10. Income Taxes

Income Tax Audits

The Company is subject to US federal income tax, as well as income tax in multiple US state and local jurisdictions and a number of foreign jurisdictions. The Company’s federal income tax returns for the fiscal years ended January 31, 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2007, have been audited by the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”). The Company has received a final “No Change Letter” from the IRS for FY07 dated August 20, 2009. The Company has received notice from the IRS on March 21, 2011, that it will shortly commence an audit for the FY09 tax return. There have been no further communications from the IRS since.

Our three major foreign tax jurisdictions are China, Canada and Brazil. China tax authorities have performed limited reviews on all China subsidiaries as of tax years 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012 with no significant issues noted. We believe our tax positions are reasonably stated as of April 30, 2014. On May 9, 2013, Weifang Lakeland Safety Products Co., Ltd., one of our China operations, was notified by local tax authority that they would conduct an audit on transfer pricing. After preliminary communication with the tax authority, we believe the additional tax liability will be no more than US $16,000 or RMB100,000. At the same time, the China tax authority also had questions about why the retained earnings amount was not being repatriated to corporate and why the payments in trade payables from corporate to the sister companies were delayed, especially from US parent to our Chinese subsidiary. Additionally, the China tax authority questioned if there is any tax avoidance motive in the investment by Weifang Lakeland Safety Products Co., Ltd. of US $500,000 to our Argentina subsidiary. We do not believe there will be any material tax consequences from the latter two inquiries.

Lakeland Protective Wear, Inc., our Canadian subsidiary, follows Canada tax regulatory framework recording its tax expense and tax deferred assets or liabilities. As of this statement filing date, we believe the Company’s tax situation is reasonably stated, and we do not anticipate future tax liability.

The Company’s Brazilian subsidiary is currently under a tax audit, which raised some issues regarding the tax impact related to the merger held in 2008 and the resulting goodwill resulting from the structure which was set up at the Company's Brazilian counsel's suggestion. This structure is relatively common in acquisitions of Brazilian operations made by non-Brazilian companies. In general, acquisitions with this structure have survived challenge by the taxing authorities in Brazil. The cumulative amount of tax benefits recognized on the Company’s books through April 30, 2014, resulting from the tax deduction of the goodwill amortization is now zero, net of the deferred tax valuation reserve. This results from the goodwill on the Brazilian books which, for Brazilian tax purposes, is eligible for tax write-off over a five-year period dating from November 2008.

The Company’s Brazilian subsidiary has received notice from the Brazilian tax authorities of a claim totaling approx. US $1.0 million (R2,265,728) consisting of tax of approx. US $127,000 (R280,416) and the remainder in interest and penalty. Management believes it is probable it will ultimately prevail in this claim and as such no provision has been recorded.

Except in Canada, it is our practice and intention to reinvest the earnings of our non-US subsidiaries in their operations. As of April 30, 2014, the Company had not made a provision for US or additional foreign withholding taxes on approximately $18.9 million of the excess of the amount for financial reporting over the tax basis of investments in foreign subsidiaries that are essentially permanent in duration. Generally, such amounts become subject to US taxation upon remittance of dividends and under certain other circumstances. If theses earnings were repatriated to the US, the deferred tax liability associated with these temporary differences would be approximately $3.3 million at April 30, 2014.

Change in Accounting Estimate/Valuation Allowance

We record net deferred tax assets to the extent we believe these assets will more likely than not be realized. In making such determination, we considered all available positive and negative evidence, including scheduled reversals of deferred tax liabilities, projected future taxable income, tax planning strategies and recent financial operations. The valuation allowance was zero at April 30, 2014 and January 31, 2014.