Nature of Business

6 Months Ended

Jun. 30, 2019

Organization, Consolidation and Presentation of Financial Statements [Abstract]

Nature of Business

NATURE OF BUSINESS

Washington Real Estate Investment Trust (“WashREIT”), a Maryland real estate investment trust, is a self-administered equity real estate investment trust, successor to a trust organized in 1960. Our business consists of the ownership and operation of income producing real estate properties in the greater Washington metro region. We own a diversified portfolio of commercial office buildings, multifamily buildings and retail centers. During the 2019 Quarter, we executed two purchase and sale agreements for the sale of eight retail properties (see note 3). These properties met the criteria for classification as held for sale as of June 30, 2019 and are classified as discontinued operations. The remaining retail properties do not meet the qualitative or quantitative criteria for a reportable segment (see note 11). The acquisitions of multifamily properties and planned dispositions of retail properties are part of a strategic shift away from the retail sector to the multifamily sector. This strategic shift simplifies our portfolio to two reportable segments (office and multifamily) and reduces our exposure to future retail lease expirations.

Federal Income Taxes

We believe that we qualify as a real estate investment trust (“REIT”) under Sections 856-860 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the "Code"), and intend to continue to qualify as such. We have considered the provisions of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (the "TCJA"), which was signed into law on December 22, 2017 and which generally took effect for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2018, and the TCJA does not have a material impact on our ability to continue to qualify as a REIT. To maintain our status as a REIT, we are, among other things, required to distribute 90% of our REIT taxable income (which is, generally, our ordinary taxable income, with certain modifications), excluding any net capital gains and any deductions for dividends paid to our shareholders on an annual basis. When selling a property, we generally have the option of (a) reinvesting the sales proceeds of property sold, in a way that allows us to defer recognition of some or all taxable gain realized on the sale, (b) distributing gains to the shareholders with no tax to us or (c) treating net long-term capital gains as having been distributed to our shareholders, paying the tax on the gain deemed distributed and allocating the tax paid as a credit to our shareholders.

Generally, and subject to our ongoing qualification as a REIT, no provisions for income taxes are necessary except for taxes on undistributed taxable income and taxes on the income generated by our taxable REIT subsidiaries (“TRSs”). Our TRSs are subject to corporate federal and state income tax on their taxable income at regular statutory rates, or as calculated under the alternative minimum tax, as appropriate. As of both June 30, 2019 and December 31, 2018, our TRSs had a deferred tax asset of $1.4 million that was fully reserved. As of both June 30, 2019 and December 31, 2018, we had deferred state and local tax liabilities of $0.6 million. These deferred tax liabilities are primarily related to temporary differences in the timing of the recognition of revenue, depreciation and amortization.