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Taxes - Additional Information (Details) (USD $)
12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2014
Dec. 31, 2013
Dec. 31, 2012
Tax Credit Carryforward [Line Items]      
Domestic income from continuing operations before taxes $ 41,226,000us-gaap_IncomeLossFromContinuingOperationsBeforeIncomeTaxesDomestic $ 29,576,000us-gaap_IncomeLossFromContinuingOperationsBeforeIncomeTaxesDomestic $ 36,754,000us-gaap_IncomeLossFromContinuingOperationsBeforeIncomeTaxesDomestic
Foreign income from continuing operations before taxes 106,171,000us-gaap_IncomeLossFromContinuingOperationsBeforeIncomeTaxesForeign 58,310,000us-gaap_IncomeLossFromContinuingOperationsBeforeIncomeTaxesForeign 49,876,000us-gaap_IncomeLossFromContinuingOperationsBeforeIncomeTaxesForeign
Increase (decrease) in tax expense for the final true-up of the prior year's tax accrual upon filing the actual tax returns (674,000)us-gaap_UnrecognizedTaxBenefitsDecreasesResultingFromPriorPeriodTaxPositions 267,000us-gaap_UnrecognizedTaxBenefitsDecreasesResultingFromPriorPeriodTaxPositions 84,000us-gaap_UnrecognizedTaxBenefitsDecreasesResultingFromPriorPeriodTaxPositions
Increase (decrease) in tax expense upon the expiration of the statutes of limitation for certain reserves for income tax uncertainties (217,000)cgnx_IncomeTaxReconciliationReductionsResultingFromLapseOfApplicableStatuteOfLimitations (1,790,000)cgnx_IncomeTaxReconciliationReductionsResultingFromLapseOfApplicableStatuteOfLimitations (441,000)cgnx_IncomeTaxReconciliationReductionsResultingFromLapseOfApplicableStatuteOfLimitations
Income Tax Examination, Increase (Decrease) in Liability from Prior Year (553,000)us-gaap_IncomeTaxExaminationIncreaseDecreaseInLiabilityFromPriorYear    
Increase (decrease) in tax expense for release of tax reserves resulting from audit (296,000)cgnx_Cgnx_IncreaseDecreaseInLiabilityforreleaseoftaxreservesresultingfromaudit    
Increase (decrease) in interest and penalties (46,000)cgnx_IncreaseDecreaseInterestAndPenalties (854,000)cgnx_IncreaseDecreaseInterestAndPenalties (58,000)cgnx_IncreaseDecreaseInterestAndPenalties
Increase (decrease) in tax expense from write down of noncurrent deferred tax asset     101,000cgnx_IncreaseDecreaseInTaxExpenseFromWriteDownOfNoncurrentDeferredTaxAsset
Unrecognized tax benefit shown as a reduction to noncurrent deferred tax assets 1,028,000cgnx_Unrecognizedtaxbenefitshownasareductiontononcurrentdeferredtaxassets    
Reserve for income taxes 4,623,000us-gaap_LiabilityForUncertainTaxPositionsNoncurrent 4,765,000us-gaap_LiabilityForUncertainTaxPositionsNoncurrent  
Deferred Tax Liabilities, Gross, Noncurrent 5,651,000us-gaap_DeferredTaxLiabilitiesGrossNoncurrent    
Interest and penalties, gross 524,000us-gaap_UnrecognizedTaxBenefitsIncomeTaxPenaltiesAndInterestAccrued 357,000us-gaap_UnrecognizedTaxBenefitsIncomeTaxPenaltiesAndInterestAccrued  
Minimum decrease in income tax expense due to release in reserves 900,000cgnx_MinimumDecreaseInIncomeTaxExpenseDueToReleaseInReserves    
Maximum decrease in income tax expense due to release in reserves 1,000,000cgnx_MaximumDecreaseInIncomeTaxExpenseDueToReleaseInReserves    
Deferred Tax Assets, Tax Deferred Expense, Reserves and Accruals 342,000us-gaap_DeferredTaxAssetsTaxDeferredExpenseReservesAndAccruals    
Non deductible federal and state liabilities 2,430,000us-gaap_DeferredTaxLiabilitiesGoodwillAndIntangibleAssetsIntangibleAssets 3,662,000us-gaap_DeferredTaxLiabilitiesGoodwillAndIntangibleAssetsIntangibleAssets  
Income from expiration of the statute of limitations relating to a tax   354,000cgnx_IncomeTaxHolidayTerminationOfApplicableStatute 141,000cgnx_IncomeTaxHolidayTerminationOfApplicableStatute
Income tax paid net 17,549,000us-gaap_IncomeTaxesPaidNet 8,831,000us-gaap_IncomeTaxesPaidNet 13,551,000us-gaap_IncomeTaxesPaidNet
Open Tax Year State Authorities 2011 through 2013    
Open tax year United States Internal Revenue Service 2012 through 2013    
Tax years open to examination, various authorities 2010 through 2013    
Tax years covered through Advanced Pricing Agreement   2006 through 2011  
Tax years in negotiation for APA agreement Between 2014 and 2018    
State research and experimentation tax carryforwards 2014 through 2016    
Research and Development tax credit [Member]      
Tax Credit Carryforward [Line Items]      
Reduction in tax expense 757,000us-gaap_TaxCreditCarryforwardAmount
/ us-gaap_TaxCreditCarryforwardAxis
= cgnx_ResearchAndDevelopmentTaxCreditsMember
555,000us-gaap_TaxCreditCarryforwardAmount
/ us-gaap_TaxCreditCarryforwardAxis
= cgnx_ResearchAndDevelopmentTaxCreditsMember
 
Research Tax Credit Carryforward [Member]      
Tax Credit Carryforward [Line Items]      
Deferred Tax Assets, Valuation Allowance 725,000us-gaap_DeferredTaxAssetsValuationAllowance
/ us-gaap_TaxCreditCarryforwardAxis
= us-gaap_ResearchMember
   
State Research And Experimentation [Member]      
Tax Credit Carryforward [Line Items]      
Deferred Tax Assets, Tax Credit Carryforwards, Research $ 5,575,000us-gaap_DeferredTaxAssetsTaxCreditCarryforwardsResearch
/ us-gaap_TaxCreditCarryforwardAxis
= cgnx_StateResearchAndExperimentationMember