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Income Taxes
9 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2012
INCOME TAXES [Abstract]  
Income Taxes
INCOME TAXES
The Company's tax provision for interim periods is determined using an estimate of its annual effective tax rate, adjusted for discrete items.
For the three months ended September 30, 2011, the Company recorded an income tax expense of $11.2 million on a pre-tax loss of $3.2 million, for an effective tax rate of (353.2)%. For the three months ended September 30, 2012, the Company recorded income tax expense of $26.9 million on pre-tax income of $25.9 million, for an effective tax rate of 103.6%.
For the nine months ended September 30, 2011, the Company recorded an income tax expense of $9.5 million on a pre-tax loss of $228.6 million, for an effective tax rate of (4.2)%. For the nine months ended September 30, 2012, the Company recorded income tax expense of $128.3 million on pre-tax income of $157.3 million, for an effective tax rate of 81.6%.
The Company's U.S. statutory rate is 35%. The Company's effective tax rates for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2012 reflect losses in certain jurisdictions, which the Company was not able to benefit due to valuation allowances and the current year amortization expense of taxes paid from the 2011 taxable sale of certain intellectual property rights within the Company's international structure.
The Company's reserve for unrecognized tax benefits, exclusive of interest and penalties, as of September 30, 2012, increased from the balance as of December 31, 2011, by $10.1 million as a result of taxes attributable to current year operations. The total amount of unrecognized tax benefits at December 31, 2011 and September 30, 2012 that, if recognized, would affect the effective tax rate are $3.2 million and $24.8 million, respectively.