Income Taxes

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2013

Income Tax Disclosure [Abstract]

Income Taxes

11. Income Taxes

The Company is under continuous examination by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and tax authorities in other countries and states in which the Company has significant business operations. The tax years under examination and open for examination vary by jurisdiction. The IRS has completed its field examination of the Company's federal tax returns for years through 2004;however, refund claims for those years continue to be reviewed by the IRS. In addition, the Company is currently under examination by the IRS for the years 2005 through 2007.

The Company believes it is reasonably possible that its unrecognized tax benefits could decrease within the next 12 months by as much as $886 million principally as a result of potential resolutions of prior years' tax items with various taxing authorities. The prior years' tax items include unrecognized tax benefits relating to the deductibility of certain expenses or losses and the attribution of taxable income to a particular jurisdiction or jurisdictions. Of the $886million of unrecognized tax benefits, approximately $682 million relates to amounts that if recognized would be recorded to shareholders' equity and would not impact the effective tax rate. With respect to the remaining$204 million, it is not possible to quantify the impact that the decrease could have on the effective tax rate and net income due to the inherent complexities and the number of tax years open for examination in multiple jurisdictions. Resolution of the prior years' items that comprise this remaining amount could have an impact on the effective tax rate and on net income, either favorably (principally as a result of settlements that are less than the liability for unrecognized tax benefits) or unfavorably (if such settlements exceed the liability for unrecognized tax benefits).

The effective tax rate from continuing operations was 32.9 percent and 29.2 percent for the three months ended March 31, 2013 and 2012 respectively. The tax rate for the three months ended March 31, 2012 includes a $50 million tax benefit related to the realization of certain foreign tax credits.

In addition, the tax rates for both periods reflect the level of pretax income in relation to a generally consistent level of recurring permanent tax benefits and geographic mix of business.