We are incorporated in Bermuda. Under current Bermuda law, we are not subject to tax on income and capital gains. We have received from the Minister of Finance under The Exempted Undertakings Tax Protection Act 1966, as amended, an assurance that, in the event that Bermuda enacts legislation imposing tax computed on profits, income, any capital asset, gain or appreciation, or any tax in the nature of estate duty or inheritance, then the imposition of any such tax shall not be applicable to us or to any of our operations or shares, debentures or other obligations, until March 31, 2035.

The components of net income before income taxes consist of the following (in thousands):

The components of the provision for income taxes consisted of the following (in thousands):

Our reconciliation of income tax benefit (expense) computed by applying our Bermuda statutory rate and reported income tax expense was as follows (in thousands):

Deferred tax assets and liabilities were as follows (in thousands):

We have U.S. net operating loss carryforwards of $256.3 million and $197.0 million, for the years ended December 31, 2016 and 2015, respectively, which begin to expire in 2023. We have state net operating loss carryforwards of $12.4 million and $10.7 million for the years ended December 31, 2016 and 2015, respectively, which expire in the years 2025 through 2035. In 2016, based on the weight of available evidence, we reversed a valuation allowance in the amount of $3.6 million with respect to the U.S. deferred tax assets of one of our U.S. subsidiaries.

Included above are deferred tax assets associated with our operations in Norway for which we have provided a full valuation allowance. We have Norway net operating loss carryforwards of $22.9 million and $35.1 million for the years ended December 31, 2016 and 2015, respectively, which can be carried forward indefinitely.

Included above are deferred tax assets associated with our branch operations in the U.K. for which we have provided a full valuation allowance. We have U.K. net operating loss carryforwards of $9.5 million and $12.5 million for the years ended December 31, 2016 and 2015, respectively, which can be carried forward indefinitely.

On November 19, 2014, we acquired the stock of Prestige. Included above are deferred tax assets associated with Prestige, including net operating loss carryforwards of $151.2 million and $126.9 million for the years ended December 31, 2016 and 2015, respectively, which begin to expire in 2023. In 2014, we recorded a valuation allowance of $36.5 million with respect to the Prestige deferred tax assets based on the weight of available evidence. Section 382 of the Code may limit the amount of taxable income that can be offset by the Prestige NOL carryforwards.

The following is a tabular reconciliation of the total amounts of unrecognized tax benefits (in thousands):

If the $11.1 million unrecognized tax benefits at December 31, 2016 were recognized, our effective tax rate would be affected. We believe it is reasonably possible that the expiration of statute of limitations could result in significant reductions to our unrecognized tax benefits within 12 months of the reporting date. We recognize interest and penalties related to unrecognized tax benefits in income tax expense.

We file income tax returns in the U.S. federal jurisdiction, various U.S. state jurisdictions and foreign jurisdictions. We are generally no longer subject to U.S. federal, state and local, or non-U.S. income tax examinations by authorities for years prior to 2011, except for years in which NOLs generated prior to 2011 are utilized.

Due to our international structure as well as the existence of international tax treaties that exempt taxation on certain activities, the repatriation of earnings from our subsidiaries would have no tax impact.