INCOME TAXES (Tables)

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2014

Effective Tax Rate Reconciliation (Percent)

The following table accounts for the difference between the actual tax provision and the amounts obtained by applying the statutory U.S. federal income tax rate of 35.0% to income from continuing operations before taxes.



	Three Months Ended September 30,				Nine Months Ended September 30,
Effective Tax Rate Reconciliation (Percent)	2014		2013		2014		2013
Statutory federal tax rate	35.0	%	35.0	%	35.0	%	35.0	%
Foreign rate differential	(0.2	)	(0.1	)	(0.2	)	(0.1	)
Domestic manufacturing/export tax incentive	(1.7	)	(0.9	)	(2.1	)	(1.0	)
Dividends paid to CEOP	(0.6	)	(0.4	)	(0.4	)	(0.4	)
Return to provision	(0.3	)	(0.1	)	(0.8	)	—
State income taxes, net	1.7		2.1		2.0		2.2
Change in valuation allowance	1.0		1.2		1.7		(1.0	)
Change in tax contingencies	0.8		(9.5	)	—		(4.1	)
Section 41 research credit	—		(2.1	)	—		(0.9	)
Remeasurement of deferred taxes	—		0.2		0.3		0.1
Other, net	(0.5	)	(0.3	)	0.2		0.1
Effective tax rate	35.2	%	25.1	%	35.7	%	29.9	%

Unrecognized Tax Benefits

The amount of unrecognized tax benefits was as follows:



	September 30,
	2014			2013
	($ in millions)
Balance at beginning of year	$	34.5		$	40.1
Increases for prior year tax positions	0.2			3.2
Decreases for prior year tax positions	(0.2		)	(8.4		)
Increases for current year tax positions	2.2			—
Settlement with taxing authorities	(0.2		)	—
Balance at end of period	$	36.5		$	34.9

Tax Returns Subject to Examination

For our primary tax jurisdictions, the tax years that remain subject to examination are as follows:



	Tax Years
U.S. federal income tax	2008; 2010 – 2013
U.S. state income tax	2006 – 2013
Canadian federal income tax	2010 – 2013
Canadian provincial income tax	2008 – 2013

- Definition

Tabular disclosure of tax positions taken in the tax returns filed or to be filed for which it is more likely than not that the tax position will not be sustained upon examination by taxing authorities (i.e., uncertain tax positions) and other types of income tax contingencies, including: (1) the policy on classification of interest and penalties; (2) a tabular reconciliation of the total amounts of unrecognized tax benefits at the beginning and end of the period; the total amount(s) of: (3) unrecognized tax benefits that, if recognized, would affect the effective tax rate, and (4) interest and penalties recognized in each of the income statement and balance sheet; (5) for positions for which it is reasonably possible that the total amounts unrecognized will significantly change within 12 months of the reporting date the: (i) nature of the uncertainty, (ii) nature of the event that could occur that would cause the change, and (iii) an estimate of the range of the reasonably possible change or a statement that an estimate of the range cannot be made; and (6) a description of tax years that remain subject to examination by major tax jurisdictions.

+ References+ Details