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INCOME TAX
3 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2016
INCOME TAX  
INCOME TAX

13. INCOME TAX

 

The Partnership is not a  taxable entity for U.S. federal income tax purposes or for the majority of states that impose an income tax. Therefore, income taxes are not levied at the entity level, but rather on the individual partners of the Partnership. Accordingly, the accompanying condensed consolidated financial statements do not include a provision for federal and state income taxes.

 

The Partnership is subject to the Texas Margin Tax, which qualifies as an income tax under GAAP, and requires us to recognize the effect of this tax on the temporary differences between the financial statement assets and liabilities and their tax basis. Our current tax liability will be assessed based upon the gross revenue apportioned to Texas.

 

The Partnership had a non-current deferred tax liability of $0.7 million and $1.1 million as of March 31, 2016 and December 31, 2015 that relates primarily to differences between the book basis of property, plant and equipment and their tax basis, as well as the timing of recognition of deferred revenue.  The associated deferred income tax benefit recorded for the three months ended March 31, 2016, associated with the book to tax differences, was $0.4 million. There was no current income tax expense for the three months ended March 31, 2016.

 

For the periods prior to the Transactions, the Partnership and the Azure System did not have a liability recorded for deferred taxes due to the election of a different calculation method for Texas Margin Tax. As such, current income tax benefit of $41,000 was recorded for allocated Texas Margin Tax for the three months ended March 31, 2015.

 

The Partnership did not have any uncertain tax positions as of March 31, 2016.