(a) The net change in the total valuation allowance for the years ended December 31, 2018 and 2017 was an increase of $12 million and an increase of $26 million, respectively.
Deferred income tax assets and liabilities are recorded in the accompanying consolidated balance sheet under the captions Deferred charges and other assets and Deferred income taxes.
There was a decrease in deferred income tax assets principally relating to the utilization of U. S.  Federal alternative minimum tax credits as permitted under Tax Reform.
Deferred tax liabilities increased primarily due to the tax deferral of the book gain recognized on the transfer of the North American Consumer Packaging business to a subsidiary of Graphic Packaging Holding Company.
Of the $1.5 billion of deferred tax liabilities for forestlands, related installment sales, and investment in subsidiary, $884 million is attributable to an investment in subsidiary and relates to a 2006 International Paper installment sale of forestlands and $538 million is attributable to a 2007 Temple-Inland installment sale of forestlands (see Note 14).
A reconciliation of the beginning and ending amount of unrecognized tax benefits for the years ended December 31, 2018, 2017 and 2016 is as follows:
## Table 0 ##
If the Company were to prevail on the unrecognized tax benefits recorded, substantially all of the balances at December 31, 2018, 2017 and 2016 would benefit the effective tax rate.
The Company accrues interest on unrecognized tax benefits as a component of interest expense.
Penalties, if incurred, are recognized as a component of income tax expense.
The Company had approximately $21 million and $17 million accrued for the payment of estimated interest and penalties associated with unrecognized tax benefits at December 31, 2018 and 2017, respectively.
The major jurisdictions where the Company files income tax returns are the United States, Brazil, France, Poland and Russia.
Generally, tax years 2006 through 2017 remain open and subject to examination by the relevant tax authorities.
The Company frequently faces challenges regarding the amount of taxes due.
These challenges include positions taken by the Company related to the timing, nature, and amount of deductions and the allocation of income among various tax jurisdictions.
Pending audit settlements and the expiration of statute of limitations could reduce the uncertain tax positions by $30 million during the next twelve months.
The Brazilian Federal Revenue Service has challenged the deductibility of goodwill amortization generated in a 2007 acquisition by International Paper do Brasil Ltda.
, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Company.
The Company received assessments for the tax years 2007-2015 totaling approximately $150 million in tax, and $380 million in interest and penalties as of December 31, 2018 (adjusted for variation in currency exchange rates).
After a previous favorable ruling challenging the basis for these assessments, we received an unfavorable decision in October 2018 from the Brazilian Administrative Council of Tax Appeals.
The Company intends to further appeal the matter in the Brazilian federal courts in 2019; however, this tax litigation matter may take many years to resolve.
The Company believes that it has appropriately evaluated the transaction underlying these assessments, and has concluded based on Brazilian tax law, that its tax position would be sustained.
The Company intends to vigorously defend its position against the current assessments and any similar assessments that may be issued for tax years subsequent to 2015.  International Paper uses the flow-through method to account for investment tax credits earned on eligible open-loop biomass facilities and combined heat and power system expenditures.
Under this method, the investment tax credits are recognized as a reduction to income tax expense in the year they are earned rather than a reduction in the asset basis.
The Company recorded a tax benefit of $6 million during 2018 and recorded a tax benefit of $68 million during 2017 related to Investment Tax Credits earned in tax years 2013-2017.
LENNAR CORPORATION AND SUBSIDIARIES NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS—(Continued) the Company’s credit standards.
The segment’s risk, in the event of default by the purchaser, is the difference between the contract price and fair value of the MBS forward commitments and option contracts.
At November 30, 2010, the segment had open commitments amounting to $270.8 million to sell MBS with varying settlement dates through February 2011.
The Company’s assets measured at fair value on a nonrecurring basis are those assets for which the Company has recorded valuation adjustments and write-offs during the year ended November 30, 2010 and Rialto Investments real estate owned assets acquired through foreclosure.
The assets measured at fair value on a nonrecurring basis are summarized below:
## Table 1 ##
(1) Represents total losses due to valuation adjustments and write-offs, and total gains from acquisitions of real estate through foreclosure recorded during the year ended November 30, 2010.
(2) Finished homes and construction in progress with an aggregate carrying value of $129.1 million were written down to their fair value of $88.0 million, resulting in valuation adjustments of $41.1 million, which were included in Lennar Homebuilding costs and expenses in the Company’s statement of operations for the year ended November 30, 2010.
(3) Land under development with an aggregate carrying value of $16.2 million were written down to their fair value of $10.8 million, resulting in valuation adjustments of $5.4 million, which were included in Lennar Homebuilding costs and expenses in the Company’s statement of operations for the year ended November 30, 2010.
(4) Lennar Homebuilding investments in unconsolidated entities with an aggregate carrying value of $0.4 million were written down to their fair value of ($1.4) million, which represents the Company’s obligation for guarantees related to debt of certain unconsolidated entities recorded as a liability during the year ended November 30, 2010.
