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INCOME TAXES | 9 Months Ended
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Sep. 30, 2020
INCOME TAXES | NOTE 8: INCOME TAXES In March 2020 the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act was signed into law. The CARES Act included several tax changes as part of its economic package. These changes principally related to expanded Net Operating Loss (NOL) carryback periods, increases to interest deductibility limitations, and accelerated Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) refunds. The Company has evaluated these items and included them in its tax computation as of September 30, 2020. Additionally, the CARES Act enacted the Employment Retention Credit (ERC) to incentivize companies to retain employees. The ERC is a 50% credit on employee wages for employees that are retained and cannot perform their job duties at 100% capacity as a result of coronavirus pandemic restrictions. The ERC is taken as a credit on employment tax form 941. In Q3 2020 the Company recorded an ERC of $0.6 mill i on as a reduction to employment tax expense. Income tax filings for the year ended December 31, 2019 have been filed with the IRS, Massachusetts Department of Revenue, the Maine Revenue Service, and the New Hampshire Department of Revenue Administration. The Company evaluated its tax positions at September 30, 2020 in accordance with the FASB Codification, and has concluded that no adjustment for recognition, de-recognition, settlement and foreseeable future events to any tax liabilities or assets as defined by the FASB Codification is required. The Company remains subject to examination by Maine, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire tax authorities for the tax periods ended December 31, 2017; December 31, 2018; and December 31, 2019. In December 2017, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), which included a reduction to the corporate federal income tax rate to 21% effective January 1, 2018, was signed into law. In accordance with GAAP Accounting Standard 740, the Company revalued its Accumulated Deferred Income Taxes (ADIT) at the new 21% tax rate at which the ADIT will be reversed in future periods. The Company recorded a net Regulatory Liability in the amount of $48.9 million at December 31, 2017 as a result of the ADIT revaluation. In March 2020, the MPUC approved Northern Utilities’ base rate increase effective April 1, 2020. Part of the base rate increase is the flow back of excess ADIT through base rates. Northern Utilities was ordered to begin flowing back to customer excess ADIT of $12.3 million to gas ratepayers over approximately 20 years. The MDPU issued a multi-utility Order D.P.U. 18-15-E (the “Order”) on December 21, 2018. The Order clarified the categories of Excess ADIT for Massachusetts ratemaking: 1) Excess protected ADIT directly related to utility plant fixed assets (rate base), 2) other non-plant excess ADIT amounts (unprotected), and 3) excess ADIT created through reconciling mechanisms. In the Order, all Massachusetts utilities were ordered to begin flow back of protected and unprotected excess ADIT on February 1, 2019 and to reconcile excess ADIT amounts previously collected from ratepayers through reconciliation mechanisms in the next filing of each of those individual reconciling mechanisms. Fitchburg was ordered to begin flowing back to customers excess ADIT of $10.1 million and $10.4 million to electric and gas ratepayers, respectively, over approximately fifteen years. Fitchburg filed its compliance filing under D.P.U.18-15-E on January 4, 2019 for rates effective February 1, 2019. The MDPU approved this filing on January 16, 2019. The filing will be updated and the balances of excess ADIT will be reconciled annually. On November 15, 2018 the FERC issued two pronouncements regarding the accounting for income taxes due to the TCJA; 1) Notice of Proposed Rulemaking Docket No. RM 19-5-000 and 2) Policy Statement PL 19-2-000 providing specific guidance on the flow back of excess ADIT created by the implementation of the TCJA. According to the FERC guidance; the amount of the reduction to ADIT that was previously collected from customers but is no longer payable to the IRS is excess ADIT and should be flowed back to ratepayers under general ratemaking principles. On November 21, 2019 the FERC issued a final order Docket No. RM19-5-000 regarding the 2018 Notice of Proposed Rulemaking and Policy Statement (“Notice”) and affirmed the regulatory treatment outlined in the 2018 Notice. Based on communications received by the Company from its state regulators in rate cases and other regulatory proceedings in the first quarter of 2018 and as prescribed in the TCJA, the recent FERC guidance noted above and IRS normalization rules; the benefit of these protected excess ADIT amounts will be subject to flow back to customers in future utility rates according to the Average Rate Assumption Method (ARAM). ARAM reconciles excess ADIT at the reversal rate of the underlying book/tax temporary timing differences. The Company estimates the ARAM flow back period for protected and unprotected excess ADIT to be between fifteen and twenty years, over the remaining life of the related utility plant. Subject to regulatory approval, the Company expects to flow back to customers a net $47.1 million of protected excess ADIT created as a result of the lowering of the statutory tax rate by the TCJA over periods estimated to be fifteen to twenty years. As of September 30, 2020, the Company flowed back $1.6M to customers in Massachusetts and Maine. In addition to the protected excess $47.1 million ADIT amounts the Company expects to flow through to customers in utility rates, as noted above, there is approximately $1.8 million of excess ADIT created through reconciling mechanisms at December 31, 