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Income taxes
9 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2013
Income Tax Disclosure [Abstract]  
Income taxes
Income taxes

To qualify as a REIT, we must meet certain organizational and operational requirements including the requirement to distribute at least 90% of our annual REIT taxable income to our shareholders. As a REIT, we generally will not be subject to federal income tax to the extent we distribute our REIT taxable income to our shareholders and provided we satisfy the REIT requirements including certain asset, income, distribution and stock ownership tests. If we fail to qualify as a REIT, and do not qualify for certain statutory relief provisions, we will be subject to U.S. federal, state and local income taxes and may be precluded from qualifying as a REIT for the subsequent four taxable years following the year in which we lost our REIT qualification. Accordingly, our failure to qualify as a REIT could have a material adverse impact on our results of operations and amounts available for distribution to our shareholders.

A REIT's dividend paid deduction for qualifying dividends to its shareholders is computed using its taxable income as opposed to net income reported on the consolidated financial statements. Taxable income, generally, will differ from net income reported on the consolidated financial statements because the determination of taxable income is based on tax regulations and not financial accounting principles.

We may elect to treat certain of our future subsidiaries as taxable REIT subsidiaries which we refer to as “TRS." In general, a TRS may hold assets and engage in activities that the REIT cannot hold or engage in directly and generally may engage in any real estate or non-real estate-related business. A TRS is subject to U.S. federal, state and local corporate income taxes.

As of September 30, 2013, we did not have any unrecognized tax benefits. Additionally, we did not accrue interest or penalties associated with any unrecognized tax benefits, nor was any interest expense or penalty recognized during the year. Our subsidiaries and we remain subject to tax examination for the period from inception to December 31, 2012.