2022						2021
	$			%			$			%
Tax provision computed at the federal statutory rate	$	12,402			21	%	$	5,739			21	%
(Decrease) increase in taxes resulting from:
Different tax rates applicable to foreign operations		(1,677	)		(3	%)		(1,641	)		(6	%)
Reversal of liability for uncertain tax positions - net		(2,515	)		(4	%)		(413	)		(2	%)
Research and experimentation and foreign tax credits		(139	)		(0	%)		343			1	%
State taxes, net of federal benefit		292			0	%		42			0	%
SERP/COLI and restricted stock income		733			1	%		(172	)		(1	%)
Other, net		(2,726	)		(5	%)		(1,392	)		(5	%)
Tax provision computed at the Company's effective tax rate	$	6,370			11	%	$	2,506			9	%

As of December 31, 2022, the Company has $24.1 million of deferred tax assets, which the Company evaluates for utilization on an annual basis. The Company has gross federal, state and foreign net operating losses (“NOL”) of $15.1 million which amount to $3.3 million of deferred tax assets.  In addition, the Company has $1.3 million of credit carryforwards and acquired deferred tax assets of $0.9 million. The Company believes that it is more likely than not that the benefit arising from certain NOL, credit carryforwards and acquisition assets will not be realized.  In recognition of this risk, the Company has provided a valuation allowance of $4.0 million on these deferred tax assets. The federal and certain foreign NOL's can be carried forward indefinitely, the state and certain foreign NOL's expire at various times during 2026 – 2041 and the tax credit carryforwards expire at various times during 2029 - 2041.

Management has no specific plans to indefinitely reinvest the unremitted earnings of our foreign subsidiaries as of December 31, 2022. Applicable income and dividend withholding taxes of $0.2 million have been reflected in the accompanying consolidated statements of operations for the year ended December 31, 2022. Due to the practicality of determining the deferred taxes on outside basis differences in our investments in our foreign subsidiaries, we have not provided for deferred taxes on outside basis differences and deemed that these basis differences will be indefinitely reinvested.

Components of deferred income tax assets and liabilities are as follows:

	December 31,
	2022			2021
	Tax Effect			Tax Effect
Deferred tax assets:
State tax credits	$	571		$	812
(Decrease) increase in unfunded pension liability		(416	)		965
Reserves and accruals		4,947			4,124
Federal, state and foreign net operating loss and credit carryforwards		4,316			7,586
Depreciation		437			488
Amortization		2,968			130
Lease accounting		4,816			4,592
Other accruals		6,486			6,364
Total deferred tax assets		24,125			25,061
Deferred tax liabilities:
Depreciation		2,227			2,450
Amortization		6,178			6,483
Lease accounting		4,889			4,522
Other accruals		780			573
Total deferred tax liabilities		14,074			14,028
Valuation allowance		4,027			8,059
Net deferred tax assets	$	6,024		$	2,974

The Company continues to monitor proposed legislation affecting the taxation of transfers of U.S. intangible property and other potential tax law changes.