2017, related to the implementation of the new federal tax rate of the TCJA, which had not been previously collected from customers through utility rates. The Company will reconcile these excess ADIT amounts through the specific reconciliation mechanisms in the next filing of each of those individual reconciling mechanisms which will be subject to the review of state regulators. In addition to the $48.9 million of net excess ADIT noted above, as of December 31, 2018, there was $2.0 million of remaining excess ADIT created by the recognition of Net Operating Loss Carryforward assets (NOLC), discussed below, and related to the implementation of the new federal tax rate of the TCJA, which had not been previously included in utility rates. The Company is recognizing the benefit of this excess ADIT in accordance with the regulatory treatment of excess ADIT for each of jurisdiction. As of December 31, 2019 there was $0.3 million remaining; of which, $0.2 million was recognized as of September 30, 2020. The remaining $0.1 million will be recognized in 2020. The Company has received regulatory orders in its Massachusetts and Maine jurisdictions regarding the flow-back of excess deferred income taxes. The Company’s New Hampshire regulators are expected to issue additional ratemaking guidance in future periods that will determine the final disposition of the re-measurement of regulatory deferred income tax balances. At this time, the Company has applied a reasonable interpretation of the TCJA and a reasonable estimate of the regulatory resolution. Future clarification of TCJA matters with the Company’s regulators may change the amounts estimated. Under the Company’s Tax Sharing Agreement (the “Agreement”) which was approved upon the formation of Unitil as a public utility holding company; the Company files consolidated Federal and State tax returns and Unitil Corporation and each of its utility operating subsidiaries recognize the results of their operations in its tax returns as if it were a stand-alone taxpayer. The Agreement provides that the Company will account for income taxes in compliance with U.S. GAAP and regulatory accounting principles. The Company filed its tax returns for the year ended December 31, 2019 with the IRS in October 2020 and utilized federal NOLC assets of $8.2 million. As of September 30, 2020, the Company had recorded cumulative federal NOLC assets of $2.7 million to offset against taxes payable in future periods. If unused, the Company’s NOLC carryforward assets will begin to expire in 2029. The Company received $0.9 million of the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) credits in 2019 and will receive $0.9 million of the AMT credits in 2020 as provided for in the CARES Act. In addition, at September 30, 2020, the Company had $1.9 million of cumulative general business tax credit and other state tax credit carryforwards to offset future income taxes payable. In assessing the near-term use of NOLCs and tax credits, the Company evaluates the expected level of future taxable income, available tax planning strategies, reversals of existing taxable temporary differences and taxable income available in carryback years. Based on all available evidence, both positive and negative, and the weight of that evidence to the extent such evidence can be objectively verified, the Company expects to utilize all of its NOLCs by December 31, 2020 prior to their expiration in 2029. The Company bills its customers for sales tax in Massachusetts and Maine. These taxes are remitted to the appropriate departments of revenue in each state and are excluded from revenues on the Company’s unaudited Consolidated Statements of Earnings.

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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/disclosureRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 740 -SubTopic 10 -Section 50 -Paragraph 21 -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=84230637&loc=d3e32857-109319 Reference 2: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/disclosureRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 740 -SubTopic 10 -Section S99 -Paragraph 2 -Subparagraph (SAB Topic 11.C) -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=116825942&loc=d3e330215-122817 Reference 3: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/disclosureRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 740 -SubTopic 10 -Section 50 -Paragraph 17 -Subparagraph (b) -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=84230637&loc=d3e32809-109319 Reference 4: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/disclosureRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 740 -SubTopic 10 -Section S99 -Paragraph 1 -Subparagraph (SAB TOPIC 6.I.5.Q1) -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=116825942&loc=d3e330036-122817 Reference 5: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/disclosureRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 740 -SubTopic 10 -Section 50 -Paragraph 14 -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=84230637&loc=d3e32705-109319 Reference 6: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/disclosureRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 740 -SubTopic 270 -Section 50 -Paragraph 1 -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6424409&loc=d3e44925-109338 Reference 7: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/disclosureRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 740 -URI http://asc.fasb.org/topic&trid=2144680 Reference 8: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/disclosureRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 740 -SubTopic 30 -Section 50 -Paragraph 2 -Subparagraph (a) -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6424122&loc=d3e41874-109331 + Details
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