6. Income Taxes

To qualify and be subject to tax as a RIC, the Company is required to meet certain income and asset diversification tests in addition to distributing dividends of an amount generally at least equal to 90% of its investment company taxable income, as defined by the Code and determined without regard to any deduction for distributions paid, to its stockholders. The amount to be paid out as a distribution is determined by the Board each quarter and is based upon the annual earnings estimated by the management of the Company. To the extent that the Company’s earnings fall below the amount of dividend distributions declared, however, a portion of the total amount of the Company’s distributions for the fiscal year may be deemed a return of capital for tax purposes to the Company’s stockholders.

As previously noted, federal income tax regulations differ from U.S. GAAP, distributions in accordance with tax regulations may differ from net investment income and realized gains recognized for financial reporting purposes. Permanent differences are reclassified among capital accounts in the financial statements to reflect their appropriate tax character. Permanent differences may also result from the change in the classification of short-term gains as ordinary income for tax purposes. Temporary differences arise when certain items of income, expense, gain or loss are recognized at some time in the future. Also, income is required to be recognized for tax purposes no later than when recognized for financial reporting purposes, with certain exceptions.

As a RIC, the Company will be subject to a 4% nondeductible U.S. federal excise tax on certain undistributed income unless the Company makes distributions treated as dividends for U.S. federal income tax purposes in a timely manner to its stockholders in respect of each calendar year of an amount at least equal to the sum of (1) 98% of its ordinary income (taking into account certain deferrals and elections) for each calendar year, (2) 98.2% of its capital gain net income (adjusted for certain ordinary losses) for the 1-year period ending October 31 of each such calendar year and (3) any ordinary income and capital gain net income realized, but not distributed, in preceding calendar years (the “Excise Tax Avoidance Requirement”). The Company will not be subject to this excise tax on any amount on which the Company incurred U.S. federal corporate income tax (such as the tax imposed on a RIC’s retained net capital gains).

Depending on the level of taxable income earned in a taxable year, the Company may choose to carry over taxable income in excess of current taxable year distributions from such taxable income into the next taxable year and incur a 4% excise tax on such taxable income, as required. The maximum amount of excess taxable income that may be carried over for distribution in the next taxable year under the Code is the total amount of distributions paid in the following taxable year, subject to certain declaration and payment guidelines. To the extent the Company chooses to carry over taxable income into the next taxable year, distributions declared and paid by the Company in a taxable year may differ from the Company’s taxable income for that taxable year as such distributions may include the distribution of current taxable year taxable income, the distribution of prior taxable year taxable income carried over into and distributed in the current taxable year, or returns of capital.

The Company has taxable subsidiaries which hold certain portfolio investments in an effort to limit potential legal liability and/or comply with source-income type requirements contained in the RIC tax provisions of the Code. These taxable subsidiaries are consolidated for U.S. GAAP and the portfolio investments held by the taxable subsidiaries are included in the Company’s consolidated financial statements and are recorded at fair value. These taxable subsidiaries are not consolidated with the Company for income tax purposes and may generate income tax expense, or benefit, and tax assets and liabilities as a result of their ownership of certain portfolio investments. Any income generated by these taxable subsidiaries generally would be subject to tax at normal corporate tax rates based on its taxable income.

Taxable income for the three months ended September 30, 2022, was approximately $49.1 million or $0.39 per share. Taxable net realized losses for the same period were $(2.0) million or approximately $(0.02) per share. Taxable income for the three months ended September 30, 2021, was approximately $43.3 million or $0.38 per share. Taxable net realized gains for the same period were $23.0 million or approximately $0.20 per share.

Taxable income for the nine months ended September 30, 2022, was approximately $122.2 million or $0.99 per share. Taxable net realized losses for the same period were $(0.1) million or approximately $(0.00) per share. Taxable income for the nine months ended September 30, 2021, was approximately $125.3 million or $1.09 per share. Taxable net realized gains for the same period were $80.5 million or approximately $0.70 per share.

For the three and nine months ended September 30, 2022, the Company paid approximately $0.1 million and $7.3 million of income tax, respectively, including excise tax, and had $4.0 million of accrued but unpaid tax expense as of September 30, 2022. For the three and nine months ended September 30, 2021, the Company paid approximately $0.1 million and $3.7 million of income tax, including excise tax, and had $4.9 million of accrued but unpaid tax expense as of September 30, 2021.

The Company intends to timely distribute to its stockholders substantially all of its annual taxable income for each year, except that it may retain certain net capital gains for reinvestment and, depending upon the level of taxable income earned in a year, may choose to carry forward taxable income for distribution in the following year and pay any applicable U.S. federal excise tax.

During the three and nine months ended September 30, 2022, the Company declared and paid distributions of $0.50 and $1.46 per share, respectively. The determination of the tax attributes of the Company’s distributions is made annually as of the end of the Company’s taxable year generally based upon its taxable income for the full taxable year and distributions paid for the full taxable year. As a result, a determination made on a quarterly basis may not be representative of the actual tax attributes of the Company’s distributions for a full taxable year. If the Company had determined the tax attributes of its distributions taxable year-to-date as of September 30, 2022, 100% would be from its current and accumulated earnings and profits. However, there can be no certainty to stockholders that this determination is representative of what the actual tax attributes of the Company’s fiscal year of 2022 distributions to stockholders will be.