The valuation charges were included in other income (expense), net in the Company’s statement of operations for the year ended November 30, 2010.
(5) Real estate owned assets are initially recorded at fair value less estimated costs to sell at the time of acquisition.
Upon acquisition of the real estate through foreclosure, the underlying loans had a carrying value of $186.0 million.
The fair value of the real estate owned assets is based upon the appraised value at the time of foreclosure or management’s best estimate of fair value.
The gains upon acquisition of REO were $18.1 million and are included within the Rialto Investments other income, net in the Company’s statement of operations for the year ended November 30, 2010.
See Note 1 for a detailed description of the Company’s process for identifying and recording valuation adjustments related to Lennar Homebuilding inventory and Lennar Homebuilding investments in unconsolidated entities.15.
Consolidation of Variable Interest Entities GAAP requires the consolidation of VIEs in which an enterprise has a controlling financial interest.
A controlling financial interest will have both of the following characteristics: (a) the power to direct the activities of a VIE that most significantly impact the VIEs’ economic performance and (b) the obligation to absorb losses of the VIE that could potentially be significant to the VIE or the right to receive benefits from the VIE that could potentially be significant to the VIE.
The Company’s variable interest in VIEs may be in the form of (1) equity ownership, (2) contracts to purchase assets, (3) management and development agreements between the Company and a VIE, (4) loans provided by the Company to a VIE or other partner and/or (5) guarantees provided by members to banks and
extension, all the partners agreed to provide a limited several repayment guarantee on the outstanding debt, which will result in a $36.3 million increase to our maximum recourse debt exposure related to Lennar Homebuilding unconsolidated entities.
(3) Represents land seller debt and other debt.
The following table is a breakdown of the assets, debt and equity of the Lennar Homebuilding unconsolidated joint ventures by partner type as of November 30, 2010:
## Table 2 ##
The table below indicates the assets, debt and equity of our 10 largest Lennar Homebuilding unconsolidated joint venture investments as of November 30, 2010:
## Table 3 ##
(1) All of the joint ventures presented in the table above operate in our Homebuilding West segment except for Rocking Horse Partners, which operates in our Homebuilding Central segment, and MS Rialto Residential Holdings, which operates in all of our homebuilding segments and Homebuilding Other.
LENNAR CORPORATION AND SUBSIDIARIES NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS—(Continued) Interest expense was included in cost of homes sold, cost of land sold and other interest expense as follows:

<table><tr><td>In millions</td><td>2018</td><td>2017</td><td>2016</td></tr><tr><td>Balance at January 1</td><td>$-188</td><td>$-98</td><td>$-150</td></tr><tr><td>(Additions) reductions based on tax positions related to current year</td><td>-7</td><td>-54</td><td>-4</td></tr><tr><td>(Additions) for tax positions of prior years</td><td>-37</td><td>-40</td><td>-3</td></tr><tr><td>Reductions for tax positions of prior years</td><td>5</td><td>4</td><td>33</td></tr><tr><td>Settlements</td><td>2</td><td>6</td><td>19</td></tr><tr><td>Expiration of statutes oflimitations</td><td>2</td><td>1</td><td>5</td></tr><tr><td>Currency translation adjustment</td><td>3</td><td>-7</td><td>2</td></tr><tr><td>Balance at December 31</td><td>$-220</td><td>$-188</td><td>$-98</td></tr></table>
<table><tr><td> Non-financial Assets</td><td> Fair Value Hierarchy</td><td>Fair Value</td><td>Total Gains (Losses)(1)</td></tr><tr><td></td><td></td><td colspan="2">(Dollars in thousands)</td></tr><tr><td> Lennar Homebuilding:</td><td></td><td></td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Finished homes and construction in progress -2</td><td>Level 3</td><td>$88,049</td><td>-41,057</td></tr><tr><td>Land and land under development -3</td><td>Level 3</td><td>$10,807</td><td>-5,369</td></tr><tr><td>Investments in unconsolidated entities -4</td><td>Level 3</td><td>$-1,383</td><td>-1,735</td></tr><tr><td> Rialto Investments:</td><td></td><td></td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Real estate owned -5</td><td>Level 3</td><td>$204,049</td><td>18,089</td></tr></table>
