Note 10. Income Taxes

Reliance and its subsidiaries file numerous consolidated and separate income tax returns in the United States federal jurisdiction and in many state and foreign jurisdictions. We are no longer subject to U.S. federal tax examinations for years before 2015 and state and local tax examinations before 2014. Significant components of the provision for income taxes attributable to continuing operations were as follows:


	Year Ended December 31,
	2018		2017		2016
	(in millions)
Current:
Federal	$	150.6	$	117.8	$	91.1
State		47.6		21.5		18.9
Foreign		19.7		16.1		10.6
		217.9		155.4		120.6
Deferred:
Federal		(6.0)		(202.8)		3.0
State		(2.3)		11.1		1.0
Foreign		(0.8)		(0.9)		(4.5)
		(9.1)		(192.6)		(0.5)
	$	208.8	$	(37.2)	$	120.1

Components of U.S. and international income before income taxes were as follows:


	Year Ended December 31,
	2018		2017		2016
	(in millions)

U.S.	$	775.2	$	524.6	$	411.0
International		75.4		59.2		18.2
Income before income taxes	$	850.6	$	583.8	$	429.2

The reconciliation of income tax at the U.S. federal statutory tax rate to income tax expense is as follows:


	Year Ended December 31,
	2018		2017		2016
Income tax at U.S. federal statutory tax rate	21.0	%	35.0	%	35.0	%
Tax Reform	0.4		(35.5)		—
State income tax, net of federal tax effect	3.6		3.8		3.1
Foreign earnings taxed at higher (lower) rates	0.4		(0.7)		(0.8)
Net effect of life insurance policies	(1.5)		(3.6)		(4.2)
Net effect of changes in unrecognized tax benefits	(0.2)		(0.2)		(4.3)
Stock-based compensation	0.6		(0.2)		—
Domestic production activity deduction	—		(1.6)		(1.7)
Loss on sale of assets	—		(0.8)		—
Other, net	0.2		(2.6)		0.9
Effective tax rate	24.5	%	(6.4)	%	28.0	%

Significant components of our deferred tax assets and liabilities are as follows:


	December 31,
	2018		2017
	(in millions)
Deferred tax assets:
Accrued expenses not currently deductible for tax	$	26.0	$	34.8
Inventory costs capitalized for tax purposes		27.1		23.1
Stock-based compensation		7.2		10.5
Allowance for doubtful accounts		5.4		3.4
Tax credits carryforwards		1.0		1.3
Net operating loss carryforwards		6.0		5.6
Total deferred tax assets		72.7		78.7
Deferred tax liabilities:
Property, plant and equipment, net		(175.4)		(159.7)
Goodwill and other intangible assets		(308.8)		(307.3)
LIFO inventories		(21.1)		(39.5)
Deferred income		—		(0.8)
Other		(7.5)		(12.2)
Total deferred tax liabilities		(512.8)		(519.5)
Net deferred tax liabilities	$	(440.1)	$	(440.8)

As of December 31, 2018, we had available state net operating loss carryforwards (“NOL”) of $5.6 million to offset future income taxes expiring in years 2019 through 2038. We believe that it is more likely than not that we will be able to realize these NOLs within their respective carryforward periods.

The Company believes it is more likely than not that it will generate sufficient future taxable income to realize its deferred tax assets.

Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017

On December 22, 2017, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 (“Tax Reform”) was enacted, which included significant changes to the taxation of U.S. corporations. These changes include, among other things, a reduction of the U.S. federal statutory rate from 35% to 21% effective in 2018, the implementation of a territorial tax system, a one-time tax in 2017 on accumulated foreign profits that have not been previously subject to U.S. tax (transition tax), the repeal of the corporate alternative minimum tax and changes to business deductions, including a new limitation on the deductibility of business interest, stricter limits on the deductibility of certain executive compensation and the repeal of the deduction for domestic production activities.

We recognized a $207.3 million provisional net tax benefit in 2017 relating to the estimated impact of Tax Reform. Included in the provisional amount was $216.7 million tax benefit due to the effect of the U.S. federal statutory rate change on deferred tax assets and liabilities, partially offset by $9.4 million of one-time transition taxes. We finalized our assessment of the impact of Tax Reform in 2018 and reduced the net tax benefit recorded by $3.2 million.

Unrecognized Tax Benefits

We are under U.S. federal tax audit for 2017 and we are under audit by various state jurisdictions for years 2013 through 2017, but do not anticipate any material adjustments from these examinations. Reconciliation of the beginning and ending balances of the total amounts of unrecognized tax benefits is as follows:


	Year Ended December 31,
	2018		2017		2016
	(in millions)
Unrecognized tax benefits at January 1	$	4.1	$	5.2	$	22.9
Increases in tax positions for prior years		0.4		—		0.4
Decreases in tax positions for prior years		—		(0.1)		(0.6)
Increases in tax positions for current year		—		—		0.1
Settlements		—		(0.2)		(17.6)
Lapse of statute of limitations		(2.1)		(0.8)		—
Unrecognized tax benefits at December 31	$	2.4	$	4.1	$	5.2

As of December 31, 2018, $2.4 million of unrecognized tax benefits would impact the effective tax rate if recognized. Accrued interest and penalties, net of applicable tax effect, related to uncertain tax positions were $0.5 million as of December 31, 2018 and 2017. Although the timing, settlement or closure of audits is not certain, we do not anticipate our unrecognized tax benefits will increase or decrease significantly over the next twelve months.