11.          Income Tax:

The Company has analyzed filing positions in all of the federal and state jurisdictions where it is required to file income tax returns, as well as all open tax years in these jurisdictions. The Company has recorded an accrual of $0.4 million, net of federal tax benefit, for potential liabilities for state income taxes in states which have enacted economic nexus statutes and the Company has not filed income tax returns.  The Company’s policy is to recognize interest related to unrecognized tax benefits as interest expense and penalties as operating expenses. The Company believes that it has appropriate support for the income tax positions it takes and expects to take on its tax returns, and that its accruals for tax liabilities are adequate for all open years based on an assessment of many factors including past experience and interpretations of tax law applied to the facts of each matter.

The TCJA was enacted on December 22, 2017 and introduced significant changes to the U.S. income tax law.  Effective in 2018, the TCJA reduces U.S. statutory tax rates from 34% to 21%. Accordingly, we remeasured our deferred taxes as of December 31, 2017 to reflect the reduced rate that will apply in future periods when these deferred taxes are settled or realized.

Due to the timing of the enactment and the complexity involved in applying the provisions of the TCJA we have made reasonable estimates of the effects and recorded provisional amounts in our financial statements as of March 31, 2018.  As we collect and prepare necessary data and interpret the TCJA and any additional guidance issued by the Internal Revenue Service, and other standard-setting bodies, we may make adjustments to the provisional amounts.  Those adjustments may materially impact our provision for income taxes and effective tax rate in the period in which adjustments are made.  The accounting for the tax effects of the TCJA will be completed in 2018.

The effective tax rate for the three months ended March 31, 2018 was 23.4%, compared to 32.0% for the same period last year. The decrease in the effective tax rate is primarily due to the change in the federal tax rate due to the TCJA which reduced the statutory rate from 34% to 21%.