8.INCOME TAXES

Income tax expense is recorded relative to the jurisdictions that recognize book earnings. For the nine months ended September 30, 2018, the Company recognized an income tax expense of $1.8 million on pre-tax income of $5.0 million, representing an effective income tax rate of 35.7% compared to an income tax benefit of $2.1 million on pre-tax income of $10.9 million, representing an effective income tax rate of (18.9%) for the same period in 2017.

A number of items caused the reported income tax expense for the nine months ended September 30, 2018 to exceed the U.S. federal statutory income tax rate of 21%. During the first quarter of 2018, CRM received an intercompany dividend, which increased income tax expense by $0.3 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2018 and caused a 12% increase to the current period’s effective income tax rate. The Company’s effective tax rate also is higher than the U.S. federal statutory income tax rate because there is a 27% statutory tax rate in Canada where the Company earns a significant portion of its income. In addition, nondeductible stock compensation expense in the United States and certain nondeductible business expenses in Poland contribute to the increased effective income tax rate as compared to the U.S. federal statutory income tax rate.

During the third quarter of 2017, the Company released its $5.1 million U.S. valuation allowance on its U.S. deferred tax assets, resulting in a tax benefit. The Company analyzed the likelihood of future realization of the U.S. deferred tax assets, including recent cumulative earnings by taxing jurisdiction, expectations of future taxable income or loss, the amount of net operating loss carryforwards not subject to limitations, the number of periods necessary to realize the net operating loss carryforwards and other relevant factors. Based on this analysis, the Company concluded that its operations in the U.S. had attained a sustained level of profitability sufficient to realize its deferred tax assets in the U.S., and thus reduce its valuation allowance.

The Tax Act, which was enacted on December 22, 2017, made significant changes to the Internal Revenue Code effective for 2018, although certain provisions affected the Company’s 2017 financial results. The changes impacting 2018 results are from the reduction in the U.S. federal corporate income tax rate from 35% to 21% and the tax on Global Intangible Low-Taxed Income (“GILTI”). Due to the complexities involved in accounting for the enactment of the Tax Act, the SEC staff issued Staff Accounting Bulletin No. 118 (“SAB 118”) which was followed by ASU 2018-05. SAB 118 and ASU 2018-05 provide guidance on accounting for the income tax effects of the Tax Act. The issued guidance provides a measurement period that may not extend beyond one year from the Tax Act enactment date to complete the accounting for the impact of the Tax Act. This guidance allows the Company to provide provisional estimates of the impact of the Tax Act in its financial statements. The Company has not completed its analysis of the tax impact resulting from the enactment of the Tax Act, and the provisional amounts will be refined as needed during the measurement period allowed by SAB 118 and ASU 2018-05. While the Company believes that it has made reasonable estimates of the impact of the U.S. corporate income tax rate reduction and GILTI, these estimates could change as the Company continues to analyze IRS guidance related to the Tax Act as it is released. In addition to the Tax Act changes impacting the Company’s 2018 results, further changes could result as the Company refines its calculations surrounding the changes that impacted its 2017 results, including the remeasurement of its deferred tax balances, as well as its calculations of earnings and profits used in the computation of the transition tax.

Provisional amounts

Global Intangible Low-Taxed Income: The Tax Act creates a new requirement that certain income, such as GILTI, earned by a controlled foreign corporation (“CFC”) must be included currently in the gross income of the CFC’s U.S. shareholder, effective in 2018. The Company is allowed to make an accounting policy choice of either (1) treating taxes due on future U.S. inclusions in taxable income related to GILTI as a current period expense when incurred (the “period cost method”) or (2) factoring such amounts into the Company’s measurement of its deferred taxes (the “deferred method”). The Company has selected the period cost method and recorded a provisional amount of less than $0.1 million for the GILTI tax. Because the Tax Act does not address certain aspects of the calculation of the GILTI tax, leaving them open to interpretation, the U.S. Treasury Department is expected to issue regulations to provide clarification on calculating the GILTI tax. As the Company finalizes its analysis of the tax law changes in the Tax Act related to GILTI, the Company will update provisional amounts for this remeasurement.

Deferred tax assets and liabilities: During 2017, the Company remeasured deferred tax assets and liabilities using the rates at which the deferred taxes are expected to reverse in the future, which would be a blended rate of 24.66%, comprised of a 21% federal rate and a 3.66% state income tax rate net of federal benefit. The Company continues to use this blended tax rate of 24.66% for 2018. No updates have been made to the provisional amounts recorded for the remeasurement of the Company's deferred tax assets and liabilities in 2017. However, as the Company finalizes its analysis of the tax law changes in the Tax Act, including the impact on its tax return filing positions, the Company will update provisional amounts for this remeasurement. Additionally, due to the size and nature of the one-time transition tax discussed below, any change in the one-time transition tax provisional estimate could directly impact the remeasurement of deferred tax assets and liabilities.

U.S. taxation on foreign earnings: A key component of the Tax Act includes a one-time transition tax applied to foreign earnings that were not previously subject to U.S. tax. This one-time transition tax is based on total post-1986 foreign earnings and profits that were previously deferred from U.S. income taxes. During 2017, the Company recorded a provisional amount for the one-time transition tax liability based on its estimates of post-1986 foreign earnings and profits. Previously, the Company had not recorded a deferred tax liability related to these post-1986 foreign earnings because management did not expect to repatriate these earnings and subject them to U.S. taxation due to the nature of the Company’s foreign operations. Because the Tax Act does not address certain aspects of the calculation of the transition tax, leaving them open to interpretation, the U.S. Treasury Department is expected to issue regulations to provide clarification on calculating the transition tax. Additionally, the Company continues to gather post-1986 foreign earnings and profits support as well as substantiation for historical tax pool data, which will impact the provisional amount. No updates have been made to the provisional amounts recorded in 2017 at this time, but the Company expects to update its provisional amount following the issuance of regulations on the Tax Act by the U.S. Treasury Department and additional data gathering efforts.

The Company will continue to analyze the effects of the Tax Act on its financial statements and on its future results of operations. Certain aspects of the Tax Act, such as the reduction of the U.S. statutory rate to 21%, will lower the Company’s future effective tax rate. In contrast, other aspects of the Tax Act, such as GILTI, will increase the Company’s future effective tax rate. The Company will continue to disclose details of the future impact of Tax Act changes on its results of operations, and additional impacts from the enactment of the Tax Act will be recorded as they are identified during the measurement period as allowed by SAB 118 and ASU 2018-05.