Income Taxes (Tables)

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2016

Taxability Of Cash Distributions Table [Text Block]

For income tax purposes, dividends paid to holders of common stock primarily consist of ordinary income, return of capital, capital gains, qualified dividends and un-recaptured Section 1250 gains, or a combination thereof. For the years ended December 31, 2016, 2015 and 2014, dividends per share held for the entire year were estimated to be taxable as follows:



	2016				2015				2014
	Amount		Percentage		Amount		Percentage		Amount		Percentage
Ordinary income	$	3.28	100	%	$	3.07	99.7	%	$	2.76	94.41	%
Return of capital	—		—	%	—		—	%	0.16		5.59	%
Un-recaptured Section 1250 gain	—		—	%	0.01		0.3	%	—		—	%
	$	3.28	100.00	%	$	3.08	100.00	%	$	2.92	100.00	%

Summary of Valuation Allowance [Table Text Block]

For the years ended December 31, 2016 and 2015, the components of MAA's deferred income tax assets and liabilities were as follows (dollars in thousands):



	December 31, 2016			December 31, 2015
Deferred tax assets:
Real estate asset basis differences	$	13,387		$	25,627
Deferred revenue	—			22
Deferred expenses	12,481			14,106
Net operating loss carryforward	32,585			28,493
Accrued liabilities	102			3,951
	$	58,555		$	72,199
Deferred tax liabilities:
Real estate asset basis differences	$	(311	)	$	(145	)
	$	(311	)	$	(145	)
Net deferred tax assets, before valuation allowance	$	58,244		$	72,054
Valuation allowance	(58,244		)	(72,054		)
Net deferred tax assets, included in other assets	$	—		$	—

Schedule of Effective Income Tax Rate Reconciliation [Table Text Block]

For the years ended December 31, 2016, 2015 and 2014, the reconciliation of income tax attributable to continuing operations for the TRSs computed at the U.S. statutory rate to the income tax provision was as follows (dollars in thousands):



	2016			2015			2014
Tax expense at U.S. statutory rates on TRS income subject to tax	$	3,185		$	2,506		$	1,802
Effect of permanent differences and other	—			(730		)	(1,110		)
Decrease in valuation allowance	(3,185		)	(1,776		)	(692		)
TRS income tax provision	$	—		$	—		$	—