Income Taxes

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2019

Income Tax Disclosure [Abstract]

Income Tax Disclosure [Text Block]

(15) Income Taxes

The Company and its subsidiaries file income tax returns in the U.S. federal, and various states and foreign jurisdictions.

The Company assessed its uncertain tax positions and determined that it has no uncertain tax position at December 31, 2019.

The components of income before income taxes consist of the following:

	Year ended December 31,
	2019		2018		2017
U.S. operations	$	23,384	$	15,162	$	10,761
Foreign operations		81,762		80,697		67,304
	$	105,146	$	95,859	$	78,065

The provision for current and deferred income tax expense (benefit) consists of the following:

	Year ended December 31,
	2019			2018			2017
Current:
Federal	$	3,280		$	1,629		$	4,050
State and local		713			497			302
Foreign		27,412			24,175			19,051
		31,405			26,301			23,403
Deferred:
Federal		(3	)		113			(554	)
State and local		(22	)		—			(55	)
Foreign		(2,304	)		(270	)		18
		(2,329	)		(157	)		(591	)
Total income tax expense	$	29,076		$	26,144		$	22,812

The tax effects of temporary differences that give rise to significant portions of the deferred tax assets and deferred tax liabilities are as follows:

	December 31,
	2019			2018
Net deferred tax assets:
Foreign net operating loss carry-forwards	$	362		$	468
Inventory and accounts receivable		1,231			658
Profit sharing		4,812			4,561
Stock option compensation		588			626
Effect of inventory profit elimination		4,630			3,267
Other		214			(23	)
Total gross deferred tax assets, net		11,837			9,557
Valuation allowance		(361	)		(258	)
Net deferred tax assets		11,476			9,299
Deferred tax liabilities (long-term):
Trademarks and licenses		(3,472	)		(3,538	)
Net deferred tax assets	$	8,004		$	5,761

Valuation allowances are provided for foreign net operating loss carry-forwards, as future profitable operations from certain foreign subsidiaries might not be sufficient to realize the full amount of net operating loss carry-forwards.

No other valuation allowances have been provided as management believes that it is more likely than not that the asset will be realized in the reduction of future taxable income.

Tax Cuts and Jobs Act

In December 2017, the U.S. government passed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (“the Tax Act”). The Tax Act made broad and complex changes to the U.S. tax code, including, but not limited to reducing the future U.S. federal corporate tax rate from 35% to 21% beginning in 2018, and requiring companies to pay a one-time transition tax on certain unremitted earnings of foreign subsidiaries.

The Tax Act also established new tax laws that took effect in 2018, including, but not limited to: (i) the reduction of the U.S. federal corporate tax rate discussed above; (ii) a general elimination of U.S. federal income taxes on dividends from foreign subsidiaries; (iii) a provision designed to tax global intangible low-taxed income (“GILTI”); and (iv) a provision that allows a domestic corporation an immediate deduction for a portion of its foreign derived intangible income (“FDII”).

The Securities and Exchange Commission staff issued Staff Accounting Bulletin (“SAB”) 118, which provides a measurement period that was not to extend beyond one year from the Tax Act enactment date for companies to complete the related accounting under ASC 740, Accounting for Income Taxes. In accordance with SAB 118, a company must reflect the income tax effects of those aspects of the Tax Act for which the accounting under ASC 740 is complete. To the extent that a company’s accounting for a certain income tax effect of the Tax Act was incomplete, but it was able to determine a reasonable estimate, it was required to record a provisional estimate in the financial statements.

In connection with its initial analysis of the impact of the Tax Act, the Company recorded a tax expense of $1.1 million for the year ended December 31, 2017. This estimate consists of no expense for the one-time transition tax, and an expense of $1.1 million related to revaluation of deferred tax assets and liabilities caused by the lower corporate tax rate. There were no material differences between the Company’s 2017 estimates and the final calculated amounts.

The Company has estimated of the effect of GILTI and has determined that it has no tax liability related to GILTI as of December 31, 2019 and 2018.

The Tax Act also contains a provision that allows a domestic corporation an immediate deduction for a portion of its foreign derived intangible income (“FDII”). The Company estimated the effect of FDII and recorded a tax benefit of approximately $0.9 million and $0.6 million as of December 31, 2019 and 2018, respectively.

Income Tax Recovery

The French government had introduced a 3% tax on dividends or deemed dividends for entities subject to French corporate income tax in 2012. In 2017, the French Constitutional Court released a decision declaring that the 3% tax on dividends or deemed dividends is unconstitutional. As a result of that decision, the Company filed a claim for refund of approximately $3.9 million for these taxes paid since 2015 including accrued interest of approximately $0.4 million. The Company recorded the refund claim as of December 31, 2017 and has received the entire refund in 2018.

Other Tax Matters

The French authorities are considering that the existence of IP Suisse, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Interparfums SA, does not, in and of itself, constitute a permanent establishment and therefore Interparfums, SA should pay French taxes on all or part of the profits of that entity. The French Tax Authority recently notified the Company that IP Suisse will be the subject of a tax audit covering the period January 1, 2010 through December 31, 2018. No claim or assessment for any taxes or penalties has been made at this time. The Company disagrees and is prepared to vigorously defend its position. Consequently, no provision has been made in the accompanying financial statements as we believe it is more-likely-than-not that our position will be sustained based on its technical merits. Although we believe that we have sufficient arguments to support our position, there exists a risk that the French authorities may prevail. The Company’s exposure in connection with this matter is approximately $5.8 million, net of recovery taxes already paid to the Swiss authorities, and excluding interest.

The Company is no longer subject to U.S. federal, state, and local or non-U.S. income tax examinations by tax authorities for years before 2016.

Differences between the United States federal statutory income tax rate and the effective income tax rate were as follows:

	2019			2018			2017
Statutory rates		21.0	%		21.0	%		34.0	%
State and local taxes, net of Federal benefit		0.6			0.4			0.2
Benefit of Foreign Derived Intangible Income		(0.9	)		(0.6	)		—
Deferred tax effect of statutory tax rate changes		—			—			1.4
Foreign income tax recovery		—			—			(4.6	)
Effect of foreign taxes greater than (less than) U.S. statutory rates		7.5			7.3			(1.0	)
Other		(0.6	)		(0.8	)		(0.8	)
Effective rates		27.6	%		27.3	%		29.2	%