Income tax provision (Tables)

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2011

Components of the income tax provision for continuing operations

The components of the income tax provision for continuing operations were as follows:

	2011		2010		2009
Current tax provision:
Federal	$	49,702	$	49,909	$	37,945
State		9,168		8,424		4,323
Foreign		3,269		3,859		1,349
Total		62,139		62,192		43,617
Deferred tax provision		9,350		20,362		12,039
Provision for income taxes	$	71,489	$	82,554	$	55,656

Reconciliation of effective income tax rate

The effective tax rate on pre-tax income from continuing operations reconciles to the U.S. federal statutory tax rate of 35% as follows:

	2011		2010		2009
Income tax at federal statutory rate		35.0%		35.0%		35.0%
State income tax expense, net of federal income tax benefit		2.8%		2.8%		3.5%
Change in unrecognized tax benefits, including interest and penalties		0.5%		(1.3% )		0.1%
Non-deductible portion of goodwill impairment charge (see Note 7)		-		-		2.9%
Qualified production activity deduction		(2.4% )		(2.4%)		(1.8%)
Impact of health care legislation on deferred income taxes		(1.2% )		1.7%		-
Receivables for prior year tax returns(1)		(0.8% )		-		(2.2%)
Other		(0.8% )		(0.8%)		(1.6%)
Income tax provision		33.1%		35.0%		35.9%

(1) Relates to amendments to prior year income tax returns claiming refunds primarily associated with foreign tax returns for 2011 and federal and state income tax credits for 2009.

Rollforward of unrecognized tax benefits

A reconciliation of the beginning and ending amount of unrecognized tax benefits, excluding accrued interest and penalties, is as follows:

	Unrecognized tax benefits
Balance, December 31, 2008	$	11,457
Additions for tax positions of current year		606
Additions for tax positions of prior years		2,316
Reductions for tax positions of prior years		(2,152	)
Settlements		(3,186	)
Lapse of statutes of limitations		(1,063	)
Balance, December 31, 2009		7,978
Additions for tax positions of current year		641
Additions for tax positions of prior years		1,406
Fair value of acquired tax positions (see Note 4)		1,069
Reductions for tax positions of prior years		(2,634	)
Settlements		(640	)
Lapse of statutes of limitations		(1,282	)
Balance, December 31, 2010		6,538
Additions for tax positions of current year		510
Additions for tax positions of prior years		1,646
Reductions for tax positions of prior years		(219	)
Settlements		(1,507	)
Lapse of statutes of limitations		(732	)
Balance, December 31, 2011	$	6,236

Schedule of deferred tax assets and liabilities

Tax-effected temporary differences which gave rise to deferred tax assets and liabilities as of December 31 were as follows:

	2011					2010
	Deferred tax assets			Deferred tax liabilities		Deferred tax assets			Deferred tax liabilities
Goodwill	$	-		$	40,761	$	-		$	34,818
Intangible assets		-			28,831		-			33,774
Property, plant and equipment		-			6,080		-			4,201
Deferred advertising costs		-			5,769		-			5,964
Early extinguishment of debt (see Note 13)		-			3,775		-			3,784
Employee benefit plans		29,776			-		29,593			-
Reserves and accruals		6,574			-		5,457			-
Net operating loss and tax credit carryforwards		3,366			-		5,760			-
Inventories		2,800			-		2,771			-
Federal benefit of state uncertain tax positions		1,776			-		1,719			-
Interest rate lock agreements (see Note 6)		1,751			-		2,709			-
All other		1,748			4,558		1,370			3,061
Total deferred taxes		47,791			89,774		49,379			85,602
Valuation allowances		(608	)		-		(1,139	)		-
Net deferred taxes	$	47,183		$	89,774	$	48,240		$	85,602

- Definition

Tabular disclosure of tax positions taken in the tax returns filed or to be filed for which it is more likely than not that the tax position will not be sustained upon examination by taxing authorities (i.e., uncertain tax positions) and other types of income tax contingencies, including: (1) the policy on classification of interest and penalties; (2) a tabular reconciliation of the total amounts of unrecognized tax benefits at the beginning and end of the period; the total amount(s) of: (3) unrecognized tax benefits that, if recognized, would affect the effective tax rate, and (4) interest and penalties recognized in each of the income statement and balance sheet; (5) for positions for which it is reasonably possible that the total amounts unrecognized will significantly change within 12 months of the reporting date the: (i) nature of the uncertainty, (ii) nature of the event that could occur that would cause the change, and (iii) an estimate of the range of the reasonably possible change or a statement that an estimate of the range cannot be made; and (6) a description of tax years that remain subject to examination by major tax jurisdictions.

+ References+ Details