9) Income Taxes

Since Star Gas Partners is organized as a master limited partnership, it is not subject to tax at its entity level for Federal and state income tax purposes. However, Star Gas Partners’ income is derived from its corporate subsidiaries, and these entities do incur Federal and state income taxes relating to their respective corporate subsidiaries, which are reflected in these financial statements. For the corporate subsidiaries of Star Gas Partners, a consolidated Federal income tax return is filed.

Income and losses of Star Gas Partners are allocated directly to the individual partners. Even though Star Gas Partners will generate non-qualifying Master Limited Partnership income through its corporate subsidiaries, cash received by Star Gas Partners from its corporate subsidiaries is generally included in the determination of qualified Master Limited Partnership income. All or a portion of such cash could be taxable as dividend income or as a capital gain to the individual partners. This could be the case even if Star Gas Partners used the cash received from its corporate subsidiaries for purposes such as the repurchase of Common Units rather than distributions to its individual partners.

The accompanying financial statements are reported on a fiscal year, however, Star Gas Partners and its corporate subsidiaries file Federal and state income tax returns on a calendar year.

The current and deferred income tax expenses for the three months ended December 31, 2014, and 2013 are as follows:


	Three Months Ended December 31,
(in thousands)	2014		2013
Income before income taxes	$	26,913	$	32,843

Current tax expense	$	11,129	$	10,223
Deferred tax expense		230		3,332

Total tax expense	$	11,359	$	13,555

As of January 1, 2015, Star Acquisitions, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Partnership, had an estimated Federal net operating loss carry forward (“NOLs”) of approximately $6.1 million. The Federal NOLs, which will expire between 2018 and 2024, are generally available to offset any future taxable income but are also subject to annual limitations of between $1.0 million and $2.2 million.

FASB ASC 740-10-05-6 Income Taxes, Uncertain Tax Position, provides financial statement accounting guidance for uncertainty in income taxes and tax positions taken or expected to be taken in a tax return. At December 31, 2014, we had unrecognized income tax benefits totaling $0.9 million including related accrued interest and penalties of $0.03 million. These unrecognized tax benefits are primarily the result of state tax uncertainties. If recognized, these tax benefits would be recorded as a benefit to the effective tax rate.

We believe that the total liability for unrecognized tax benefits will not materially change during the next 12 months ending December 31, 2015. Our continuing practice is to recognize interest related to income tax matters as a component of income tax expense. We file U.S. Federal income tax returns and various state and local returns. A number of years may elapse before an uncertain tax position is audited and finally resolved. For our Federal income tax returns we have four tax years subject to examination. In our major state tax jurisdictions of New York, Connecticut, Pennsylvania and New Jersey, we have four, four, four and five tax years, respectively, that are subject to examination. While it is often difficult to predict the final outcome or the timing of resolution of any particular uncertain tax position, based on our assessment of many factors including past experience and interpretation of tax law, we believe that our provision for income taxes reflect the most probable outcome. This assessment relies on estimates and assumptions and may involve a series of complex judgments about future events.