10. Income Taxes

The provision for income taxes from operations consisted of the following:

(in thousands)

	Years Ended December 31,
	2013			2012			2011

Current
Federal	$	19,804		$	13,163		$	21,040
State	3,243			2,732			4,427
Foreign	3,926			3,920			4,582
Deferred
Federal	3,646			(544		)	(574		)
State	404			(98		)	(358		)
Foreign	(430		)	830			(1,231		)
	$	30,593		$	20,003		$	27,886

Income and loss from operations before income taxes for the years ended December 31, 2013, 2012 and 2011, consisted of the following:

(in thousands)

	Years Ended December 31,
	2013		2012			2011

Domestic	$	74,912	$	65,705		$	68,961
Foreign	6,652		(3,784		)	9,825
	$	81,564	$	61,921		$	78,786

Reconciliations between the statutory federal income tax rates and the Company’s effective income tax rates as a percentage of income before income taxes for its operations were as follows:

(in thousands)

	Years Ended December 31,
	2013		2012		2011

Federal tax rate	35.0	%	35.0	%	35.0	%
State taxes, net of federal benefit	3.0	%	2.9	%	3.4	%
Tax benefit of domestic manufacturing deduction	(2.2	)%	(2.1	)%	(2.5	)%
Change in valuation allowance	1.3	%	6.0	%	(0.3	)%
Difference between United States statutory and foreign local tax rates	0.1	%	2.6	%	0.3	%
Change in uncertain tax position	(0.4	)%	(0.3	)%	—
Worthless stock deduction on Irish subsidiary	—		(15.4	)%	—
Non-deductible goodwill write-off	—		1.1	%	—
Non-deductible professional fee	—		1.3	%	—
Other	0.7	%	1.2	%	(0.5	)%
Effective income tax rate	37.5	%	32.3	%	35.4	%

In 2012, the Company recorded a worthless stock deduction for its investment in the Company’s wholly-owned Irish subsidiary. The deduction resulted in approximately $9.9 million tax benefit on the Company’s U.S. tax returns.

The tax effects of the significant temporary differences that constitute the deferred tax assets and liabilities at December 31, 2013, 2012 and 2011, were as follows:

(in thousands)

	December 31,
	2013			2012			2011

Current deferred tax assets
State tax	$	1,415		$	1,133		$	1,586
Workers’ compensation	1,780			1,814			2,123
Health claims	601			516			549
Vacation liability	1,219			1,037			865
Allowance for doubtful accounts	181			332			291
Inventories	6,691			5,713			4,796
Sales incentive and advertising allowances	516			580			408
Intangible rights write-off	—			—			194
Acquisition expenses	—			—			477
Unrealized foreign exchange gain or loss	124			39			57
Other, net	172			309			428
	$	12,699		$	11,473		$	11,774

Long-term deferred tax assets (liabilities)
Depreciation	$	(2,671	)	$	(2,434	)	$	(3,067	)
Goodwill and other intangibles amortization	(9,781		)	(4,086		)	(314		)
Deferred compensation related to stock options	6,104			7,296			5,485
Uncertain tax positions’ unrecognized tax benefits	1,532			1,140			1,115
Non-United States tax loss carry forward	5,472			8,064			5,912
Tax effect on cumulative translation adjustment	(729		)	(763		)	(812		)
Other	940			526			811
	867			9,743			9,130
Less valuation allowances	(5,546		)	(9,719		)	(6,279		)
	$	(4,679	)	$	24		$	2,851

The total deferred tax assets for the years ended December 31, 2013, 2012 and 2011, were $22.0 million, $21.6 million and $21.4 million, respectively. The total deferred tax liabilities for the years ended December 31, 2013, 2012, and 2011, were $14.0 million, $10.1 million and $6.7 million, respectively.

At December 31, 2013, the Company had $23.6 million of pre-tax loss carryforwards in various non-United States taxing jurisdictions, which excludes approximately $11.6 million that was generated by the Company’s now inactive wholly owned Irish subsidiary. Tax loss carryforwards of $0.9 million, $0.7 million, $0.8 million, $1.7 million and $1.5 million will expire in 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018, respectively, if not used. The remaining tax losses can be carried forward indefinitely.

At December 31, 2013 and 2012, the Company had deferred tax valuation allowances of $5.5 million and $9.7 million, respectively. The valuation allowance decreased $4.2 million and $0.9 million for the years ended December 31, 2013 and 2011, respectively, and increased $3.4 million for the year ended December 31, 2012. The decrease in valuation allowance from December 31, 2012, is mainly attributable to the removal of the deferred tax asset generated by the Company’s wholly owned Irish subsidiary.

The Company does not provide for federal income taxes on the undistributed earnings of its international subsidiaries because such earnings are reinvested and, in the Company’s opinion, will continue to be reinvested indefinitely. At December 31, 2013, 2012 and 2011, the Company had not provided for federal income taxes on undistributed earnings of $34.8 million, $29.0 million and $20.9 million, respectively, from its international subsidiaries. Should these earnings be distributed in the form of dividends or otherwise, the Company would be subject to both United States income taxes and withholding taxes in various international jurisdictions. These taxes may be partially offset by United States foreign tax credits. Determination of the related amount of unrecognized deferred United States income taxes is not practicable because of the complexities associated with this hypothetical calculation. United States federal income taxes are provided on the earnings of the Company’s foreign branches, which are included in the United States federal income tax return.

A reconciliation of the beginning and ending amounts of unrecognized tax benefits in 2013, 2012 and 2011 was as follows, including foreign translation amounts:

(in thousands)

	2013			2012			2011

Balance at January 1	$	3,843		$	4,683		$	5,862
Additions based on tax positions related to prior years	297			527			18
Reductions based on tax positions related to prior years	(494		)	(1,163		)	(681		)
Additions for tax positions of the current year	837			933			570
Settlements	(435		)	(486		)	(362		)
Lapse of statute of limitations	(592		)	(651		)	(724		)
Balance at December 31	$	3,456		$	3,843		$	4,683

Included in the balance of unrecognized tax benefits at December 31, 2013, 2012 and 2011, are tax positions of $0.7 million, $0.9 million and $1.1 million, respectively, which, if recognized, would reduce the effective tax rate.

The Company believes it is reasonably possible that the total amounts of unrecognized tax benefits will decrease by approximately $1.8 million within the next 12 months. The anticipated decrease is primarily attributable to unrecognized tax benefits relating to tax depreciation of certain categories of fixed assets in the U.S., tax benefits that the Company expects to recognize on filing an application for a change in accounting method in response to regulations issued by the IRS, and the effective settlement of tax positions as a result of the completion of an income tax audit.

The Company recognizes accrued interest and penalties related to unrecognized tax benefits in income tax expense, which is a continuation of the Company’s historical accounting policy. During the years ended December 31, 2013, 2012 and 2011, accrued interest decreased by $0.3 million, $0.4 million and $0.0 million, respectively, as a result of the reversal of accrued interest associated with the lapse of statutes of limitations. At December 31, 2013, 2012 and 2011, the Company had accrued $0.4 million, $0.7 million and $1.1 million, respectively, for the potential payment of interest, before income tax benefits.

At December 31, 2013, the Company remained subject to United States federal income tax examinations for the tax years 2010 through 2013. In addition, the Company remained subject to state, local and foreign income tax examinations primarily for the tax years 2008 through 2013.