1.0.0.3 false Income Taxes, Unrecognized Tax Benefits false 1 $ false false shares Standard http://www.xbrl.org/2003/instance shares xbrli 0 usd Standard http://www.xbrl.org/2003/iso4217 USD iso4217 0 usdPerShare Divide http://www.xbrl.org/2003/iso4217 USD iso4217 http://www.xbrl.org/2003/instance shares xbrli 0 2 NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 0 ceg_NotesToFinancialStatementsAbstract ceg false na duration string Notes To Financial Statements [Abstract] false false false false false true false false false 1 false false 0 0 false false Notes To Financial Statements [Abstract] false 3 Income Taxes, Unrecognized Tax Benefits 1 us-gaap_IncomeTaxDisclosureTextBlock us-gaap true na duration string No definition available. false false false false false false false false false 1 false false 0 0 <table style="font-size:10pt; font-family:'Times New Roman',times,serif;"> <tr> <td> Income Taxes We compute the income tax expense (benefit) for each quarter based on the estimated annual effective tax rate for the year. The effective tax rate was 64.1% and 67.7% for the quarter and nine months ended September 30, 2009, respectively, compared to 33.4% and 41.1% for the same periods of 2008. The higher effective tax rate for the quarter and nine months ended September 30, 2009 reflects the impact of unfavorable nondeductible adjustments (primarily related to nondeductible dividends on the Series B Preferred Stock and the write-off of the unamortized debt discount on the Senior Notes) in relation to the lower estimated 2009 taxable income (primarily attributable to losses on the divestiture of a majority of our international commodities and our Houston-based gas trading operations).         The BGE effective tax rate was 36.5% and 38.9% for the quarter and nine months ended September 30, 2009, respectively, compared to 43.4% and (73.1)% for the same periods of 2008. This reflects the impact of the lower 2008 taxable income related to the Maryland settlement agreement, which increased the relative impact of favorable permanent tax adjustments on BGE's 2008 effective tax rate. Unrecognized Tax Benefits The following table summarizes the change in unrecognized tax benefits during 2009 and our total unrecognized tax benefits at September 30, 2009: <div style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0pt; PADDING-LEFT: 0pt; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0pt; MARGIN-LEFT: 10%; WIDTH: 80%; PADDING-TOP: 0pt; POSITION: relative">   <div align="center"> <table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="100%" border="0"> <tr style="HEIGHT: 0px"> <td style="FONT-FAMILY: times" align="left"></td> <td style="FONT-FAMILY: times" width="12"></td> <td style="FONT-FAMILY: times" align="right" width="6"></td> <td style="FONT-FAMILY: times" width="65"></td> <td style="FONT-FAMILY: times" width="12"></td> </tr> <tr style="HEIGHT: 0px" valign="bottom"> <th style="BORDER-BOTTOM: #000000 1pt solid; FONT-FAMILY: times" align="left" colspan="4">At September 30, 2009</th> <th style="FONT-FAMILY: times">  </th></tr> <tr style="HEIGHT: 0px" valign="bottom"> <th style="FONT-FAMILY: times" align="center">   </th> <th style="FONT-FAMILY: times"> </th> <th style="FONT-FAMILY: times" align="center" colspan="2"> (In millions) </th> <th style="FONT-FAMILY: times">  </th></tr> <tr style="HEIGHT: 0px" valign="bottom" bgcolor="#CCEEFF"> <td style="FONT-FAMILY: times"> Total unrecognized tax benefits, January 1, 2009</td> <td style="FONT-FAMILY: times"> </td> <td style="FONT-FAMILY: times" align="right"> $</td> <td style="FONT-FAMILY: times" align="right"> 189.7</td> <td style="FONT-FAMILY: times">  </td></tr> <tr style="HEIGHT: 0px" valign="bottom" bgcolor="white"> <td style="FONT-FAMILY: times"> Increases in tax