WABASH NATIONAL CorpWNC
WABASH NATIONAL Corp Income Taxes Disclosure
INCOME TAXES
Income (Loss) Before Income Taxes
The consolidated income (loss) before income taxes for 2025, 2024, and 2023 consists of the following (in thousands):
| Years Ended December 31, | |||||||||||||||||
| 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | |||||||||||||||
| Domestic | $ | 283,533 | $ | (380,944) | $ | 291,816 | |||||||||||
| Foreign | (370) | 4,346 | 2,869 | ||||||||||||||
| Total income (loss) before income taxes | $ | 283,163 | $ | (376,598) | $ | 294,685 | |||||||||||
Income Tax Expense (Benefit)
On July 4, 2025, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (the “OBBA”) was enacted in the United States, which extended and modified certain provisions of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (the “TCJA”). The OBBA makes permanent keys elements of the TCJA, including 100 percent bonus depreciation and domestic research cost expensing. The Company continues to evaluate the impact of the OBBA’s provisions that take effect in future years.
The consolidated income tax expense (benefit) for 2025, 2024, and 2023 consists of the following components (in thousands):
| Years Ended December 31, | |||||||||||||||||
| 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | |||||||||||||||
| Current | |||||||||||||||||
| Federal | $ | (15,275) | $ | 13,449 | $ | 65,797 | |||||||||||
| State | 418 | 4,112 | 9,322 | ||||||||||||||
| Foreign | 555 | 599 | 1,170 | ||||||||||||||
| (14,302) | 18,160 | 76,289 | |||||||||||||||
| Deferred | |||||||||||||||||
| Federal | 73,063 | (90,460) | (14,889) | ||||||||||||||
| State | 12,763 | (21,223) | 1,430 | ||||||||||||||
| 85,826 | (111,683) | (13,459) | |||||||||||||||
| Total consolidated expense (benefit) | $ | 71,524 | $ | (93,523) | $ | 62,830 | |||||||||||
The following table provides a reconciliation of differences from the U.S. Federal statutory rates as follows (in thousands):
| Years Ended December 31, | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| US federal statutory tax | $ | 59,464 | 21.0 | % | $ | (79,086) | 21.0 | % | $ | 61,884 | 21.0 | % | ||||||||||||||
State and local income taxes (net of federal benefit)(1) | 10,574 | 3.7 | % | (13,880) | 3.7 | % | 9,398 | 3.2 | % | |||||||||||||||||
| Foreign tax effects | 556 | 0.2 | % | 600 | (0.2) | % | 568 | 0.2 | % | |||||||||||||||||
| Tax credits | — | 0.0 | % | (228) | 0.1 | % | (9,572) | (3.2) | % | |||||||||||||||||
| Nontaxable or nondeductible items | 930 | 0.4 | % | (929) | 0.2 | % | 552 | 0.2 | % | |||||||||||||||||
| Total income tax expense (benefit) | $ | 71,524 | 25.3 | % | $ | (93,523) | 24.8 | % | $ | 62,830 | 21.4 | % | ||||||||||||||
(1)State taxes in Indiana made up the majority (greater than 50 percent) of the tax effect in this category.
Deferred Taxes
The Company’s deferred income taxes are primarily due to temporary differences between financial and income tax reporting for a legal reserve, incentive compensation, depreciation of property, plant and equipment, amortization of intangibles, and other accrued liabilities.
Deferred tax assets are reduced by a valuation allowance when, in the opinion of management, it is more likely than not that some portion or all of the deferred tax assets will not be realized. Companies are required to assess whether valuation allowances should be established against their deferred tax assets based on the consideration of all available evidence, both positive and negative, using a “more likely than not” standard. In making such judgments, significant weight is given to evidence that can be objectively verified.
The Company assesses, on a quarterly basis, the realizability of its deferred tax assets by evaluating all available evidence, both positive and negative, including: (1) the cumulative results of operations in recent years, (2) the nature of recent losses, if applicable, (3) estimates of future taxable income, (4) the length of net operating loss carryforwards (“NOLs”) and (5) the uncertainty associated with a possible change in ownership, which imposes an annual limitation on the use of these carryforwards.
As of December 31, 2025 and 2024, the Company retained a valuation allowance of $0.5 million and $0.7 million, respectively, against deferred tax assets related to various state and local NOLs that are subject to restrictive rules for future utilization.
As of December 31, 2025 and 2024, the Company had U.S. federal tax NOLs of approximately $220.5 million and none, respectively, which have no expiration. The Company has various multi-state income tax NOLs aggregating, approximately $208.5 million which will expire between 2026 and 2045, if unused.
