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Income Taxes
3 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2017
Income Tax Disclosure [Abstract]  
Income Taxes
Income Taxes
 
For the three months ended March 31, 2017, the Company calculated the provision for income taxes by applying the annual effective tax rate for the full fiscal year to “ordinary” income or loss (pre-tax income or loss excluding unusual or infrequently occurring items) for the quarter. The Company determined small fluctuations in estimated “ordinary” income would result in significant changes in the estimated annual effective tax rate and thus an estimated annual effective tax rate would not provide a reliable estimate for the three months ended March 31, 2016. As a consequence, the Company used a discrete effective tax rate method to calculate taxes for the three months ended March 31, 2016.

All of EQGP’s income is included in the Company’s pre-tax income. However, the Company is not required to record income tax expense with respect to the portion of EQGP’s income allocated to the noncontrolling public limited partners of EQGP and EQM, which reduces the Company’s effective tax rate in periods when the Company has consolidated pre-tax income and increases the Company's effective tax rate in periods when the Company has consolidated pre-tax loss.
 
The Company’s effective tax rate for the three months ended March 31, 2017 was 28.6% compared to 7.8% for the three months ended March 31, 2016. The increase in the effective income tax rate was attributable to an increase in EQT Production segment operating income, primarily due to a higher average realized price and increased gains on derivatives not designated as hedges for the three months ended March 31, 2017.

There were no material changes to the Company’s methodology for determining unrecognized tax benefits during the three months ended March 31, 2017.