Income Taxes

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2013

Income Taxes

Income Taxes

12.  Income Taxes

The provision for income taxes is comprised of the following:

	Three months ended September 30,					Nine months ended September 30,
	2013			2012		2013			2012
Current	$	46,389		$	38,336	$	72,291		$	72,324
Deferred	(13,102		)	10,461		(5,132		)	35,349
Total income tax provision	$	33,287		$	48,797	$	67,159		$	107,673

The following table presents a reconciliation between the statutory federal income tax rate and the Company’s effective income tax rate:

	Nine months ended September 30,
	2013		2012
Statutory federal income tax rate	35.0	%	35.0	%
Income tax effect of:
Investment income not subject to federal tax	(2.7	)%	(2.2	)%
Tax credits	(1.4	)%	(1.3	)%
State income taxes, net of federal benefit	2.0	%	1.2	%
Prior year income tax adjustment	(0.8	)%	3.8	%
Other, net	1.2	%	0.1	%
Effective income tax rate	33.3	%	36.6	%

During the nine months ended September 30, 2013 and 2012, the Company recorded an increase in unrecognized tax benefits in the amount of $12,965 and $6,498, respectively.  The Company anticipates additional increases to its unrecognized tax benefits of $7,000 to $9,000 in the next twelve months.  The Company expects that the majority of this increase in its unrecognized tax benefit will not impact the effective tax rate.

The Company files income tax returns in the U.S. federal jurisdiction and various states. With few exceptions, the Company is no longer subject to U.S. federal income tax examinations by tax authorities for years 2007 and prior.  Tax years 2008 through 2012 are open to federal examination by the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”).  The Company does not expect significant increases or decreases to unrecognized tax benefits relating to federal, state or local audits.