6. Income taxes

The Company accounts for income taxes in accordance with ASC 740—Income Taxes. Under ASC 740, income taxes are recognized for the amount of taxes payable or refundable for the current period and deferred tax liabilities and assets are recognized for the future tax consequences of transactions that have been recognized in the Company’s consolidated financial statements or tax returns. A valuation allowance is provided when it is more likely than not that some portion, or all, of the deferred tax asset will not be realized.

The Company accounts for uncertainties in income tax in accordance with ASC 740-10—Accounting for Uncertainty in Income Taxes. ASC 740-10 prescribes a recognition threshold and measurement attribute for the financial statement recognition and measurement of a tax position taken or expected to be taken in a tax return. This accounting standard also provides guidance on derecognition, classification, interest and penalties, accounting in interim periods, disclosure and transition.

The Company recognizes interest and penalties on taxes, if any, within its income tax provision on its consolidated statements of comprehensive income. No significant interest or penalties were recognized during the periods presented.

On December 22, 2017, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) was enacted into law, which significantly changes existing U.S. tax law and includes numerous provisions that affect the Company’s business. Changes include, but are not limited to, a corporate tax rate decrease from 34% to 21% effective for tax years beginning after December 31, 2017, expensing of capital expenditures, the transition of U.S. international taxation from a worldwide tax system to a territorial system, a one-time transition tax on the mandatory deemed repatriation of cumulative foreign earnings, and limitations on the deductibility of certain executive compensation and other deductions. The Company is required to recognize the effect of the tax law changes in the period of enactment, including the transition tax, re-measuring the Company’s U.S. deferred tax assets and liabilities, as well as reassessing the net realizability of the Company’s deferred tax assets and liabilities. During the fourth quarter of 2017, the Company recorded a provisional net charge of $7,578 related to the TCJA due to the remeasurement of the deferred taxes.  There was no impact related to the one-time transition tax on the mandatory deemed repatriation of foreign earnings.

As of September 30, 2018, the Company has not completed the accounting for the income tax effects of the TCJA.  No further changes have been made to the provisional amounts reported for the transition tax or the remeasurement of the deferred taxes during the nine months ended September 30, 2018.  For the foreign derived intangible income, executive compensation, and other deductions, the Company recorded an estimate in the effective tax rate for the nine months ended September 30, 2018.  The Company has not yet determined a policy election with respect to whether to record deferred taxes for basis differences expected to reverse as a result of the global intangible low tax income provisions in future periods or use the period cost method.

Given the significant complexity of the TCJA, the Company will continue to evaluate and analyze the impact of this legislation.  New guidance from regulators, interpretation of the law, and refinement of the Company’s estimates from ongoing analysis of data and tax positions may change the provisional amounts.

The Company has operations in the U.S., multiple U.S. states and the Netherlands. The statute of limitations has expired for all tax years prior to 2013 for federal jurisdictions and the Netherlands, and 2012 to 2013 for various state tax jurisdictions. However, the net operating loss generated on the Company’s federal and state tax returns in prior years may be subject to adjustments by the federal and state tax authorities.

The Company determined the income tax provision for interim periods using an estimate of the Company’s annual effective tax rate, adjusted for discrete items arising in that quarter. In each quarter, the Company updates its estimated annual effective tax rate, and if the estimated annual effective tax rate changes, a cumulative adjustment is recorded in that quarter. The Company’s quarterly income tax provision and quarterly estimate of the annual effective tax rate are subject to volatility due to several factors, including our ability to accurately predict the proportion of our income (loss) before provision for income taxes in multiple jurisdictions, the tax effects of our stock-based compensation, and the effects of its acquisition and the integration of that acquisition.