Note 12: Income Taxes

The Company accounts for income taxes in accordance with Accounting Standards Codification Topic 740 Income Taxes (“Topic 740”), which requires the recognition of deferred tax liabilities and assets at currently enacted tax rates for the expected future tax consequences of events that have been included in the financial statements or tax returns. A valuation allowance is recognized to reduce the net deferred tax asset to an amount that is more likely than not to be realized.

Topic 740 provides guidance on the accounting for uncertainty in income taxes recognized in a company’s financial statements. ASC 740 requires a company to determine whether it is more likely than not that a tax position will be sustained upon examination based upon the technical merits of the position. If the more-likely-than-not threshold is met, a company must measure the tax position to determine the amount to recognize in the financial statements.

The Company includes interest and penalties arising from the underpayment of income taxes in the statements of operation in the provision for income taxes. As of March 31, 2018, and December 31, 2017, the Company had no accrued interest or penalties related to uncertain tax positions.

On December 22, 2017, the United States federal government enacted the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (the “2017 Act”). The 2017 Act will have pervasive financial reporting implications for all companies with U.S. operations, including reduction of the U.S. federal corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 21 percent.  We reviewed and incorporated the new tax bill implications through 2017 financial statements. We remeasured the deferred taxes at new corporation rate of 21%, which reduced the net deferred tax assets, before valuation allowance, by approximately $2,809,700.  Due to full valuation allowance, the change in deferred taxes was fully offset by the change in valuation allowance.  The 2017 Act has no significant impact on the financial statements for the three months ended March 31, 2018 or for the year ended Decembert 31, 2017.

Due to the complexities of the 2017 Act, the SEC issued Staff Accounting Bulletin No. 118 to address the application of GAAP in situations when a registrant does not have the necessary information available, prepared, or analyzed (including computations) in reasonable detail to complete the accounting for certain income tax effects of the 2017 Act. During the measurement period, impacts of the law are expected to be recorded at the time a reasonable estimate for all or a portion of the effects can be made, and provisional amounts can be recognized and adjusted as information becomes available, prepared, or analyzed. Any subsequent adjustment to these amounts will be recorded to current tax expense in 2018 when the analysis is complete.

The Company files income tax returns in the U.S. federal jurisdiction and in the state of California and Massachusetts. The Company is currently subject to U.S. federal, state and local, or non-U.S. income tax examinations by tax authorities since inception of the Company.