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Income Taxes
3 Months Ended
Mar. 29, 2014
Income Tax Disclosure [Abstract]  
Income Taxes
Income Taxes

We determine the tax provision for interim periods using an estimate of our annual effective tax rate, adjusted for discrete items, if any, that are taken into account in the relevant period. Each quarter we update our estimate of the annual effective tax rate, and if our estimated tax rate changes, we make a cumulative adjustment.

Our effective tax rate was 34.0% and 31.1% for the first three months of 2014 and 2013, respectively.

In January 2013, the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 (Act) became law. The Act reinstated the research and development tax credit retroactively from January 1, 2012. In the first quarter of 2013, we recognized the research and development tax credit related to 2012 as a favorable discrete item and the credit related to 2013 as a component of the overall 2013 effective tax rate. This credit expired on December 31, 2013. The increase in our effective tax rate in 2014 relative to 2013 is due to the favorable discrete item recorded in the first quarter of 2013 for the retroactive extension of the 2012 credit and the expiration of the credit in 2014.