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Income Taxes
6 Months Ended
Jun. 30, 2012
Income Tax Disclosure [Abstract]  
Income Taxes
Income Taxes
For interim income tax reporting, we are required to estimate our annual effective tax rate and apply it to year-to-date pre-tax ordinary income/loss excluding unusual or infrequently occurring discrete items. Tax jurisdictions with losses for which tax benefits cannot be realized are excluded.
For the three and nine months ended September 30, 2012 we recorded an income tax benefit of $(0.3) million and an income tax provision of $0.6 million, respectively. The effective income tax rate for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2012 was 4.5 percent and (2.0) percent, respectively, compared with (17.5) percent and (15.4) percent in the same periods last year. The effective rate changes were primarily due to the full valuation allowance on U.S. deferred tax assets, lower withholding tax expense, settlements with taxing authorities concluded during 2012 and the mix of taxable income (loss) by country.
The effective income tax rate for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2012 differs from the U.S. federal statutory rate of 35 percent primarily due to the full valuation allowance on U.S. deferred tax assets, the effects of foreign tax rate differential and settlements with taxing authorities concluded during 2012.
We conduct business globally. As a result, we file income tax returns in multiple jurisdictions and are subject to examination by taxing authorities throughout the world. Our U.S. federal income tax returns for 2004 through 2011 remain subject to examination by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). The IRS completed its field examination of our U.S. federal income tax returns for the years 2006 through 2008 in the second quarter of 2010. The IRS completed its field examination for the 2009 tax year in the fourth quarter of 2011. We have protested certain IRS positions in both audit cycles and the matters are currently pending in the IRS appeals process. With few exceptions, we are no longer subject to examination by foreign tax jurisdictions or state and city tax jurisdictions for years before 2005. In the event that we have determined not to file tax returns with a particular state or city, all years remain subject to examination by the tax jurisdiction.
We accrue for the effects of uncertain tax positions and the related potential penalties and interest. During the nine months ended September 30, 2012 we recognized $0.7 million of previously recorded unrecognized tax benefits due to settlements with taxing authorities. Our liability related to uncertain tax positions, which is presented within the Other liabilities line on our Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets and which includes interest and penalties, was $16.9 million and $17.6 million as of September 30, 2012 and December 31, 2011, respectively. It is reasonably possible that the amount of the unrecognized tax benefit with respect to certain of our unrecognized tax positions will increase or decrease during the next twelve months; however it is not possible to reasonably estimate the effect upon the unrecognized tax benefits at this time.