CLB 2018 Annual Report

F-19 the deduction limitations for compensation paid to executive officers and the benefit from the foreign derived intangible income regime. We have not provided for deferred taxes on the unremitted earnings of certain subsidiaries that we consider to be indefinitely reinvested. Should we make a distribution of the unremitted earnings of these subsidiaries, we may be required to record additional taxes. As of December 31, 2018, we consider $237.5 million to be indefinitely reinvested. Repatriation of these earnings would be subject to income and withholding taxes estimated at $25.3 million. There are no restrictions preventing any of our subsidiaries from repatriating earnings, and there are no restrictions or income taxes associated with distributing cash to the parent company through loans or advances. At December 31, 2018, we had tax net operating loss carry-forwards in various tax jurisdictions of $25.8 million. Although we cannot be certain that these operating loss carry-forwards will be utilized, we anticipate that we will have sufficient taxable income in future years to allow us to fully utilize the carry-forwards that are not subject to a valuation allowance. As of December 31, 2018, if unused, $2.0 million will expire between 2019-2021, $4.6 million will expire between 2022-2024, $13.4 million will expire between 2025-2028 and $0.4 million will expire beyond 2028. The remaining balance of $5.4 million is not subject to expiration. During 2018, less than $0.1 million of net operating loss carry-forwards, which carried a full valuation allowance, expired unused. We file income tax returns in the U.S. federal jurisdiction, various states and foreign jurisdictions. We are currently undergoing multiple examinations in various jurisdictions, and the years 2001 through 2017 remain open for examination in various tax jurisdictions in which we operate. The ultimate settlement and timing of these additional tax assessments is uncertain but the Company will continue to vigorously defend its return filing position and does not view the assessments as probable at this time. During 2018, adjustments were made to estimates for uncertain tax positions in certain tax jurisdictions based upon changes in facts and circumstances, resulting in a reduction to the unrecognized tax benefits. A reconciliation of the beginning and ending amount of unrecognized tax benefits is as follows (in thousands): 2018 2017 2016 Unrecognized tax benefits at January 1, $ 10,124 $ 8,557 $ 9,964 Tax positions, current period 543 3,472 983 Tax positions, prior period (304) 180 83 Settlements with taxing authorities (2,207) (1,154) (1,657) Lapse of applicable statute of limitations (685) (931) (816) Unrecognized tax benefits at December 31, $ 7,471 $ 10,124 $ 8,557 Changes in our estimate of, or the recognition of, the unrecognized tax benefits shown in the table above would affect our effective tax rate. Our policy is to record accrued interest and penalties on uncertain tax positions, net of any tax effect, as part of total tax expense for the period. The corresponding liability is carried along with the tax exposure as a non-current payable in Other Long-term Liabilities. For the years ended December 31, 2018, 2017 and 2016, we recognized $0.6 million, $0.6 million and $0.6 million, respectively, in interest and penalties. For the years ended December 31, 2018, 2017 and 2016, we had $3.9 million, $3.3 million and $2.7 million, respectively, accrued for the payment of interest and penalties. Changes in our estimate of unrecognized tax benefits would affect our effective tax rate. As of December 31, 2018, 2017 and 2016 there are $0.6 million, $1.8 million and $1.2 million, respectively, of unrecognized tax benefits that could be resolved within the next twelve months which could have a positive effect on the annual effective tax rate. 11. PENSION AND OTHER POSTRETIREMENT BENEFIT PLANS Defined Benefit Plan We provide a noncontributory defined benefit pension plan covering substantially all of our Dutch employees ("Dutch Plan") who were hired prior to 2000. This pension benefit is based on years of service and final pay. The benefits earned by the employees are immediately vested. We fund the future obligations of the Dutch Plan by purchasing an insurance contract from a large multi-national insurance company with a five-year maturity. Each year we make annual premium payments to the insurance company (1) to provide for the benefit obligation of the current year of service based on each employee's age, gender