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Income Taxes
3 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2012
Income Tax Disclosure [Abstract]  
Income Taxes
Income Taxes
For the three months ended March 31, 2012, we earned $129.1 million before taxes and provided for income taxes of $35.5 million, resulting in an effective tax rate of 27.5%. The effective tax rate varied from the U.S. federal statutory rate for the three months ended March 31, 2012 primarily due to the net impact of foreign operations and a net reduction of our reserve for uncertain tax positions due to the lapse of the statute of limitations in certain jurisdictions.
For the three months ended March 31, 2011, we earned $130.6 million before taxes and provided for income taxes of $33.6 million, resulting in an effective tax rate of 25.7%. The effective tax rate varied from the U.S. federal statutory rate for the three months ended March 31, 2011 primarily due to the net impact of foreign operations and the lapse of the statute of limitations in certain jurisdictions.
As of March 31, 2012, the amount of unrecognized tax benefits increased by $1.3 million from December 31, 2011, due to the net impacts of currency translation adjustments, expiration of statutes and audit settlements. With limited exception, we are no longer subject to U.S. federal, state and local income tax audits for years through 2007 or non-U.S. income tax audits for years through 2004. We are currently under examination for various years in China, Germany, India, Italy, Singapore, the U.S. and Venezuela.
It is reasonably possible that within the next 12 months the effective tax rate will be impacted by the resolution of some or all of the matters audited by various taxing authorities. It is also reasonably possible that we will have the statute of limitations close in various taxing jurisdictions within the next 12 months. As such, we estimate we could record a reduction in our tax expense of between $14.7 million and $28.4 million within the next 12 months.