<table><tr><td></td><td> Total JV Assets</td><td> Maximum Recourse Debt Exposure to Lennar</td><td> Reimbursement Agreements</td><td> Net Recourse Debt to Lennar</td><td> Total Debt Without Recourse to Lennar</td><td> Total JV Debt</td><td> Total JV Equity</td><td>JV Debt to Total Capital Ratio</td><td> Remaining Homes/  Homesites  in JV</td></tr><tr><td></td><td colspan="9"> (Dollars in thousands)</td></tr><tr><td> Partner Type:</td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Financial</td><td>$2,464,122</td><td>30,000</td><td>27,000</td><td>3,000</td><td>823,857</td><td>853,857</td><td>$1,303,777</td><td>40%</td><td>41,987</td></tr><tr><td>Land Owners/Developers</td><td>539,386</td><td>50,506</td><td>—</td><td>50,506</td><td>118,476</td><td>168,982</td><td>314,975</td><td>35%</td><td>20,577</td></tr><tr><td>Other Builders</td><td>371,919</td><td>32,152</td><td>8,434</td><td>23,718</td><td>76,282</td><td>108,434</td><td>247,806</td><td>30%</td><td>6,549</td></tr><tr><td>Strategic</td><td>385,825</td><td>60,192</td><td>23,444</td><td>36,748</td><td>32,829</td><td>93,021</td><td>282,052</td><td>25%</td><td>6,711</td></tr><tr><td>Total</td><td>$3,761,252</td><td>172,850</td><td>58,878</td><td>113,972</td><td>1,051,444</td><td>1,224,294</td><td>$2,148,610</td><td>36%</td><td>75,824</td></tr><tr><td>Land seller debt and other debt</td><td>$</td><td>—</td><td>—</td><td>—</td><td>60,524</td><td>60,524</td><td></td><td></td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Total JV debt</td><td>$</td><td>172,850</td><td>58,878</td><td>113,972</td><td>1,111,968</td><td>1,284,818</td><td></td><td></td><td></td></tr></table>
<table><tr><td></td><td> Lennar’s Investment</td><td> Total JV Assets</td><td> Maximum Recourse  Debt Exposure to Lennar</td><td> Reimbursement Agreements</td><td> Net Recourse Debt to Lennar</td><td> Total Debt Without Recourse to Lennar</td><td> Total JV Debt</td><td> Total JV Equity</td><td> JV Debt to Total Capital Ratio</td></tr><tr><td></td><td colspan="9"> (Dollars in thousands)</td></tr><tr><td> Top Ten JVs -1:</td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Platinum Triangle Partners</td><td>$107,468</td><td>270,383</td><td>46,889</td><td>23,445</td><td>23,444</td><td>—</td><td>46,889</td><td>213,381</td><td>18%</td></tr><tr><td>Heritage Fields El Toro</td><td>82,541</td><td>1,288,756</td><td>—</td><td>—</td><td>—</td><td>573,467</td><td>573,467</td><td>649,025</td><td>47%</td></tr><tr><td>Central Park West Holdings</td><td>62,268</td><td>197,745</td><td>30,000</td><td>27,000</td><td>3,000</td><td>120,251</td><td>150,251</td><td>44,697</td><td>77%</td></tr><tr><td>Newhall Land Development</td><td>47,085</td><td>452,832</td><td>—</td><td>—</td><td>—</td><td>—</td><td>—</td><td>271,961</td><td>—</td></tr><tr><td>Runkle Canyon</td><td>37,014</td><td>75,375</td><td>—</td><td>—</td><td>—</td><td>—</td><td>—</td><td>74,029</td><td>—</td></tr><tr><td>Ballpark Village</td><td>35,878</td><td>124,927</td><td>—</td><td>—</td><td>—</td><td>52,910</td><td>52,910</td><td>71,376</td><td>43%</td></tr><tr><td>LS College Park</td><td>34,649</td><td>68,300</td><td>—</td><td>—</td><td>—</td><td>—</td><td>—</td><td>67,805</td><td>—</td></tr><tr><td>MS Rialto Residential Holdings</td><td>29,268</td><td>436,285</td><td>—</td><td>—</td><td>—</td><td>103,310</td><td>103,310</td><td>314,415</td><td>25%</td></tr><tr><td>Treasure Island Community Development</td><td>21,449</td><td>45,594</td><td>—</td><td>—</td><td>—</td><td>—</td><td>—</td><td>42,929</td><td>—</td></tr><tr><td>Rocking Horse Partners</td><td>19,205</td><td>48,085</td><td>—</td><td>—</td><td>—</td><td>8,628</td><td>8,628</td><td>38,411</td><td>18%</td></tr><tr><td>10 largest JV investments</td><td>476,825</td><td>3,008,282</td><td>76,889</td><td>50,445</td><td>26,444</td><td>858,566</td><td>935,455</td><td>1,788,029</td><td>34%</td></tr><tr><td>Other JVs</td><td>149,360</td><td>752,970</td><td>95,961</td><td>8,433</td><td>87,528</td><td>192,878</td><td>288,839</td><td>360,581</td><td>44%</td></tr><tr><td>Total</td><td>$626,185</td><td>3,761,252</td><td>172,850</td><td>58,878</td><td>113,972</td><td>1,051,444</td><td>1,224,294</td><td>2,148,610</td><td>36%</td></tr><tr><td>Land seller debt and other debt</td><td>$</td><td></td><td>—</td><td>—</td><td>—</td><td>60,524</td><td>60,524</td><td></td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Total JV debt</td><td>$</td><td></td><td>172,850</td><td>58,878</td><td>113,972</td><td>1,111,968</td><td>1,284,818</td><td></td><td></td></tr></table>

Question: unrecognized tax benefits change by what percent between 2017 and 2018?