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Income Taxes
9 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2011
Income Taxes [Abstract] 
Income Tax Disclosure [Text Block]
INCOME TAXES
We file income tax returns in the United States federal jurisdiction and various state and foreign jurisdictions. With few exceptions, we are no longer subject to United States federal, state and local, or non-U.S. income tax examinations by tax authorities for years before 2004. The Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) has commenced full or limited scope examinations of our United States income tax returns for subsequent years through 2009. The company and the IRS have not agreed upon certain issues which remain in the Appeals process. We also have several state examinations in progress.
We recognized income tax benefit of $2,747 and $1,754 in the three and nine months ended September 30, 2011, respectively. We recognized income tax benefit of $2,416 and $7,188 in the three and nine months ended September 30, 2010, respectively. In all periods, income tax benefit includes 1) the effects of a valuation allowance maintained for federal and certain state deferred tax assets including net operating loss carry forwards, 2) expense for jurisdictions where we generated income but do not have net operating loss carry forwards available, 3) expense for certain jurisdictions where the tax liability is determined based on non-income related activities, such as gross sales, and 4) expense related to unrecognized tax benefits. The income tax benefit in the three and nine months ended September 30, 2011 resulted from impairment charges recorded to reduce the value of certain trade names and the related reduction in deferred tax liabilities associated with these indefinite lived intangible assets. The income tax benefit in the three and nine months ended September 30, 2010 was driven by additional net operating loss carry backs created from contributions to our pension plans. These 2010 contributions allowed us to utilize remaining carry back capacity from previous tax years and increase our income tax refund receivable.
At September 30, 2011, the deferred tax assets attributable to federal net operating loss carry forwards were $56,361, state net operating loss carry forwards were $27,507, federal tax credit carry forwards were $3,006, and state tax credit carry forwards were $1,539. The federal net operating loss carry forwards begin to expire in the year 2028, state net operating loss carry forwards generally start to expire in the year 2021, and tax credit carry forwards are subject to certain limitations. While we have no other limitations on the use of our net operating loss carry forwards, we are potentially subject to limitations if a change in control occurs pursuant to applicable statutory regulations.
We evaluated all significant available positive and negative evidence, including the existence of losses in recent years and our forecast of future taxable income, and, as a result, determined it was more likely than not that our federal and certain state deferred tax assets, including benefits related to net operating loss carry forwards, would not be realized based on the measurement standards required under the FASB Accounting Standard Codification section 740. As such, we maintain a valuation allowance for these deferred tax assets which increased $5,674 and $1,261 in the three and nine months ended September 30, 2011, respectively, to $175,891 at September 30, 2011. The increase in the valuation allowance in the three and nine months ended September 30, 2011 is primarily attributable to net operating losses.