INCOME TAXES

3 Months Ended

Jan. 29, 2012

INCOME TAXES

INCOME TAXES

NOTE K                 INCOME TAXES

The amount of unrecognized tax benefits, including interest and penalties, at January 29, 2012, recorded in other long-term liabilities was $27.3 million, of which $18.1 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 $0.1 million included in expense in the first quarter of fiscal 2012.  The amount of accrued interest and penalties at January 29, 2012, associated with unrecognized tax benefits was $6.4 million.

The Company is regularly audited by federal and state taxing authorities.  During fiscal year 2012, the I.R.S. concluded its examination of the Company’s consolidated federal income tax returns for the fiscal years through 2009.  The Company is in various stages of audit by several state taxing authorities on a variety of fiscal years, as far back as 2004.  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.