INCOME TAXES

The U.S. and International components of income before income taxes consisted of the following for the years ended December 31, 2013, 2012 and 2011:



In thousands
	2013		2012		2011
United States	$	407,315	$	357,076	$	307,909
International	70,431		60,121		64,415
Total income before income taxes	$	477,746	$	417,197	$	372,324

Significant components of our income tax expense for the years ended December 31, 2013, 2012 and 2011 are as follows:



In thousands
	2013			2012			2011
Current
United States - federal	$	103,751		$	95,864		$	99,481
United States - state and local	11,683			14,034			10,205
International	24,486			17,192			11,906
	139,920			127,090			121,592
Deferred
United States - federal	31,808			25,028			7,690
United States - state and local	5,510			3,881			2,589
International	(10,246		)	(8,743		)	4,879
International - changes in statutory rates	(2,330		)	—			(1,769		)
	24,742			20,166			13,389
Total provision	$	164,662		$	147,256		$	134,981

A reconciliation of the income tax provision computed at the federal statutory rate to the effective tax rate for the years ended December 31, 2013, 2012 and 2011 are as follows:



	2013		2012		2011
Federal statutory income tax rate	35.0	%	35.0	%	35.0	%
Effect of:
State and local taxes, net of federal tax effect	2.3	%	2.9	%	2.2	%
Foreign tax rates	(0.8	)%	(1.2	)%	(1.6	)%
Other	(2.0	)%	(1.4	)%	0.7	%
Effective tax rate	34.5	%	35.3	%	36.3	%

Cash payments for income taxes were $102.1 million, $104.7 million and $76.6 million for the years ended December 31, 2013, 2012 and 2011, respectively.

Our deferred tax liabilities and assets as of December 31, 2013 and 2012 were as follows:



In thousands
	2013			2012
Deferred tax liabilities:
Property, plant and equipment	$	(43,280	)	$	(37,112	)
Goodwill and intangibles	(387,942		)	(357,453		)
Total deferred tax liabilities	(431,222		)	(394,565		)
Deferred tax assets:
Accrued liabilities	20,415			24,251
Other	25,625			23,896
Net operating tax loss carry-forwards	8,097			12,973
Less: valuation allowances	(1,122		)	(3,340		)
Total deferred tax assets	53,015			57,780
Net deferred tax liabilities	$	(378,207	)	$	(336,785	)

At December 31, 2013, net operating loss carry-forwards for U.S. federal and state income tax purposes have been fully utilized, excluding net operating loss carry-forwards related to our acquisitions. The net operating loss carry-forwards from foreign and domestic acquisitions are approximately $21.8 million and certain of these net operating loss carry-forwards begin to expire in 2016. The tax benefit of these net operating losses is approximately $8.1 million at December 31, 2013, on which a valuation allowance of $1.1 million was recorded offsetting such tax benefit. The valuation allowance primarily relates to loss carry-forwards for which limitations are in place and utilization before their expiration is uncertain. During 2013, we reversed valuation allowances previously recorded in Japan, because net operating tax loss carry-forwards are now considered more likely than not to be realized. Other changes in our valuation allowance during 2013 were not material.

Undistributed earnings of foreign subsidiaries are considered permanently reinvested, and therefore no deferred taxes are recorded thereon. The cumulative amounts of such earnings are $372.7 million at December 31, 2013, and it is not practicable to estimate the amount of tax that may be payable upon distribution assuming repatriation.

On September 13, 2013, the IRS released final tangible property regulations under Sections 162(a) and 263(a) of the Internal Revenue Code regarding the deduction and capitalization of expenditures related to tangible property as well as dispositions of tangible property. Taxpayers may elect to apply them to tax years beginning on or after January 1, 2012. We have elected to implement this regulation as of January 1, 2013, which resulted in an immaterial reduction to our current year tax expense.

We and our subsidiaries file U.S. federal income tax returns and income tax returns in various states and foreign jurisdictions. With a few exceptions, we are no longer subject to U.S. federal, state, local, or non-U.S. income tax examinations by tax authorities for years before 2010. In 2013 the Internal Revenue Service commenced an audit of our 2010 Corporate Income Tax return. That audit is still active at the date of this filing and we expect no material changes as a result of the examination.

The Company has recorded accruals to cover certain unrecognized tax positions. Such unrecognized tax positions relate to additional taxes that the Company may be required to pay in various tax jurisdictions. During the course of examinations by various taxing authorities, proposed adjustments may be asserted. The Company evaluates such items on a case-by-case basis and adjusts the accrual for unrecognized tax positions as deemed necessary. The estimated amount of liability associated with the Company’s unrecognized tax positions that may significantly increase or decrease within the next twelve months cannot be reasonably estimated.

The total amount of unrecognized tax positions as of December 31, 2013 is $14.9 million. The amount of unrecognized tax positions that, if recognized, would affect the effective tax rate is approximately $14.9 million. We recognized interest and penalties accrued related to income tax reserves in the amount of $0.4 million and $0.3 million, for the years ended December 31, 2013 and 2012, respectively, as a component of income tax expense.

The following table summarizes the changes in unrecognized tax positions during the years ended December 31, 2013 and 2012:



In thousands
Unrecognized tax positions, December 31, 2011	$	10,772
Gross increases - tax positions in prior period	2,284
Gross decreases - tax positions in prior period	—
Gross increases - current period tax positions	4,119
Settlement	—
Lapse of statute of limitations	(1,071		)
Unrecognized tax positions, December 31, 2012	$	16,104
Gross increases - tax positions in prior period	267
Gross decreases - tax positions in prior period	(1,129		)
Gross increases - current period tax positions	2,514
Settlement	—
Lapse of statute of limitations	(2,846		)
Unrecognized tax positions, December 31, 2013	$	14,910