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Income Taxes | 9 Months Ended
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Sep. 30, 2011
Disclosure Text Block [Abstract] |
Income Taxes | 4. Income Taxes U.S. Cellular is included in a consolidated federal income tax return and in certain state income tax returns with other members of the TDS consolidated group. For financial statement purposes, U.S. Cellular and its subsidiaries compute their income tax expense as if they comprised a separate affiliated group and were not included in the TDS consolidated group. U.S. Cellular's overall effective tax rate on Income before income taxes for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2011 was 38.4% and 35.0%, respectively, and for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2010 was 36.7% and 37.9%, respectively. The effective tax rate for the three months ended September 30, 2010 was lower than the rate for the three months ended September 30, 2011 primar il y as a result of the favorable settlement of certain state income tax audits in 2010. The benefits from this change, along with other minor discrete benefits, decreased income tax expense for the three months ended September 30, 2010 by $1.1 million; absent these benefits, the effective tax rate for such period would have been higher by 1.6 percentage points. The effective tax rate for the nine months ended September 30, 2011 was lower than the rate for the nine months ended September 30, 2010 due primarily to tax benefits from the expiration of the statute of limitations for certain tax years. The benefits from this change, along with other discrete items, decreased income tax expense for the nine months ended September 30, 2011 by $10.7 million; absent these benefits, the effective tax rate for such period would have been higher by 3.4 percentage points. U.S. Cellular expects to incur a federal net operating loss in 2011 for federal income tax purposes as a result of 100% bonus depreciation that applies to qualified capital expenditures. U.S. Cellular plans to carryback this federal net operating loss to prior tax years, and has recorded $34.9 million as a component of Income taxes receivable at September 30, 2011 primarily related to the benefit associated with this estimated federal net operating loss carryback. A portion of the loss also will be carried forward generating a non-current deferred tax asset of $12.2 million. U.S. Cellular's federal income tax liabilities associated with the benefits being realized from bonus depreciation are accrued as a component of Net deferred income tax liability (noncurrent) in the Consolidated Balance Sheet.

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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 740 -SubTopic 10 -Section 50 -Paragraph 2 -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6907707&loc=d3e32537-109319 Reference 2: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Statement of Financial Accounting Standard (FAS) -Number 109 -Paragraph 136, 172 -LegacyDoc This reference is SUPERSEDED by the Accounting Standards Codification effective for interim and annual periods ending after September 15, 2009. This reference is included to help users transition from the previous accounting hierarchy and will be removed from future versions of this taxonomy. Reference 3: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Statement of Financial Accounting Standard (FAS) -Number 109 -Paragraph 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49 -LegacyDoc This reference is SUPERSEDED by the Accounting Standards Codification effective for interim and annual periods ending after September 15, 2009. This reference is included to help users transition from the previous accounting hierarchy and will be removed from future versions of this taxonomy. Reference 4: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher SEC -Name Regulation S-X (SX) -Number 210 -Section 08 -Paragraph h -Article 4 Reference 5: 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 6: 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 7: 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 8: 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=6881521&loc=d3e23780-122690 + Details
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