6. Income Taxes (Tables)

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2011

Income Taxes [Abstract]

U.S. and international components of income before taxes [Table Text Block]

The U.S. and international components of income before taxes are as follows (in millions):

	Year Ended December 31,
	2011		2010		2009
U.S.	$	110.6	$	79.5	$	87.2
International	125.2		140.8		98.6
Income before taxes	$	235.8	$	220.3	$	185.8

Provision for income taxes [Table Text Block]

The provision for income taxes consists of the following (in millions):

	Year Ended December 31,
	2011			2010			2009
Current tax expense (benefit):
U.S. Federal	$	28.6		$	(5.1	)	$	24.9
State	3.4			3.9			4.4
International	35.8			35.2			17.3
Current tax expense	67.8			34.0			46.6
Deferred tax expense (benefit):
U.S. Federal	6.7			5.9			(2.5		)
State	0.4			0.2			(0.3		)
International	(9.1		)	(10.2		)	(8.9		)
Deferred tax benefit	(2.0		)	(4.1		)	(11.7		)
Non-current tax (benefit) expense	(8.1		)	3.4			1.8
Provision for income taxes	$	57.7		$	33.3		$	36.7

Reconcilation of effective tax rate on inocme before taxes and statutory rate [Table Text Block]

The reconciliation between our effective tax rate on income before taxes and the statutory tax rate is as follows:

	Year Ended December 31,
	2011		2010		2009
U. S. statutory tax rate	35	%	35	%	35	%
Impact of foreign operations	(4	)	(6	)	(7	)
Research tax credits	(4	)	(4	)	(7	)
Tax settlements and adjustments to unrecognized tax benefits	(3	)	2		1
Repatriation of foreign earnings	—		(10	)	—
Other	—		(2	)	(2	)
Provision for income taxes	24	%	15	%	20	%

Significant components of deferred tax assets and liabilities [Table Text Block]

Significant components of deferred tax assets and liabilities are as follows (in millions):

	December 31,
	2011			2010
Deferred tax assets:
Bad debt, inventory and warranty accruals	$	24.7		$	25.5
Other reserves	16.6			16.7
Tax credit and net operating loss carryforwards	64.2			35.7
Other	17.2			13.3
Valuation allowance	(48.9		)	(37.0		)
	73.8			54.2
Deferred tax liabilities:
Depreciation	13.5			11.4
Basis of capital assets and investments	86.3			46.5
	99.8			57.9
Net deferred taxes	$	(26.0	)	$	(3.7	)

Summary of income tax years currently under audit or open to examinations [Table Text Block]

The following table summarizes at December 31, 2011 the tax years that are either currently under audit or remain open and subject to examination by tax authorities in the major jurisdictions that Bio-Rad operates:

U.S.	2008-2011
Canada	2006-2011
France	2009-2011
Germany	2008-2011
Italy	2007-2011
Japan	2009-2011
Switzerland	2010-2011

Tabular reconcilation of total amounts of unrecognized tax benefits [Table Text Block]

The following is a tabular reconciliation of the total amounts of unrecognized tax benefits for the year (in millions):

	2011			2010			2009
Unrecognized tax benefits – January 1	$	20.6		$	17.5		$	18.1
Additions to tax positions related to prior years	1.2			4.1			2.1
Reductions to tax positions related to prior years	(0.4		)	(0.1		)	(4.3		)
Additions to tax positions related to the current year	2.1			3.3			3.3
Settlements	(5.2		)	(0.1		)	—
Lapse of statute of limitations	(5.1		)	(4.1		)	(1.9		)
Currency translation	(0.3		)	—			0.2
Unrecognized tax benefits – December 31	$	12.9		$	20.6		$	17.5