The income tax rate for the six months ended March 31, 2018 and March 31, 2017 were 50.1% and 42.1%, respectively. The effective income tax rate differs from the U.S. federal statuary rate primarily due to state taxes, extraordinary gains, and certain non-deductible expenses. As of March 31, 2018, and March 31, 2017 the Company had no uncertain tax positions. The Company is subject to taxation and files income tax returns in the U.S., and various state jurisdictions. The Company is subject to audit for U.S. purposes for the current and prior three years; and for state purposes the current and prior four years. The Company has net operating loss carry-forwards of approximately $27.2 million for U.S. income tax purposes, these net operating loss carryforwards are subject to IRC Section 382 limitations and can be carried forward indefinitely.

During the first quarter, the Company revised its estimated annual effective rate to reflect a change in the federal statutory rate from 34% to 21%, resulting from legislation that was enacted on December 22, 2017. The rate change is administratively effective as of January 1, 2018, which requires the Company to use a blended rate for the annual period. As a result, the blended federal statutory rate for the year is 24.53%. In addition, we recognized a tax expense in our tax provision for the period related to adjusting our deferred tax balance to reflect the new corporate tax rate. As a result, income tax expense reported for the six months was adjusted to reflect the effects of the change in tax law and resulted in an increase in income tax expense of approximately $2.3 million for the six-month period ended March 31, 2018.