Note 15 - Income Taxes

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2013

Income Tax Disclosure [Text Block]

15. Income Taxes

The Company calculates its interim income tax provision in accordance with ASC 740-270 —Income Taxes. At the end of each interim period, the Company estimates the annual effective tax rate and applies that rate to its ordinary quarterly earnings. The tax expense or benefit related to significant, unusual, or extraordinary items that will be separately reported or reported net of their related tax effect, is recognized in the interim period in which those items occur. The Company evaluates its ability to recover deferred tax assets, in full or in part, by considering all available positive and negative evidence, including past operating results and our forecast of future taxable income on a jurisdictional basis. The Company bases its estimate of current and deferred taxes on the tax laws and rates that are currently in effect in the appropriate jurisdiction. Changes in laws or rates may affect the tax provision as well as the amount of deferred tax assets or liabilities.

For the three months ended March 31, 2013 and 2012, the Company recorded a provision for income taxes of $9,000 and a benefit from income taxes of $0.2 million. The provision for the three months ended March 31, 2013 represented minimum taxes because of the Company’s full valuation allowance against the deferred tax assets. The benefit for the three months ended March 31, 2012 represented benefits recorded at SGT and a full valuation allowance recorded on all other deferred tax assets. The effective income tax rate of the Company for the three months ended March 31, 2013 and 2012 was (0.3)% and 14.0%, respectively. For 2013, the Company expects to generate nominal taxable income in certain jurisdictions while experiencing an overall worldwide loss. The negative rate in 2013 is a result of minimum tax liability due in certain loss generating jurisdictions that are unable to benefit from losses as a result of valuation allowance reserves. In 2012, the rate was driven by the Company's forecasted annual results in certain jurisdictions that had been profitable and were expected to continue to be profitable.

The Company and its subsidiaries did not have any unrecognized tax benefits or liabilities as of March 31, 2013 and December 31, 2012. The Company does not anticipate that its unrecognized tax benefits or liability position will change significantly over the next twelve months.