The components of deferred tax assets and deferred tax liabilities as of December 31, 2025 and 2024 were as follows (in thousands):
| December 31, | |||||||||||
| 2025 | 2024 | ||||||||||
| Deferred tax assets | |||||||||||
| Loss carryforwards and tax credits | $ | 56,303 | $ | 1,792 | |||||||
| Accrued liabilities | 6,243 | 117,569 | |||||||||
| Incentive compensation | 10,068 | 9,360 | |||||||||
| Operating lease assets | 9,358 | 8,990 | |||||||||
| Research expenditure amortization | 13,407 | 21,523 | |||||||||
| Other | 8,830 | 2,918 | |||||||||
| 104,209 | 162,152 | ||||||||||
| Deferred tax liabilities | |||||||||||
| Property, plant and equipment | (44,883) | (21,837) | |||||||||
| Intangibles | (37,961) | (34,493) | |||||||||
| Operating lease liabilities | (9,087) | (8,990) | |||||||||
| Other | (2,933) | (1,495) | |||||||||
| (94,864) | (66,815) | ||||||||||
| Net deferred tax asset before valuation allowances and reserves | 9,345 | 95,337 | |||||||||
| Valuation allowances | (298) | (464) | |||||||||
| Net deferred tax asset | $ | 9,047 | $ | 94,873 | |||||||
Tax Reserves
The Company’s policy with respect to interest and penalties associated with reserves or allowances for uncertain tax positions is to classify such interest and penalties in Income tax expense (benefit) on the Consolidated Statements of Operations. As of December 31, 2025 and 2024, the total amount of unrecognized income tax benefits, which are included in either Other noncurrent liabilities or Deferred income taxes in the Company’s Consolidated Balance Sheets, was approximately $1.5 million and $1.5 million, respectively, including interest and penalties, all of which, if recognized, would impact the effective income tax rate of the Company. We maintained our uncertain tax positions for the current period and we increased our prior period uncertain positions by $0.1 million. As of December 31, 2025 and 2024, the Company had recorded a total of $0.6 million and $0.5 million, respectively, of accrued interest and penalties related to uncertain tax positions. The Company expects no significant changes to the facts and circumstances underlying its reserves and allowances for uncertain income tax positions as reasonably possible during the next 12 months. As of December 31, 2025, the Company is subject to unexpired statutes of limitation for U.S. federal income taxes for the years 2022 through 2024. The Company is also subject to unexpired statutes of limitation for Indiana state income taxes for the years 2022 through 2024.
Income Taxes Paid (Received)
The following table provides a reconciliation of income taxes paid (received) (in thousands):
The amount of cash income taxes paid by the Company during the years ended December 31, 2024 and 2023 was $29.8 million and $82.6 million, respectively.| December 31, | |||||
| 2025 | |||||
| Federal | $ | — | |||
| State and local | |||||
| FL | (175) | ||||
| IN | (760) | ||||
| MN | (166) | ||||
| MO | (222) | ||||
| NJ | (93) | ||||
| PA | (326) | ||||
| TX | 229 | ||||
| All other state and local | 11 | ||||
| Foreign | |||||
| MX | 168 | ||||
| $ | (1,334) | ||||
Historical Timeline
| Fiscal Year | Filed | |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Feb 18, 2026 | Showing above |
| 2024 | Feb 18, 2025 | |
| 2023 | Feb 22, 2024 | |
| 2022 | Feb 23, 2023 | |
| 2021 | Feb 24, 2022 | |
| 2020 | Feb 25, 2021 | |
| 2019 | Feb 25, 2020 | |
| 2018 | Feb 28, 2019 | |
| 2017 | Feb 28, 2018 | |
| 2016 | Feb 27, 2017 | |
| 2015 | Feb 26, 2016 | |
About Income Taxes Disclosures
The income tax disclosure reveals how much a company actually pays in taxes versus what the statutory rate would predict. Analysts focus on the effective tax rate (ETR) reconciliation, which breaks down every item driving the gap between the 21% federal rate and the company's reported ETR — including R&D credits, foreign rate differentials, and state taxes. Deferred tax assets (DTAs) and their valuation allowances signal management's confidence in future profitability: a rising allowance suggests the company doubts it can use accumulated tax benefits. Uncertain tax benefit (UTB) reserves quantify exposure to IRS challenges on aggressive positions.
Key signals to watch: sudden ETR drops without clear operational reasons, large increases in valuation allowances, growing UTB balances, and significant unremitted foreign earnings. Post-TCJA, pay attention to GILTI and BEAT provisions that affect multinational tax structures. Compare the cash taxes paid (from the cash flow statement) against the income tax provision to gauge earnings quality.