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Income Taxes
3 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2013
Income Taxes  
Income Taxes

4.              Income Taxes

 

Our effective tax rate decreased to 39.7% for the three months ended March 31, 2013 from 41.1% for the three months ended March 31, 2012, primarily due to changes in state apportionments and permanent differences. The principal differences between the statutory rate and our effective rate are state taxes and permanent differences.

 

We file income tax returns with the U.S. federal government and various state jurisdictions. We are no longer subject to U.S. federal income tax examinations for years before 2009. We operate in a number of state and local jurisdictions, most of which have never audited our records. Accordingly, we are subject to state and local income tax examinations based upon the various statutes of limitations in each jurisdiction. We are currently being examined by the States of New York and Idaho.

 

During the three months ended March 31, 2013 and 2012, we recorded a tax benefit of $3.0 million and $5.5 million, respectively, related to the utilization of the income tax benefit from stock transactions by reducing income tax payable and increasing capital.

 

At March 31, 2013 and 2012, we had approximately $2.2 million and $1.4 million, respectively, of net unrecognized tax benefits for which there is uncertainty about the allocation and apportionment impacting state taxable income. We do not expect any significant change in unrecognized tax benefits during the next twelve months. We have recognized interest accrued related to unrecognized tax benefits in interest expense and penalties in tax expense. The accrued liabilities related to uncertain tax positions were $0.9 million and $0.6 million for the three month periods ending March 31, 2013 and 2012, respectively.  We believe that it is reasonably possible that decreases in unrecognized tax benefits of up to $0.1 million may be recorded within the next year.