16.     INCOME TAXES

The Company’s income tax provision consisted of the following:

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The primary factors causing income tax expense to be different than the federal statutory rate for 2022, 2021 and 2020 are as follows:

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Other includes the release of deferred tax liabilities, tax credits, valuation allowance, disallowed deductions, and other immaterial adjustments.

The provision for income taxes resulted in effective tax rates of 26.1%, 26.1% and 26.5% on income before income taxes for the years ended December 31, 2022, 2021 and 2020, respectively. The effective rates differ from the annual federal statutory rate primarily because of state and foreign income taxes and certain other disallowed deductions.

During 2022, 2021 and 2020, the Company paid income taxes of $119.6 million, $119.8 million and $81.2 million, respectively, net of refunds.

Deferred income taxes reflect the net tax effects of the temporary differences between the carrying amounts of assets and liabilities for financial reporting purposes and income tax purposes. Significant components of the Company’s deferred tax assets and liabilities at December 31, 2022 and 2021 are as follows:

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Deferred tax assets are included in Other assets and deferred tax liabilities are included in Other long-term accrued liabilities on the balance sheet.

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Analysis of the valuation allowance:

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As of December 31, 2022, the Company has net operating loss carryforwards for foreign and state income tax purposes of approximately $22.9 million, which are expected to be fully utilized when filing the 2022 income tax returns. If not used, these carryforwards will expire between 2022 and 2032. Because management believes that the loss carryforwards will be fully utilized, the valuation allowance decreased by $0.2 million due to the dissolution of the foreign subsidiary carrying the losses. The Company has a foreign tax credit carryforward of $3.6 million which if not fully utilized will expire in 2028.

Earnings from continuing operations before income tax included foreign income of $32.9 million in 2022, $32.5 million in 2021 and $25.3 million in 2020. The Company’s international business is expanding, and we intend to continue to grow the business in foreign markets in the future through reinvestment of foreign deposits and future earnings as well as acquisition of unrelated companies.  The Company has historically asserted that the undistributed earnings of our foreign subsidiaries are permanently reinvested.  However, in the fourth quarter of 2022, the Company has partially changed this assertion and expects to repatriate unremitted foreign earnings from our foreign subsidiaries. The Company asserts that we continue to be permanently reinvested with respect to our investments in our foreign subsidiaries.

The total amount of unrecognized tax benefits at December 31, 2022 that, if recognized, would affect the effective tax rate is $1.4 million. A reconciliation of the beginning and ending amount of unrecognized tax benefits is as follows:

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The Company and its subsidiaries are subject to U.S. federal income tax as well as income tax of multiple state and foreign jurisdictions. The Company’s material foreign jurisdictions include Canada, the United Kingdom and Australia. In addition, the Company has subsidiaries in various state and international jurisdictions that are currently under audit for years ranging from 2016 through 2020. With few immaterial exceptions, we are no longer subject to U.S. federal, state and local, or non-U.S., income tax examinations for years prior to 2016.

It is reasonably possible that the amount of unrecognized tax benefits will decrease in the next 12 months.

The Company’s policy is to record interest and penalties related to income tax matters in income tax expense. Accrued interest and penalties were $0.2 million, $0.2 million and $0.7 million as of December 31, 2022, 2021 and 2020, respectively.