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Income Taxes
3 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2012
Income Taxes
Note 8.                 Income Taxes

Silgan and its subsidiaries file U.S. Federal income tax returns, as well as income tax returns in various states and foreign jurisdictions.  The Internal Revenue Service, or IRS, has commenced an examination of Silgan’s income tax return for the periods ended December 31, 2004 through December 31, 2010.  It is reasonably possible that this IRS audit and IRS audits for prior periods will be concluded within the next twelve months, and that the conclusion of these audits may result in a significant change to our reported unrecognized tax benefits.  Due to the ongoing nature of these audits, we are unable to estimate the amount of this potential impact.