Note 9 - Income Taxes

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2019

Income Tax Disclosure [Abstract]

Income Taxes

Income Taxes

As of March 31, 2019, we have $2.1 million of federal NOL carryforwards. These NOL carryforwards relate to our March 2018 acquisition of EnTitle Direct and are subject to limitation under IRC Section 382. To the extent not utilized, the NOL carryforwards will expire by tax year 2038.

Certain entities within our consolidated group have generated deferred tax assets of approximately $67.7 million, relating primarily to state and local NOL carryforwards, which, if unutilized, will expire during various future tax periods. We are required to establish a valuation allowance against our deferred tax assets when it is more likely than not that all or some portion of our deferred tax assets will not be realized. At each balance sheet date, we assess our need for a valuation allowance and this assessment is based on all available evidence, both positive and negative. This requires management to exercise judgment and make assumptions regarding whether our deferred tax assets will be realized in future periods. We have determined that certain non-insurance entities within Radian may continue to generate taxable losses on a separate company basis in the near term and may not be able to fully utilize certain of their state and local NOLs on their state and local tax returns. Therefore, with respect to deferred tax assets relating to these state and local NOLs and other state timing adjustments, we retained a valuation allowance of $64.4 million at March 31, 2019.

In July 2018, we finalized a settlement with the IRS related to adjustments we had been contesting that resulted from the examination of our 2000 through 2007 consolidated federal income tax returns. The IRS was opposing the recognition of certain tax losses and deductions that were generated through our investment in a portfolio of non-economic REMIC residual interests and proposed denying the associated tax benefits of these items. During 2018, under the terms of the settlement, Radian utilized its qualified deposits with the U.S. Treasury to settle its $31.0 million obligation to the IRS, and during the first quarter of 2019, the IRS refunded to Radian the remaining $57.2 million that was previously on deposit. See Note 8 for additional information about this refund.

As a mortgage guaranty insurer, we are eligible for a tax deduction, subject to certain limitations, under IRC Section 832(e) for amounts required by state law or regulation to be set aside in statutory contingency reserves. The deduction is allowed only to the extent that we purchase non-interest bearing U.S. Mortgage Guaranty Tax and Loss Bonds (“T&L Bonds”) issued by the U.S. Treasury in an amount equal to the tax benefit derived from deducting any portion of our statutory contingency reserves. As of March 31, 2019, we held no T&L Bonds. However, we do anticipate purchasing T&L Bonds on a routine basis during the coming quarters.

For additional information on our income taxes, including our accounting policies, see Notes 2 and 10 of Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements in our 2018 Form 10-K.