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Income Taxes | 6 Months Ended
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Jun. 30, 2015
Income Tax Disclosure [Abstract] |
Income Taxes | Income Taxes The Company estimates an annual effective income tax rate based on projected results for the year and applies this rate to income before taxes to calculate income tax expense. All of EQGP’s earnings are included in the Company’s net income. However, the Company is not required to record income tax expense with respect to the portion of EQGP’s earnings allocated to the noncontrolling public limited partners of EQGP and EQM, which reduces the Company’s effective tax rate. Any refinements made due to subsequent information that affects the estimated annual effective income tax rate are reflected as adjustments in the current period. The Company’s effective income tax rate for the six months ended June 30, 2015 was (2.7)%, compared to 33.6% for the six months ended June 30, 2014. Excluding the impact of recent IRS guidance received by the Company (discussed below), the effective income tax rate for the six months ended June 30, 2015 was 10.5%. The decrease in the effective income tax rate was primarily attributable to an increase in income allocated to the noncontrolling limited partners of EQGP and EQM and a decrease in state taxes in 2015 as a result of lower pre-tax income on state tax paying entities. The increase to noncontrolling limited partners income was primarily the result of higher net income at EQM and increased noncontrolling interests as a result of EQM’s March 2015 underwritten public offering of common units and EQGP’s May 2015 IPO. The Company’s income tax expense was lower for the three and six months ended June 30, 2015 due to a realized $35.7 million tax benefit in connection with recent IRS guidance received by the Company regarding the Company’s sale of Equitable Gas Company, LLC, a regulated entity, in 2013. The transaction included a partial like-kind exchange of assets that resulted in tax deferral for the Company. However, in order to be in compliance with the normalization rules of the Internal Revenue Code, the IRS guidance held that the deferred tax liability associated with the exchanged regulatory assets should not be considered for ratemaking purposes. As a result, during the second quarter of 2015, the Company recorded a regulatory asset equal to the taxes deferred from the exchange and an associated income tax benefit. The regulatory asset and deferred taxes will be recognized when the assets are disposed of in a taxable transaction such as a drop down transaction or amortized over the 32-year remaining life of the assets received in the exchange, in either event increasing tax expense at that time. There were no material changes to the Company’s methodology for determining unrecognized tax benefits during the three months ended June 30, 2015. The Company believes that it is appropriately reserved for uncertain tax positions.

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- Definition The entire disclosure for income taxes. Disclosures may include net deferred tax liability or asset recognized in an enterprise's statement of financial position, net change during the year in the total valuation allowance, approximate tax effect of each type of temporary difference and carryforward that gives rise to a significant portion of deferred tax liabilities and deferred tax assets, utilization of a tax carryback, and tax uncertainties information. + References Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 235 -SubTopic 10 -Section S99 -Paragraph 1 -Subparagraph (SX 210.4-08.(h)) -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=26873400&loc=d3e23780-122690 Reference 2: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 740 -SubTopic 10 -Section 50 -Paragraph 3 -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6907707&loc=d3e32559-109319 Reference 3: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 740 -SubTopic 10 -Section 50 -Paragraph 15 -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6907707&loc=d3e32718-109319 Reference 4: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 740 -SubTopic 10 -Section 50 -Paragraph 9 -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6907707&loc=d3e32639-109319 Reference 5: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 740 -SubTopic 10 -Section 50 -Paragraph 2 -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6907707&loc=d3e32537-109319 + Details
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