Note 12. Income Taxes

The Company’s income tax provision was approximately $4.4 million and $3.0 million for the three months ended April 30, 2026 and 2025, respectively. The effective tax rate was 17.0% and 21.7% for the three months ended April 30, 2026 and 2025, respectively. The primary causes for the difference between the statutory tax rate and our effective tax rate are the impact from nontaxable income associated with 45Z tax credits, as well the impact from noncontrolling interests.

The Company assessed all available positive and negative evidence to determine whether it expects sufficient future taxable income will be generated to allow for the realization of existing federal deferred tax assets. There is sufficient objectively verifiable income for management to conclude that it is more likely than not that the Company will utilize available federal deferred tax assets prior to their expiration.

On July 4, 2025, the OBBBA was signed into law. The OBBBA contains various tax reform provisions affecting businesses, such as the extension of bonus depreciation for assets placed in service after January 19, 2025 and immediate expensing of domestic research and development costs, to result in current deductions that allowed for lower cash paid for income taxes for 2025. The OBBBA made changes to the 45Z and 45Q tax credits that the Company intends to take advantage of which materially impact our financial results. The Section 45Z clean fuel production credit is a general business credit that is allowed with respect to clean transportation fuel produced domestically after December 31, 2024, and before December 31, 2029. This credit, which was part of the IRA, and subsequently extended by the OBBBA, incentivizes the production of clean fuels at our plants that reduce GHG emissions below a CI score of 50. The tax credit utilizes a sliding scale where credits can be earned incrementally between $0.02 and $0.20 ($0.10 and $1.00 if prevailing wage and apprenticeship requirements are met) per gallon of non-SAF fuels based on an ethanol plant’s GHG reduction below a 50 CI score threshold, with the first two or ten cents earned upon achieving a CI score below 47.5. The Company expects that it is more-likely-than-not that prevailing wage and apprenticeship requirements will be met for 2025 and 2026 for its consolidated ethanol plants and has calculated the credit at the applicable credit rate based on its CI score for fiscal 2025 and its estimated CI score for the first quarter of fiscal 2026, after the purchase of EACs.

Effective February 1, 2026, the Company elected to early adopt ASU 2025-10, “Accounting for Government Grants Received by Business Entities” (“ASU 2025-10”) and as such, changed its accounting policy related to the accounting for Section 45Z tax credits. The Company will record the tax credits earned under the income model of ASU 2025-10 as “Production tax credit income”, included within gross profit on the Consolidated Statements of Operations and within “Other assets” on the Consolidated Balance Sheets. The Company determined the income model under ASU 2025-10 is preferable to better align with monetization potential in the future.

The Company files a U.S. federal income tax return and income tax returns in various states. In general, the Company is no longer subject to U.S. federal, state or local income tax examinations by tax authorities for years ended January 31, 2014 and prior. The Company is currently finalizing, as an agreement in principle has been reached, a federal income tax examination for the years ended January 31, 2015 through January 31, 2022 related to tax credits claimed on returns during those years.

On a quarterly and annual basis, the Company accrues for the effects of open uncertain tax positions and the related potential penalties and interest. It is reasonably possible that the amount of the unrecognized tax benefit with respect to certain unrecognized tax positions will increase or decrease during the next 12 months.

A reconciliation of the beginning and ending amount of unrecognized tax benefits, including interest and penalties, for the three month periods ended April 30, 2026 and 2025, is as follows (amounts in thousands):

At April 30, 2026 and January 31, 2026 the unrecognized tax benefits were included within the following lines on the accompanying Consolidated Balance Sheets (amounts in thousands):