positions related to the current year</td> <td style="FONT-FAMILY: times"> </td> <td style="FONT-FAMILY: times"> </td> <td style="FONT-FAMILY: times" align="right"> 6.1</td> <td style="FONT-FAMILY: times">  </td></tr> <tr style="HEIGHT: 0px" valign="bottom" bgcolor="#CCEEFF"> <td style="FONT-FAMILY: times"> Increases in tax positions related to prior years</td> <td style="FONT-FAMILY: times"> </td> <td style="FONT-FAMILY: times"> </td> <td style="FONT-FAMILY: times" align="right"> 118.4</td> <td style="FONT-FAMILY: times">  </td></tr> <tr style="HEIGHT: 0px" valign="bottom" bgcolor="white"> <td style="FONT-FAMILY: times"> Reductions in tax positions related to prior years</td> <td style="FONT-FAMILY: times"> </td> <td style="FONT-FAMILY: times"> </td> <td style="FONT-FAMILY: times" align="right"> (16.2</td> <td style="FONT-FAMILY: times">)</td></tr> <tr style="HEIGHT: 0px" valign="bottom" bgcolor="#CCEEFF"> <td style="FONT-FAMILY: times"> Reductions in tax positions as a result of a lapse of the applicable statute of limitations</td> <td style="FONT-FAMILY: times"> </td> <td style="FONT-FAMILY: times"> </td> <td style="FONT-FAMILY: times" align="right"> (0.8</td> <td style="FONT-FAMILY: times">)</td></tr> <tr style="FONT-SIZE: 1.5pt; HEIGHT: 0px" valign="top"> <td style="BORDER-BOTTOM: #000000 1pt solid; FONT-FAMILY: times" valign="bottom" colspan="4"> </td> <td style="FONT-FAMILY: times" valign="bottom"> </td></tr> <tr style="HEIGHT: 0px" valign="bottom" bgcolor="white"> <td style="FONT-FAMILY: times"> Total unrecognized tax benefits, September 30, 20091</td> <td style="FONT-FAMILY: times"> </td> <td style="FONT-FAMILY: times" align="right"> $</td> <td style="FONT-FAMILY: times" align="right"> 297.2</td> <td style="FONT-FAMILY: times">  </td></tr> <tr style="FONT-SIZE: 1.5pt; HEIGHT: 0px" valign="top"> <td style="BORDER-BOTTOM: #000000 2.25pt double; FONT-FAMILY: times" valign="bottom" colspan="4"> </td> <td style="FONT-FAMILY: times" valign="bottom">  </td></tr></table></div> </div> <div style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0pt; PADDING-LEFT: 0pt; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0pt; MARGIN-LEFT: 10%; PADDING-TOP: 0pt; POSITION: relative; TEXT-ALIGN: left"> 1 BGE's portion of our total unrecognized tax benefits at September 30, 2009 was $90.6 million.</div>         Increases in current year tax positions are primarily due to unrecognized tax benefits for repair and depreciation deductions measured at amounts consistent with prior Internal Revenue Service (IRS) examination results and state income tax accruals. Increases in prior year tax positions are primarily due to BGE repair and depreciation deductions, which have not been the subject of an IRS examination.         If the total amount of unrecognized tax benefits of $297.2 million were ultimately realized, our income tax expense would decrease by approximately $173 million. However, the $173 million includes state tax refund claims of approximately $51 million that have been disallowed by tax authorities and we believe that there is a remote likelihood of ultimately realizing any benefit from these refund claim amounts. These state refund claims may be resolved by December 31, 2009. For this reason, we believe it is reasonably possible that reductions to our total unrecognized tax benefits in the range of $40 to $50 million may occur by March 31, 2010, although these reductions are not expected to materially impact income tax expense.         