Income Taxes

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2019

Income Tax Disclosure [Abstract]

Income Taxes

Income Taxes

We have elected to be taxed as a real estate investment trust (“REIT”) pursuant to Section 856(c) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (“Code”). In order for us to qualify as a REIT, at least 95 percent of our gross income in any year must be derived from qualifying sources. In addition, a REIT must distribute annually at least 90 percent of its REIT taxable income (calculated without any deduction for dividends paid and excluding capital gain) to its stockholders and meet other tests.

Qualification as a REIT involves the satisfaction of numerous requirements (on an annual and quarterly basis) established under highly technical and complex Code provisions for which there are limited judicial or administrative interpretations, and involves the determination of various factual matters and circumstances not entirely within our control. In addition, frequent changes occur in the area of REIT taxation which requires us to continually monitor our tax status. We analyzed the various REIT tests and confirmed that we continued to qualify as a REIT for the quarter ended March 31, 2019.

As a REIT, we generally will not be subject to United States (“U.S.”) federal income taxes at the corporate level on the ordinary taxable income we distribute to our stockholders as dividends. If we fail to qualify as a REIT in any taxable year, our taxable income could be subject to U.S. federal income tax at regular corporate rates. Even if we qualify as a REIT, we may be subject to certain state and local income taxes as well as U.S. federal income and excise taxes on our undistributed income. In addition, taxable income from non-REIT activities managed through taxable REIT subsidiaries is subject to federal, state, and local income taxes. The Company is also subject to local income taxes in Canada as a result of the acquisition of Carefree in 2016. We do not provide for withholding taxes on our undistributed earnings from our Canadian subsidiaries as they are reinvested and will continue to be reinvested indefinitely outside of the U.S.

Deferred tax assets and liabilities reflect the impact of temporary differences between the amounts of assets and liabilities for financial reporting purposes and the bases of such assets and liabilities as measured by tax laws. Deferred tax assets are reduced, if necessary, by a valuation allowance to the amount where realization is more likely than not assured after considering all available evidence. Our temporary differences primarily relate to net operating loss carryforwards, depreciation and basis differences between tax and U.S. GAAP on our Canadian investments. Our deferred tax assets that have a full valuation allowance relate to our taxable REIT subsidiaries (“TRS”) business. Net deferred tax liabilities of $20.3 million for Canadian entities have been recorded in relation to corporate entities and included in “Other liabilities” in our Consolidated Balance Sheets as of March 31, 2019. Net deferred tax liabilities of $21.6 million (Canada) and $0.1 million (U.S.) have been recorded in relation to corporate entities and included in “Other liabilities” in our Consolidated Balance Sheets as of March 31, 2018. There are no U.S. federal deferred tax assets or liabilities included in our Consolidated Balance Sheets as of March 31, 2019 and December 31, 2018.

We had no unrecognized tax benefits as of March 31, 2019 and 2018. We do not expect significant changes in tax positions that would result in unrecognized tax benefits within one year of March 31, 2019.

We recorded a current tax expense for federal, state, and Canadian income taxes of $0.2 million for the three months ended March 31, 2019 and a current tax expense of approximately $0.2 million for the three months ended March 31, 2018.

For the three months ended March 31, 2019 and 2018, we recorded a deferred tax benefit of $0.2 million and $0.3 million, respectively.