Income Taxes

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2012

Income Taxes [Abstract]

Income Taxes

Note 8. Income Taxes

The income tax provision for interim periods is determined using an estimated annual effective tax rate adjusted for discrete items, if any, which are taken into account in the quarterly period in which they occur.  We review and update our estimated annual effective tax rate each quarter.  For the three months ended March 31, 2012 and 2011, our estimated annual effective tax rate was primarily impacted by the permanent item related to the noncash interest of our redeemable preferred stock.  Accordingly, we recorded approximately $1.7 million income tax provision and $1.4 million income tax provision for the three months ended March 31, 2012 and 2011, respectively.

We implemented the provisions of ASC 740 as of January 1, 2007 and determined that there were approximately $406,000 and $400,000 of unrecognized tax benefits required to be recorded as of March 31, 2012 and December 31, 2011, respectively.  We believe that the total amounts of unrecognized tax benefits will not significantly increase or decrease within the next 12 months.  The period for which tax years are open, 2008 to 2011, has not been extended beyond applicable statute of limitations.