INCOME TAXES

Income taxes have been provided at an overall effective rate of 18.5% and 20.6% for the nine month periods ended June 30, 2013 and 2012, respectively. The overall effective tax rate includes the discrete items mentioned in the following paragraphs. Our effective tax rate will vary based on a variety of factors, including overall profitability, the geographical mix of income before taxes and related statutory tax rate in each jurisdiction, and discrete events, such as settlements of audits.

In the third quarter of fiscal 2013, we recorded a discrete tax benefit of $0.1 million for the release of income tax reserves due to the expiration of the statutes of limitation for U.S. Federal income tax for fiscal 2009. In addition, we recorded adjustments of estimates in connection with the filing of tax returns for the U.S. and a foreign tax jurisdiction. In the second quarter of fiscal 2013, we recorded a discrete tax benefit of $0.4 million resulting from the enactment of legislation on January 2, 2013 extending the research and development tax credit for the last three quarters of fiscal 2012. In the first quarter of fiscal 2013, we recorded a discrete tax benefit of $0.1 million for the release of income tax reserves due to the expiration of the statutes of limitation from various U.S. and foreign tax jurisdictions. These discrete tax benefits reduced our effective tax rate by 13.7 percentage points for the nine month period ended June 30, 2013. The effective tax rate for the first nine months of fiscal 2013, before consideration of the impact of the discrete tax benefit, was lower than the Federal statutory rate primarily due to the current year benefit of the federal research and development tax credit.

In the third quarter of fiscal 2012, we recorded a discrete tax benefit of $1.1 million for additional research and development tax credits identified for fiscal years ended September 30, 2009, 2010 and 2011. In the first quarter of fiscal 2012, we recorded a discrete tax benefit of $0.1 million for the release of income tax reserves due to the expiration of statutes of limitation from various U.S. tax jurisdictions. These discrete tax benefits reduced our effective tax rate by 18.6 percentage points for the nine month period ended June 30, 2012. The effective tax rate for the first nine months of fiscal 2012, before consideration of the impact of the discrete tax benefit, was higher than the Federal statutory rate primarily due to additions of certain reserves for unrecognized tax benefits and an adjustment for foreign income taxed at the U.S. rate, which was partially offset by adjustments in domestic tax benefits.

8. INCOME TAXES (CONTINUED)

A reconciliation of the beginning and ending amount of unrecognized tax benefits is (in thousands):




Unrecognized tax benefits as of September 30, 2012	$	2,720
Increases related to:
Prior year income tax positions	202
Decreases related to:
Expiration of statute of limitations	(191		)
Unrecognized tax benefits as of June 30, 2013	$	2,731

The total amount of unrecognized tax benefits that, if recognized, would affect our effective tax rate is $2.7 million. We expect that it is reasonably possible that the total amounts of unrecognized tax benefits will increase approximately $0.4 million over the next 12 months due to increases in current year reserves, partially offset by a release of reserves due to the expiration of the statute of limitations.

We recognize interest and penalties related to income tax matters in income tax expense. During both the nine month periods ended June 30, 2013 and 2012, there were insignificant amounts of interest and penalties related to income tax matters in income tax expense. We had accrued interest and penalties related to unrecognized tax benefits at both June 30, 2013 and September 30, 2012 of $0.6 million . Our long-term income taxes payable on our condensed consolidated balance sheets includes these accrued interest and penalties in addition to the unrecognized tax benefits in the table above.

At June 30, 2013, we had approximately $24.5 million of accumulated undistributed foreign earnings, for which we have not accrued additional U.S. tax. Our policy is to reinvest earnings of our foreign subsidiaries indefinitely to fund current operations and provide for future international expansion opportunities, and only repatriate earnings to the extent that U.S. taxes have already been recorded. Although we have no current need to do so, if we change our assertion that we do not intend to repatriate additional undistributed foreign earnings for cash requirements in the United States, we would have to accrue applicable taxes. The amount of any taxes and the application of any tax credits would be determined based on the income tax laws at the time of such repatriation. Under current tax laws, we estimate the unrecognized deferred tax liability to be in the range of $2.5 million to $3.5 million which could have a material impact on our current consolidated balance sheet, results of operations and cash flows.

We operate in multiple tax jurisdictions both in the U.S. and outside of the U.S. Accordingly, we must determine the appropriate allocation of income to each of these jurisdictions. This determination requires us to make several estimates and assumptions. Tax audits associated with the allocation of this income, and other complex issues, may require an extended period of time to resolve and may result in adjustments to our income tax balances in those years that are material to our consolidated balance sheet and results of operations. We are no longer subject to income tax examination for tax years prior to fiscal 2010, except for certain refund claims applicable to fiscal 2009, in the case of U.S. federal tax authorities and prior to fiscal 2008 for non-U.S. income tax authorities. For state taxing authorities, most notably in Minnesota, California and Texas, we are no longer subject to income tax examination for tax years generally before fiscal 2008.