On December 22, 2017, the President signed into Public Law No. 115-97, commonly referred to as the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (the "Tax Act").  The Tax Act contains significant changes to corporate taxes, including a permanent reduction of the corporate tax rate from 35% to 21% effective January 1, 2018. The Tax Act's other major changes applicable to Havertys include the elimination of certain deductions and an enhanced and extended option to claim accelerated depreciation deductions on qualified property.

In December 2017, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) staff issued Staff Accounting Bulletin No. 118, Income Tax Accounting Implications of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (SAB 118), which allows us to record provisional amounts during a measurement period not to extend beyond one year of the enactment date.

We remeasured certain deferred tax assets and liabilities based on the rates at which they are expected to reverse in the future, which is generally 25%.  However, we are still analyzing certain aspects of the Tax Act and refining our calculations, which could potentially affect the measurement of some of these balances or potentially give rise to new deferred tax amounts. At December 31, 2017, we have made a reasonable estimate of the effects on our existing deferred tax balances. The provisional amount recorded related to the remeasurement of our deferred tax balance was an additional expense of $10,639,000.  As we complete our analysis of the Tax Act, collect and prepare necessary data, and interpret any additional guidance issued by the IRS and other standard-setting bodies, we may make adjustments to the provisional amounts.  We recognized a tax benefit of $4,771,000 for the remeasurement of deferred tax assets and liabilities for which our accounting is complete.

Income tax expense (benefit) consists of the following:

The differences between income tax expense in the accompanying Consolidated Financial Statements and the amount computed by applying the statutory Federal income tax rate are as follows:

 

 

Deferred income taxes reflect the net tax effects of temporary differences between the carrying amounts of assets and liabilities for financial reporting purposes and the amounts used for income tax purposes.  The amounts in the following table are grouped based on broad categories of items that generate the deferred tax assets and liabilities.

We review our deferred tax assets to determine the need for a valuation allowance.  Based on evidence we conclude that it is more-likely-than-not that our deferred tax assets will be realized and therefore a valuation allowance is not required.

We file income tax returns in the U.S. federal jurisdiction and various state and local jurisdictions.  With respect to U.S. federal, state and local jurisdictions, with limited exceptions, we are no longer subject to income tax audits for years before 2014.

Uncertain Tax Positions

No uncertain tax positions were identified for the years currently open under statute of limitations.  Interest and penalties associated with uncertain tax positions, if any, are recognized as components of income tax expense.