Income Taxes

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2011

Income Taxes

Income Taxes

(5) Income Taxes

Fastenal, or one of its subsidiaries, files income tax returns in the United States Federal jurisdiction, numerous states, and various local and foreign jurisdictions. With limited exceptions, we are no longer subject to income tax examinations by taxing authorities for taxable years before 2008 in the case of United States Federal and non-United States examinations and 2007 in the case of state and local examinations.

As of September 30, 2011 and 2010, the Company had $4,399 and $1,728, respectively, of liabilities recorded related to unrecognized tax benefits. Included in this liability for unrecognized tax benefits is an immaterial amount for interest and penalties, both of which we classify as a component of income tax expense. The Company does not anticipate that total unrecognized tax benefits will change significantly during the next 12 months.