Income Taxes

9 Months Ended

Jul. 01, 2012

Income Taxes

Income Taxes

8.Income Taxes

The effective income tax rate for the first nine months of fiscal 2012 was 34.8% compared to 33.4% for the same period last year.  In the first quarter of fiscal 2011, the Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization and Job Creation Act of 2010 was signed into law, including a retroactive extension of federal research and experimentation credits (“R&E credits”) for amounts incurred from January 1, 2010 through December 31, 2011.  As a result of the retroactive extension, a $1.2 million benefit from R&E credits for the last nine months of fiscal 2010 was included in our first quarter of fiscal 2011 tax expense, resulting in a lower effective tax rate in fiscal 2011.  With the expiration of federal R&E credits on December 31, 2011, we have not estimated a benefit from these credits beyond the expiration date.  Should the R&E credits provision be retroactively extended, additional benefits will be reflected in our effective tax rate during the quarter reporting period of enactment.