Note 8 - Income Taxes

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2020

Notes to Financial Statements

Income Tax Disclosure [Text Block]

Note 8 - Income Taxes

For the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019, we recognized income tax expense of $1,692 and $1,457, respectively.

	Year ended December 31,
	2020			2019
Current:
State	$	23		$	43
Foreign		283			203
		306			246
Deferred:
Federal		1,673			1,236
Foreign		(287	)		(25	)
		1,386			1,211
Total income tax provision	$	1,692		$	1,457

Deferred income taxes reflect the net tax effect of temporary differences between the carrying amounts of assets and liabilities for financial reporting purposes and the amount used for income tax purposes. Significant components of our deferred tax assets and liabilities are as follows:

	December 31,
	2020			2019
Deferred tax assets:
Net operating loss carryforwards		12,481			14,579
Tax credit carryforwards		2,070			1,907
Intangible assets		1,352			1,283
Accrued expenses, reserves and other		2,176			2,265
Research and development		984			-
Total deferred tax assets		19,063			20,034
Valuation allowance for deferred tax assets		(1,942	)		(1,942	)
Net deferred tax assets		17,121			18,092
Deferred tax liabilities:
Property, plant and equipment		(262	)		(342	)
Intangible assets		(5,538	)		(5,087	)
Total deferred tax liabilities		(5,800	)		(5,429	)
Net deferred tax assets	$	11,321		$	12,663

Net deferred tax assets (liabilities) are comprised of the following balance sheet amounts:

	December 31,
	2020			2019
Deferred tax assets	$	11,836		$	13,222
Deferred tax liabilities		(515	)		(559	)
	$	11,321		$	12,663

For financial reporting purposes, income from continuing operations before income taxes is as follows:

	Year ended December 31,
	2020		2019
United States	$	6,586	$	5,992
Foreign		437		779
	$	7,023	$	6,771

The provision for income taxes differs from the amount of income tax determined by applying the applicable U.S. statutory federal income tax rate to income from continuing operations before income taxes as follows:

	Year ended December 31,
	2020			2019
Statutory income tax rate		21	%		21	%
Increase (decrease) in tax provision resulting from:
Equity compensation		4.5			(0.4	)
Income tax credits		(2.3	)		(0.4	)
Foreign tax rates		0.1			(0.5	)
Other		0.8			1.8
Effective income tax rate		24.1	%		21.5	%

As of December 31, 2020, it was concluded that it is more likely than not that our U.S. deferred tax assets will be fully realized on the basis of management’s assessment.  In evaluating the realizability of our U.S. deferred tax assets, management considered all available evidence and concluded that positive factors, including our sustained profitability and continued improvement in our ability to achieve internal earnings forecasts, outweighed all negative factors, including our history of operating losses (prior to 2015) and historical operating volatility.  Our assessment also considered our ability to fully utilize before expiration our domestic net operating loss carryforwards, which expire 2021 thru 2035, and our general business tax credit carryforwards, which expire 2028 thru 2039.  As of December 31, 2020, our domestic net operating loss carryforwards and general business tax credits were $47,755 and $2,070, respectively.

As of December 31, 2020, for certain past operations in the U.K., we continue to report a valuation allowance for net operating loss carryforwards of approximately $11,000, nearly all of which can be carried forward indefinitely. Management has concluded that utilization of the U.K. net operating losses may be limited due to the change in the past U.K. operation, and that they cannot currently be used to reduce taxable income of our other U.K. subsidiary, Accutronics Ltd. There are no other deferred tax assets related to the past U.K. operations.

As of December 31, 2020, we have not recognized a valuation allowance against our other foreign deferred tax assets.

There were no unrecognized tax benefits related to uncertain tax positions at December 31, 2020 and 2019.

As of December 31, 2020, the Company maintains its assertion that all foreign earnings will be indefinitely reinvested in those operations, other than earnings generated in the U.K.

As a result of our operations, we file income tax returns in various jurisdictions including U.S. federal, U.S. state and foreign jurisdictions.  We are routinely subject to examination by taxing authorities in these various jurisdictions.  In August 2020, the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) completed its examination of the Company’s federal tax returns for 2016-2018 with no material adjustments identified.  Our U.S. tax matters for 2019 remain subject to IRS examination.  Our U.S. tax matters for 2001, 2002, 2005-2007 and 2011-2015 also remain subject to IRS examination due to the remaining availability of net operating loss carryforwards generated in those years. Our U.S. tax matters for 2001, 2002, 2005-2007 and 2011-2019 remain subject to examination by various state and local tax jurisdictions. Our tax matters for the years 2010 through 2019 remain subject to examination by the respective foreign tax jurisdiction authorities.