Note 9 - Income Taxes

The tax effects of temporary differences that give rise to deferred tax assets are as follows:

A reconciliation of the statutory federal income tax rate to the Company’s effective tax rate is as follows:

The income tax provision consists of the following:

The Company assesses the likelihood that deferred tax assets will be realized. To the extent that realization is not more-likely-than-not, a valuation allowance is established.  Based upon the Company’s losses since inception, management believes that it is more-likely-than-not that future benefits of deferred tax assets will not be realized. Therefore, the Company established a full valuation allowance as of December 31, 2017 and 2016. As of December 31, 2017 and 2016, the change in valuation allowance was $917,897 and $2,285,923, respectively.

The Company files income tax returns in the U.S. federal jurisdiction and various state jurisdictions, principally California and New Jersey. The Company is subject to examination by the various taxing authorities.  The Company’s federal and state income tax returns for tax years beginning in 2013 remain subject to examination.

At December 31, 2017 and 2016, the Company had approximately $21,000,000 and $13,000,000, respectively, of federal and state net operating loss carryovers that may be available to offset future taxable income.   The net operating loss carry forwards, if not utilized, will begin to expire from 2029 to 2036 for federal and state purposes. In accordance with Section 382 of the Internal Revenue Code, the usage of the Company’s net operating loss carryforward could be limited in the event of a change in ownership. At this time, the Company has not completed a full study to assess whether an ownership change under Section 382 of the Code occurred due to the costs and complexities associated with such a study.

On December 22, 2017, new legislation was signed into law, informally titled the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which included, among other things, a provision to reduce the federal corporate income tax rate to 21%.  Under ASC 740, Accounting for Income Taxes, the enactment of the Tax Act also requires companies, to recognize the effects of changes in tax laws and rates on deferred tax assets and liabilities and the retroactive effects of changes in tax laws in the period in which the new legislation is enacted. There is no further change to its assertion on maintaining a full valuation allowance against its U.S. deferred tax assets. The Company’s gross deferred tax assets have been revalued from 34% to 21% with a corresponding offset to the valuation allowance and any potential other taxes arising due to the Tax Act will result in reductions to its net operating loss carryforward and valuation allowance. Deferred tax assets of approximately $9,200,000 have been revalued to approximately $6,500,000 with a corresponding decrease to the Company’s valuation allowance. Therefore, there was no net impact on the Company’s financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2017.

On December 22, 2017, the SEC Staff issued Staff Accounting Bulletin No. 118 (“SAB 118”) to address the application of ASC Topic 740 in situations when a registrant does not have the necessary information available, prepared, or analyzed in reasonable detail to complete the accounting for certain income tax effects of the Act.  The Company is complete with its accounting for the effects of the Tax Act, however, as additional guidance and interpretation may be issued by the U.S. Treasury Department, the IRS and other standard setting bodies, the Company may be required to make adjustment and/or additional disclosure relating to its gross deferred tax assets in 2018.