Income Taxes

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2016

Income Taxes

4. Income Taxes

The effective tax rate decreased to 32.63% for the three months ended Mar. 31, 2016 from 38.48% for the same period in 2015 primarily due to the tax benefit related to long-term incentive compensation share vestings (see Note 2 for further description).

The company’s subsidiaries join in the filing of a U.S. federal consolidated income tax return. The IRS concluded its examination of the company’s 2014 consolidated federal income tax return in December 2015. The U.S. federal statute of limitations remains open for the year 2012 and forward. Years 2015 and 2016 are currently under examination by the IRS under its Compliance Assurance Program. U.S. state jurisdictions have statutes of limitations generally ranging from three to four years from the filing of an income tax return. Additionally, any state net operating losses that were generated in prior years and are still being utilized are subject to examination by state jurisdictions. The state impact of any federal changes remains subject to examination by various states for a period of up to one year after formal notification to the states. Years still open to examination by taxing authorities in major state jurisdictions and foreign jurisdictions include 2005 and forward. TECO Energy does not expect the settlement of audit examinations to significantly change the total amount of unrecognized tax benefits by the end of 2016.

Tampa Electric Company [Member]

Income Taxes

4. Income Taxes

TEC is included in the filing of a consolidated federal income tax return with TECO Energy and its affiliates. TEC’s income tax expense is based upon a separate return computation. TEC’s effective tax rates for the three months ended Mar. 31, 2016 and 2015 differ from the statutory rate principally due to state income taxes, the domestic activity production deduction and the AFUDC-equity.

The IRS concluded its examination of TECO Energy’s 2014 consolidated federal income tax return in December 2015. The U.S. federal statute of limitations remains open for the year 2012 and forward. Years 2015 and 2016 are currently under examination by the IRS under its Compliance Assurance Program. Florida’s statute of limitations is three years from the filing of an income tax return. The state impact of any federal changes remains subject to examination by various states for a period of up to one year after formal notification to the states. Years still open to examination by Florida’s tax authorities include 2005 and forward as a result of TECO Energy’s consolidated Florida net operating loss still being utilized. TEC does not expect the settlement of audit examinations to significantly change the total amount of unrecognized tax benefits by the end of 2016.