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Income Taxes
9 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2012
Income Taxes

4. Income Taxes

Income tax expense for the nine months ended September 30, 2012 and 2011 has been computed using estimated effective tax rates. These rates are revised, if necessary, at the end of each successive interim period to reflect current estimates of the annual effective tax rates.

For the nine months ended September 30, 2012, the tax provision is comprised of a $3.4 million U.S. federal income tax expense and $30.3 million foreign income tax expense. For the nine months ended September 30, 2011, the tax provision was comprised of a $34.4 million U.S. federal income tax benefit and $7.3 million in foreign income tax expense.

Although most of the Company’s non – U.S. income is subject to U.S. federal income tax, certain of its non – U.S. income is not subject to U.S. federal income tax until repatriated. Foreign taxes on this non – U.S. income are accrued at the lower U.K. tax rate, as opposed to the higher U.S. statutory rate, since these earnings are intended to be permanently reinvested overseas. This assumption could change, as a result of a sale of the subsidiaries, the receipt of dividends from the subsidiaries, a change in management’s intentions, or as a result of various other events. For the nine months ended September 30, 2012, all of the Company’s non – US income was generated entirely from that portion of the business that is subject to the higher U.S. statutory federal income tax rate.

The Company or its subsidiaries files income tax returns in the U.S. federal jurisdiction and various state jurisdictions, as well as foreign jurisdictions. With few exceptions, the Company and its subsidiaries are no longer subject to U.S. federal income tax examinations by tax authorities for years before 2007. The IRS audits of the years 2009 and 2010 commenced in June 2012. The Company and its subsidiaries are still subject to U.S. state income tax examinations by tax authorities for years after 2001 and foreign examinations for years after 2008.