Income Taxes

9 Months Ended

Dec. 29, 2012

Income Taxes [Abstract]

Income Taxes

10.Income Taxes

Our provision for income taxes is based on estimated effective tax rates derived from an estimate of annual consolidated earnings before taxes, adjusted for nondeductible expenses, other permanent items and any applicable credits. Our income tax expense is primarily a  non-cash charge due to the utilization of U.S. net operating losses.

The following table presents the provision for income taxes and the effective tax rates (in thousands):

	Three Months Ended				Nine Months Ended
	December 29,		December 31,		December 29,		December 31,
	2012		2011		2012		2011
Income before income taxes	$	106,174	$	26,440	$	167,265	$	58,911
Provision for income taxes	$	38,312	$	9,709	$	57,027	$	21,755
Effective tax rate		36.1%		36.7%		34.1%		36.9%

Our income tax expense for the third quarter of fiscal year 2013 was slightly above the federal statutory rate primarily due to the effect of state income taxes and nondeductible expenses.  Our income tax expense for the first nine months of fiscal year 2013 was slightly below the federal statutory rate primarily due to the release of valuation allowance on the Company’s deferred tax assets in the second quarter of fiscal year 2013.  The release was due to the sale of assets to Apex, which generated sufficient capital gain to utilize a capital loss carry forward that was previously expected to expire unutilized.  Our income tax expense for the third quarter and first nine months of fiscal year 2012 was slightly above the federal statutory rate primarily due to the effect of state income taxes and nondeductible expenses.

We had no unrecognized tax benefits as of December 29, 2012.  We do not expect our unrecognized tax benefits to change significantly over the next 12 months.  Our policy is to recognize interest and penalties related to income tax matters in income tax expense.  As of December 29, 2012, the balance of accrued interest and penalties was zero.  No interest or penalties were incurred during the first nine months of fiscal year 2013.

The Company and its subsidiaries are subject to U.S. federal income tax as well as income tax in multiple state and foreign jurisdictions.  Fiscal years 2010 through 2012 remain open to examination by the major taxing jurisdictions to which we are subject.