7. INCOME TAXES

Geographic sources of loss from continuing operations before income tax are as follows:

Significant components of the Company’s deferred tax assets and liabilities are as follows:

The effective tax rate of the Company’s provision (benefit) for income taxes differs from the federal statutory rate as follows:

Income taxes are recorded in accordance with authoritative guidance for accounting for income taxes, which requires the recognition of deferred tax assets and liabilities to reflect the future tax consequences of the events that have been recognized in the Company’s consolidated financial statements or tax returns. Measurement of the deferred items is based on enacted tax laws. In the event of differences between the financial reporting bases and tax bases of the Company’s assets, an assessment regarding the Company’s ability to realize the future benefits of the deferred tax assets is required. The Company records a valuation allowance to reduce the deferred tax assets to the amount that is more likely than not to be realized. Management has considered future taxable income and ongoing tax planning strategies in assessing the need for the valuation allowance. In the event the Company were to determine that it would be able to realize the deferred tax assets in the future in excess of their net recorded amounts, an adjustment to the deferred tax assets would increase the income in the period such determination was made. Likewise, should the Company determine that it would not be able to realize all or part of the net deferred tax assets in the future, an adjustment to the deferred tax assets would be charged to income in the period such determination was made.

In July 2006, the FASB issued additional guidance which requires the impact of an uncertain income tax position on the income tax return must be recognized at the largest amount that is more-likely-than-not to be sustained upon audit by the relevant taxing authority. An uncertain income tax position will not be recognized if it has less than a 50% likelihood of being sustained. Additionally, the provisions under this guidance also provides guidance on derecognition, measurement, classification, interest and penalties, accounting in interim periods, disclosure and transition. The Company adopted the provisions under this guidance on January 1, 2007. The adoption of these provisions had no impact on the Company’s consolidated financial position or results of operations. At December 31, 2017 and 2016, the Company has no unrecognized income tax benefits and no material uncertain tax positions.

During the year ended December 31, 2012, a change of ownership for tax purposes causing Section 382 restrictions on the utilization of net operating losses occurred. No additional ownership changes arose through 2017. The ownership change in 2012, while limiting the annual utilization of net operating losses, will not cause the carryforwards generated subsequent to the Company’s last ownership change in October 2008 to expire unused. In general, an ownership change, as defined by Section 382, results from transactions increasing ownership of certain stockholders or public groups in the stock of the corporation by more than 50 percentage points over a three-year period. Utilization of net operating loss carryforwards are subject to annual limitations under Section 382 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, and similar state provisions whenever an ownership change has occurred. The ownership changes described above will limit the annual amount of net operating loss carryforwards that can be utilized to offset future taxable income.

At December 31, 2017, the Company had federal net operating loss carryforwards of approximately $113,173, state net operating loss carryforwards of approximately $91,567 and Canadian net operating loss carryforwards of approximately $11,063. The federal net operating loss carryforwards and the state net operating loss carryforwards begin to expire in 2028, and the Canadian net operating loss carryforwards begin to expire in 2026. The federal and state net operating loss carryovers reflected above do not include any net operating loss carryover which would expire unutilized solely as a result of Section 382 limitations arising in connection with the 2008 ownership change.

The Company’s policy is to recognize interest and penalties related to income tax matters in other expense. Because the Company has generated net operating losses since inception for both state and federal purposes, no additional tax liability, penalties or interest have been recognized for balance sheet or income statement purposes as of and for the two years ended December 31, 2017.

The Company does not expect a significant change in the amount of its unrecognized tax benefits within the next 12 months. Therefore, it is not expected that the change in the Company’s unrecognized tax benefits will have a significant impact on the Company’s results of operations or financial position.

All of the federal income tax returns for the Company and its subsidiaries remain open since their respective dates of incorporation due to the existence of net operating losses. The Company and its subsidiaries have not been, nor are they currently, under examination by the Internal Revenue Service or the Canada Revenue Agency.

State and provincial income tax returns are generally subject to examination for a period of between three and five years after their filing. However, due to the existence of net operating losses, all state income tax returns of the Company and its subsidiaries since their respective dates of incorporation are subject to re-assessment. The state impact of any federal changes remains subject to examination by various states for a period of up to one year after formal notification to the states. The Company and its subsidiaries have not been, nor are they currently, under examination by any state tax authority.

United States Tax Reform

On December 22, 2017, the U.S. enacted the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (“the Tax Act”) which significantly changed U.S. tax law. The Tax Act lowered the Company’s statutory federal income tax rate from 34% to 21% effective for the tax year beginning January 1, 2018. At December 31, 2017, the Company remeasured its deferred tax balances to reflect the new tax rate. The remeasurement reduced the company’s net deferred tax assets before valuation by $15.9 million with an offsetting decrease recorded in the valuation allowance