Note 17 - Income Taxes

3 Months Ended

Jun. 29, 2014

Income Tax Disclosure [Abstract]

Income Tax Disclosure [Text Block]

NOTE 17. INCOME TAXES

During the three months ended June 29, 2014, we recorded an income tax expense of approximately $0.7million. The income tax expense was primarily related to the allocation of tax expense between continuing operations and other comprehensive income when applying the exception to the ASC 740 intraperiod allocation rule upon liquidation of our available for sale security portfolio. During the three months ended June 30, 2013, we recorded an income tax benefit of approximately $9,000. The income tax benefit was primarily due to income tax benefits in certain non-US operations.

During the three months ended June 29, 2014, the unrecognized tax benefits increased by $2.7million to $16.9million primarily related to the acquisition of iML. If recognized, $14.2million of these unrecognized tax benefits (net of federal benefit) would be recorded as a reduction of future income tax provision before consideration of changes in valuation allowance.

Estimated interest and penalties related to the income taxes are classified as a component of the provision for income taxes in the condensed consolidated statement of operations. Accrued interest and penalties consisted of the following as of the dates indicated (in thousands):

	June 29, 2014		March 30, 2014
Accrued interest and penalties	$	1,189	$	83

Our major tax jurisdictions are the United States federal and various states, Canada, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, the Cayman Islands and certain other foreign jurisdictions. The fiscal years 2003 through 2013 remain open and subject to examinations by the appropriate governmental agencies in the United States and over varying periods in certain of our foreign jurisdictions.

ASU No. 2013-11 – U.S. GAAP previously did not include explicit guidance on the financial statement presentation of an unrecognized tax benefit when a net operating loss carryforward, a similar tax loss, or a tax credit carryforward exists. On a jurisdictional basis, Accounting Standard Update (“ASU”) No. 2013-11 generally requires an unrecognized tax benefit to be presented in the financial statements as a reduction to a deferred tax asset for a net operating loss carryforward. The amendments in this ASU are effective for fiscal years, and interim periods within those years, beginning after December 15, 2013. Exar has properly applied this guidance to its required disclosures. The adoption of this guidance did not have any material impact on our financial position, results of operations or cash flows.