At December 31, 2017, the Company had available NOL carry forwards of approximately $81 million for federal income tax purposes, which will begin to expire in 2027. The NOL carry forwards for state purposes are approximately $49 million, which will begin to expire in 2031.  

Pursuant to Internal Revenue Code Section 382, the annual use of the net operating loss carry forwards and research and development tax credits could be limited by any greater than 50% ownership change during any three year testing period. As a result of any such ownership change, portions of our net operating loss carry forwards and research and development tax credits are subject to annual limitations. The Company completed a Section 382 analysis for the period from June 6, 2006 through September 30, 2017. Based upon the analysis, the Company determined that ownership changes have occurred in prior years.  Based on our analysis of our stockholder activity for the three months ended December 31, 2017, there does not appear to be any additional ownership changes that would have caused an additional annual limitation under the provisions of Section 382.

 ASC 740 requires that the tax benefit of net operating losses, temporary differences and credit carryforwards be recorded as an asset to the extent that management assesses that realization is "more likely than not." Realization of the future tax benefits is dependent on the Company's ability to generate sufficient taxable income within the carryforward period. Because of the Company's recent history of operating losses, management believes that recognition of the deferred tax assets arising from the above-mentioned future tax benefits is currently not likely to be realized and, accordingly, has provided a valuation allowance.

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act was enacted on December 22, 2017. The Act includes a number of changes to existing U.S. tax laws, most notably the reduction of the U.S. federal and corporate tax rate from 35% to 21% beginning in 2018. At December 31, 2017, the Company remeasured its deferred tax assets and liabilities based on the rates at which they are expected to reverse in the future, which is generally 21%. The remeasurement of the net deferred tax liability resulted in a provision benefit of $339,000 recorded through continuing operations.

The benefit for income taxes from continuing operations consists of the following for the years ended December 31, 2017 and 2016: 

At December 31, 2017 and December 31, 2016 the significant components of the deferred tax assets from continuing operations are summarized below:

Deferred income taxes are provided for the temporary differences between the financial reporting basis and the tax basis of the Company’s assets and liabilities. 

The Company has determined at December 31, 2017 and December 31, 2016 that a full valuation allowance would be required against of all our operating loss carry forwards and deferred tax assets that we do not expect to be utilized by deferred tax liabilities. 

The following table reconciles our losses from continuing operations before income taxes for the year ended December 31, 2017 and December 31, 2016.

Interest and penalties related to uncertain tax positions are recognized as a component of income tax expense. For the tax year ended December 31, 2017, the Company recognized no interest or penalties.