NOTE 10—INCOME TAXES

A reconciliation of income taxes at the statutory federal income tax rate to net income taxes included in the accompanying statements of operations is as follows (in thousands):

The tax effects of temporary differences that give rise to significant components of the net deferred tax assets are as follows (in thousands):

At December 31, 2011, the Company had both federal and state net operating loss carryforwards of approximately $95 million available to offset future taxable income. The Company's federal and state net operating loss carryforwards will begin to expire in 2021 and 2011, respectively, if not used before such time to offset future taxable income or tax liabilities. For federal and state income tax purposes, a portion of the Company's net operating loss carryforward is subject to certain limitations on annual utilization in case of changes in ownership, as defined by federal and state tax laws. The annual limitation may result in the expiration of the net operating loss before utilization.

At December 31, 2011, the Company had federal research and development tax credits of approximately $1.7 million, which expire in the year beginning 2022, and state research and development tax credits of approximately $3.5 million, which have no expiration date. During the year ended December 31, 2009, the Company wrote down its deferred tax assets related to net operating loss carryforwards and tax credits that are expected to expire before utilization due to the annual limitation.

During the year ended 2011, the Company performed an analysis of the deferred stock compensation tax carry forward to assess whether a portion of the carry forward may not be available to offset future taxable income. Based on this analysis the Company concluded that a portion of the carry forward may not be available to offset future taxable income. Accordingly the deferred stock compensation carry forward was decreased to $1.6 million as of December 31, 2011 and $1.9 million as of December 31, 2010, which was previously presented in our annual report on form 10-K for year ended December 31, 2010 as $8.7 million. As we maintained a full valuation allowance against the deferred tax assets, the change did not affect the consolidated financial statements.

The Company has established a valuation allowance against its deferred tax assets due to the uncertainty surrounding the realization of such assets. The valuation allowance increased by $11.6 million and by $10.3 million for the years ended December 31, 2011 and 2010, respectively, and decreased by $33.3 million for the year ended December 31, 2009.

The Company adopted ASC Topic 740-10-50 "Accounting for Uncertainty of Income Taxes" ("ASC Topic 740-10-50"), on January 1, 2007. The Company does not believe that its unrecognized tax benefits will change over the next twelve months.

The following table summarizes the activity related to our gross unrecognized tax benefits:

The Company's practice is to recognize interest and/or penalties related to income tax matters in income tax expense. As of December 31, 2011 and 2010, the Company had no accrued interest or penalties due to the Company's net operating losses available to offset any tax adjustment. The Company currently has no federal or state tax examinations in progress nor has it had any federal or state tax examinations since its inception. As a result of the Company's net operating loss carryforwards, all of its tax years are subject to federal and state tax examination.