Income Tax Expense

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2011

Income Tax Disclosure [Abstract]

Income Tax Expense [Text Block]

INCOME TAX EXPENSE

	Quarter Ended		Nine Months Ended
	September 30,		September 30,
	2011	2010	2011	2010
Millions
Current Tax Expense (Benefit)
Federal (a)	—	$(31.7)	—	$(24.5)
State (a)	$(0.1)	1.0	$0.1	—
Total Current Tax Expense (Benefit)	(0.1)	(30.7)	0.1	(24.5)
Deferred Tax Expense
Federal (b)	8.5	41.0	19.3	59.0
State (b)	4.5	1.2	6.0	6.7
Investment Tax Credit Amortization	(0.2)	(0.3)	(0.7)	(0.7)
Total Deferred Tax Expense	12.8	41.9	24.6	65.0
Total Income Tax Expense	$12.7	$11.2	$24.7	$40.5

(a) For the nine months ended September 30, 2011, the federal and state current tax expense (benefit) of zero and ($0.1) million, respectively, (zero and $0.1 million for the quarter ended September 30, 2011) is due to a net operating loss (NOL) which resulted primarily from the bonus depreciation provision of the Small Business Jobs Act of 2010. The 2011 federal and state NOL will be carried forward to offset future taxable income. For the quarter and nine months ended September 30, 2010, we recorded a federal current tax benefit as a result of tax planning initiatives and the bonus depreciation provision in the Small Business Jobs Act of 2010. The 2010 federal NOL was partially utilized by carrying it back against prior years’ income with the remainder carried forward to offset future years’ income.

(b) The nine months ended September 30, 2011, includes a second quarter income tax benefit of $2.9 million related to the MPUC approval of our request to defer the retail portion of the tax charge taken in 2010 as a result of PPACA and a first quarter benefit for the reversal of a $6.2 million deferred tax liability related to a revenue receivable that Minnesota Power agreed to forgo as part of a stipulation and settlement agreement in its 2010 rate case. Included in the nine months ended September 30, 2010, is a first quarter charge of $4.0 million as a result of PPACA. (See Note 6. Regulatory Matters.)

For the nine months ended September 30, 2011, the effective tax rate was 24.9 percent (39.6 percent for the nine months ended September 30, 2010). The effective tax rate for the nine months ended September 30, 2011, was lowered by 2.9 percent due to the non-recurring income tax benefit related to the MPUC approval of our request to defer the retail portion of the tax charge taken in 2010 resulting from PPACA and by 6.2 percent due to the non-recurring reversal of the deferred tax liability related to a revenue receivable that Minnesota Power agreed to forgo as part of a stipulation and settlement agreement in its 2010 rate case. The effective tax rate deviated from the statutory rate of approximately 41 percent primarily due to the non-recurring items discussed above, deductions for AFUDC – Equity, investment tax credits, renewable tax credits and depletion.

Uncertain Tax Positions. As of September 30, 2011, we had gross unrecognized tax benefits of $11.4 million. Of this total, $0.6 million represents the amount of unrecognized tax benefits that, if recognized, would favorably impact the effective income tax rate.

We expect that the total amount of unrecognized tax benefits as of September 30, 2011, will change by an immaterial amount in the next 12 months.