Income Taxes

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2020

Note 9: Income Taxes

Provisions for Federal and State Income Taxes reflected as operating expenses in the accompanying consolidated statements of earnings for the years ended December 31, 2020, 2019 and 2018 are shown in the following table:


	($000’s)
	2020		2019		2018
Current Income Tax Provision
Federal	$	250	$	—	$	—
State		678		351		355

Total Current Income Taxes	$	928	$	351	$	355

Deferred Income Provision
Federal	$	6,483	$	9,340	$	5,032
State		2,838		4,117		3,006

Total Deferred Income Taxes		9,321		13,457		8,038

Total Income Tax Expense	$	10,249	$	13,808	$	8,393

The differences between the Company’s provisions for Income Taxes and the provisions calculated at the statutory federal tax rate, expressed in percentages, are shown in the following table:


	2020			2019			2018
Statutory Federal Income Tax Rate		21	%		21	%		21	%
Income Tax Effects of:
State Income Taxes, net		6			6			6
Utility Plant Differences		(4	)		(3	)		(7	)
Other, ne t		1			—			—

Effective Income Tax Rate		24	%		24	%		20	%

Temporary differences which gave rise to deferred tax assets and liabilities in 2020 and 2019 are shown in the following table:


Temporary Differences (000’s)	2020		2019
Deferred Tax Assets
Retirement Benefit Obligations	$	40,740	$	36,551
Net Operating Loss Carryforwards		—		1,609
Tax Credit Carryforwards		344		1,489
Other, net		1,252		1,589

Total Deferred Tax Assets	$	42,336	$	41,238

Deferred Tax Liabilities
Utility Plant Differences	$	143,800	$	134,011
Regulatory Assets & Liabilities		6,247		5,239
Other, net		1,307		5,539

Total Deferred Tax Liabilities		151,354		144,789

Net Deferred Tax Liabilities	$	109,018	$	103,551

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 has evaluated its tax positions at December 31, 2020 in accordance with the FASB Codification, and has concluded that no adjustment for recognition,

de-recognition,

settlement or 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.

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. In the Company’s federal tax returns for the year ended December 31, 2019 which were filed with the IRS in October 2020, the Company utilized federal NOLC assets of

$8.2

million. As of December 31, 2020, the Company had recognized the utilization of the remaining federal NOLC assets of

$2.7

million to offset against taxes current payable. 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 2021 as provided for in the CARES Act. In addition, at December 31, 2020, the Company had

$0.3

million of cumulative state tax credit carryforwards to offset future income taxes payable. If unused, the Company’s state tax credit carryforwards will begin to expire in 2023.

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 determined that the items do not have a material impact on the Company’s financial statements as of December 31, 2020. Additionally, the CARES Act enacted the Employment Retention Credit (“ERC”) to incentivize companies to retain employees. The ERC is

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 take as a credit on employment tax form 941. In the third quarter of 2020, the Company recorded an ERC of

$0.6

million as a reduction to employment tax expense which is recorded as a reduction to Taxes other than Income Taxes in the consolidated statement of earnings

In December 2020, the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 (CAA) was signed into law. The CAA included additional funding through tax credits as part of its economic package for 2021. The Company evaluated these items in its tax computation as of December 31, 2020 and determined that the items do not have a material impact on the Company’s financial statements as of December 31, 2020.

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 FASB Codification Topic 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. The Company expects to flow through to customers $47.1 million of excess ADIT in utility base rates. Approximately $1.8 million of excess ADIT was created through reconciling mechanisms at December 31, 2017, which had not been previously collected from customers through utility rates. The Company reconciled these excess ADIT amounts through the specific reconciliation mechanisms in each of those individual reconciling mechanisms which were reviewed by 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 recognized the benefit of this excess ADIT in accordance with the regulatory treatment of excess ADIT for each of jurisdiction. In 2019 the Company recognized $1.7 million of this amount and the remaining $0.3 million was recognized in 2020.

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 December 31, 2020, the Company flowed back $1.9 million to customers in its Massachusetts, Maine, and federal jurisdictions.

New Hampshire liabilities will begin to flow back once rate proceedings have finalized in that jurisdiction.

- 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.

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