Interest and penalties recorded in our Consolidated Statements of Income (Loss) as tax expense relating to liabilities for unrecognized tax benefits were as follows: <div style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0pt; PADDING-LEFT: 0pt; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0pt; MARGIN-LEFT: 10%; WIDTH: 80%; PADDING-TOP: 0pt; POSITION: relative">   <div align="center"> <table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="100%" border="0"> <tr style="HEIGHT: 0px"> <td style="FONT-FAMILY: times" align="left"></td> <td style="FONT-FAMILY: times" width="12"></td> <td style="FONT-FAMILY: times" align="right" width="6"></td> <td style="FONT-FAMILY: times" width="34"></td> <td style="FONT-FAMILY: times" width="12"></td> <td style="FONT-FAMILY: times" align="right" width="6"></td> <td style="FONT-FAMILY: times" width="34"></td> <td style="FONT-FAMILY: times" width="12"></td> <td style="FONT-FAMILY: times" align="right" width="6"></td> <td style="FONT-FAMILY: times" width="34"></td> <td style="FONT-FAMILY: times" width="12"></td> <td style="FONT-FAMILY: times" align="right" width="6"></td> <td style="FONT-FAMILY: times" width="34"></td> <td style="FONT-FAMILY: times" width="12"></td> </tr> <tr style="HEIGHT: 0px" valign="bottom"> <th style="FONT-FAMILY: times" align="left">   </th> <th style="FONT-FAMILY: times"> </th> <th style="FONT-FAMILY: times" align="center" colspan="5"> Quarter Ended September 30, </th> <th style="FONT-FAMILY: times"> </th> <th style="FONT-FAMILY: times" align="center" colspan="5"> Nine Months Ended September 30, </th> <th style="FONT-FAMILY: times">  </th></tr> <tr style="HEIGHT: 0px" valign="bottom"> <th style="FONT-FAMILY: times" align="center">   </th> <th style="FONT-FAMILY: times"> </th> <th style="FONT-FAMILY: times" align="center" colspan="2"> 2009 </th> <th style="FONT-FAMILY: times"> </th> <th style="FONT-FAMILY: times" align="center" colspan="2"> 2008 </th> <th style="FONT-FAMILY: times"> </th> <th style="FONT-FAMILY: times" align="center" colspan="2"> 2009 </th> <th style="FONT-FAMILY: times"> </th> <th style="FONT-FAMILY: times" align="center" colspan="2"> 2008 </th> <th style="FONT-FAMILY: times">  </th></tr> <tr style="FONT-SIZE: 1.5pt; HEIGHT: 0px" valign="bottom"> <th style="BORDER-BOTTOM: #000000 1pt solid; FONT-FAMILY: times" align="center" colspan="13"> </th> <th style="FONT-FAMILY: times"> </th></tr> <tr style="HEIGHT: 0px" valign="bottom"> <th style="FONT-FAMILY: times" align="left">   </th> <th style="FONT-FAMILY: times"> </th> <th style="FONT-FAMILY: times" align="center" colspan="11"> (In millions) </th> <th style="FONT-FAMILY: times">  </th></tr> <tr style="HEIGHT: 0px" valign="bottom" bgcolor="#CCEEFF"> <td style="FONT-FAMILY: times"> Interest and penalties recorded as tax expense</td> <td style="FONT-FAMILY: times"> </td> <td style="FONT-FAMILY: times">$</td> <td style="FONT-FAMILY: times" align="right"> 8.5</td> <td style="FONT-FAMILY: times"> </td> <td style="FONT-FAMILY: times">$</td> <td style="FONT-FAMILY: times" align="right"> 0.2</td> <td style="FONT-FAMILY: times"> </td> <td style="FONT-FAMILY: times">$</td> <td style="FONT-FAMILY: times" align="right"> 9.2</td> <td style="FONT-FAMILY: times"> </td> <td style="FONT-FAMILY: times">$</td> <td style="FONT-FAMILY: times" align="right"> 1.9</td> <td style="FONT-FAMILY: times">  </td></tr> <tr style="FONT-SIZE: 1.5pt; HEIGHT: 0px" valign="top"> <td style="BORDER-BOTTOM: #000000 2.25pt double; FONT-FAMILY: times" valign="bottom" colspan="13"> </td> <td style="FONT-FAMILY: times" valign="bottom">  </td></tr></table></div> </div>         Accrued interest and penalties recognized in our Consolidated Balance Sheets were $19.5 million, of which BGE's portion was $0.9 million at September 30, 2009, and $10.3 million, of which BGE's portion was $0.7 million at December 31, 2008.</td></tr></table> Income Taxes We compute the income tax expense (benefit) for each quarter based on the estimated annual effective tax rate for the year. 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