Note 9 - Income Taxes

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2019

Income Tax Disclosure [Abstract]

Income Taxes

Income Taxes

Certain entities within our consolidated group have generated deferred tax assets of approximately $68.0 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 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 $67.9 million at September 30, 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. 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 resulting in a reduction of our current federal income tax receivable. As of September 30, 2019, our current federal income tax liability is $33.4 million and is included as a component of other liabilities in our condensed consolidated balance sheets.

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 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 September 30, 2019, we held $89.2 million of these bonds, which are included as prepaid income taxes within other assets in our condensed consolidated balance sheets. The corresponding deduction of our statutory contingency reserves resulted in the recognition of a net deferred tax liability, which is included in other liabilities in our condensed consolidated balance sheets.

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.