INCOME TAXES

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2012

Income Tax Disclosure [Abstract]

INCOME TAXES

INCOME TAXES

The following table provides a summary of the Company’s effective tax rate:

	Three Months Ended September 30,
	2012		2011
Reported tax rate	7.3	%	0.4	%
	Nine Months Ended September 30,
	2012		2011
Reported tax rate	19.8	%	16.7	%

The Company expects its effective income tax rate for the full year to be approximately 20.5%. The annual effective tax rates for the periods ending in 2012 and 2011 are lower than the U.S. statutory rate of 35% due, in part, to foreign earnings taxed at lower tax rates, benefits from U.S. manufacturing incentives, tax planning and other discrete events.  This estimate could be revised in the future as additional information is presented to the Company.

The Company’s effective income tax rate for the three months ended September 30, 2012 and 2011 were 7.3% and 0.4%, respectively. Income tax expense for the three months ended September 30, 2012 was higher than the three month period ended September 30, 2011, as a result of a change in the mix of income reported in 2012, offset by a benefit of $2.1 million for the release of a tax contingency reserves and a benefit of $0.2 million change in state tax law effective this quarter. Furthermore, in this quarter, the Company settled its 2008-2010 Federal tax audit for which it recorded $0.2 million income tax expense.

The Company's effective income tax rates for the nine months ended September 30, 2012 and 2011 were 19.8% and 16.7%, respectively. The change in year-to-date effective tax rates is attributable to the change in the mix in year-to-date worldwide pretax income, as well as a reduction in the estimated domestic manufacturing deduction, caused by a change in U.S. taxable income for 2012. The year-to-date tax increase is offset by a benefit of $2.1 million for the release of a tax contingency reserves and a benefit of $0.2 million for a change in state tax law effective this quarter.

Income tax expense for the nine months ended September 30, 2011 included a $1.7 million correction to a deferred tax asset relating to 2009, and a $0.7 million income tax expense for a state tax law change, which became effective in the quarter ended September 30, 2011.