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Income Taxes
9 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2014
Income Taxes  
Income Taxes
Income Taxes
Effective January 1, 2014, the Company commenced operating as a REIT for U.S. federal income tax purposes. As a REIT, the Company will generally be entitled to a deduction for dividends that it pays and therefore will not be subject to U.S. federal corporate income tax on its net taxable income that is currently distributed to its stockholders. The Company also may be subject to certain federal, state, local, and foreign taxes on its income and assets, including (1) alternative minimum taxes, (2) taxes on any undistributed income, (3) taxes related to the TRSs, (4) certain state, local, or foreign income taxes, (5) franchise taxes, (6) property taxes, and (7) transfer taxes. In addition, the Company could in certain circumstances be required to pay an excise or penalty tax, which could be significant in amount, in order to utilize one or more relief provisions under the Internal Revenue Code 1986, as amended ("Code") to maintain qualification for taxation as a REIT.
The Company's small cells are currently included in one or more wholly owned TRSs. In August 2014, the Company received a favorable private letter ruling from the Internal Revenue Service ("IRS"), which provides that the real property portion of the Company's small cells and the related rents qualify as real property and rents from real property, respectively, under the rules governing REITs. The Company is evaluating the impact of this private letter ruling and, subject to board approval, expects to take appropriate action to include at least some part of the Company's small cells as part of the REIT during 2015. Once the Company has completed its evaluation and necessary actions to include small cells in the REIT, the Company expects to de-recognize its net deferred tax liabilities related to such part of the Company's small cells.
Additionally, the Company has included in TRSs its tower operations in Australia and certain other assets and operations. Those TRS assets and operations (along with any part of the Company's small cells that may remain in a TRS) will continue to be subject, as applicable, to federal and state corporate income taxes or to foreign taxes in the jurisdictions in which such assets and operations are located. The Company's foreign assets and operations (including its tower operations in Puerto Rico and Australia) most likely will be subject to foreign income taxes in the jurisdictions in which such assets and operations are located, regardless of whether they are included in a TRS or not. The Company will be subject to a federal corporate level tax rate (currently 35%) on the gain recognized from the sale of assets occurring within a specified period (generally 10 years) after the REIT conversion up to the amount of the built in gain that existed on January 1, 2014, which is based upon the fair market value of those assets in excess of our tax basis on January 1, 2014.  This gain can be offset by any remaining federal net operating loss carryforwards.
For the nine months ended September 30, 2014, the Company's effective tax rate differed from the federal statutory rate predominately due to the Company's REIT status, including the dividends paid deduction. The income tax provision for the nine months ended September 30, 2014 primarily related to the TRSs. For the nine months ended September 30, 2013, the Company's effective tax rate differed from the federal statutory rate predominately due to state taxes of $21.7 million.