INCOME TAXES

6 Months Ended

May 01, 2011

INCOME TAXES

INCOME TAXES

NOTE K INCOME TAXES

The amount of unrecognized tax benefits, including interest and penalties, at May 1, 2011, recorded in other long-term liabilities was $43.0 million, of which $30.2 million would impact the Company’s effective tax rate if recognized.  The Company includes accrued interest and penalties related to uncertain tax positions in income tax expense, with $0.7 million and $1.5 million included in expense in the second quarter and first six months, respectively, of fiscal 2011.  The amount of accrued interest and penalties at May 1, 2011, associated with unrecognized tax benefits was $13.9 million.

The Company is regularly audited by federal and state taxing authorities.  During fiscal year 2010, the I.R.S. concluded its examination of the Company’s consolidated federal income tax returns for the fiscal years through 2007, and opened its examination for fiscal years 2008 and 2009.  The Company is in various stages of audit by several state taxing authorities on a variety of fiscal years, as far back as 1996.  While it is reasonably possible that one or more of these audits may be completed within the next 12 months and that the related unrecognized tax benefits may change, based on the status of the examinations it is not possible to reasonably estimate the effect of any amount of such change to previously recorded uncertain tax positions.