Income Taxes (Tables)

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2015

Income Tax Disclosure [Abstract]

Schedule of Components of Income Tax Expense (Benefit) [Table Text Block]

Details of income tax provisions and deferred income taxes from continuing operations are provided in the following tables. The components of income tax provisions and benefits were as follows:

	Year Ended December 31,
	2015			2014			2013
	(in millions)
Federal income tax provision (benefit)
Current	$	(112.3	)	$	(324.0	)	$	(92.2	)
Deferred	34.5			110.3			152.3
State income tax provision (benefit)
Current	(6.6		)	(15.5		)	(1.4		)
Deferred	(9.2		)	(3.3		)	1.4
Total income tax provision (benefit)	$	(93.6	)	$	(232.5	)	$	60.1

Schedule of Effective Income Tax Rate Reconciliation [Table Text Block]

The difference between the statutory federal income tax rate and the Company's effective income tax rate is explained as follows:

	Year Ended December 31,
	2015		2014		2013
Federal income taxes statutory rate	35.0	%	35.0	%	35.0	%
Increase (decrease) in rate as a result of:
State income taxes, net of federal income tax benefit	4.2	%	(1.5	)%	(5.0	)%
State rate change	—	%	3.4	%	—	%
Penalties	(0.3	)%	—	%	0.4	%
Return to provision adjustment	(0.3	)%	(0.4	)%	5.0	%
Book impairment of goodwill	—	%	—	%	18.6	%
Other	(0.1	)%	(0.3	)%	(0.4	)%
Effective income tax rate	38.5	%	36.2	%	53.6	%

Schedule of Deferred Tax Assets and Liabilities [Table Text Block]

	December 31,
	2015		2014
	(in millions)
Deferred tax liabilities
Property, plant and equipment	$	1,531.0	$	1,402.9
Commodity price and interest rate derivatives	60.4		127.7
Total deferred tax liabilities	1,591.4		1,530.6
Deferred tax assets
Net operating loss and tax credit carryforwards	51.9		11.7
Employee benefits and compensation costs	43.6		43.0
Bonus and vacation accrual	7.0		16.3
Other	9.1		12.4
Total deferred tax assets	111.6		83.4
Net deferred income tax liability	$	1,479.8	$	1,447.2
Balance sheet classification
Deferred income tax asset - current	$	—	$	—
Deferred income tax liability - current	—		84.5
Deferred income tax liability - non-current	1,479.8		1,362.7
Net deferred income tax liability	$	1,479.8	$	1,447.2

Summary of Operating Loss Carryforwards [Table Text Block]

The amounts and expiration dates of net operating loss and tax credit carryforwards at December 31, 2015 are as follows:

	Expiration Dates	Amounts
		(in millions)
State net operating loss and tax credit carryforwards	2015-2033	$	40.5
State net operating loss valuation allowance		(20.3		)
U.S. alternative minimum tax credit	Indefinite	—
Total		$	20.2

Summary of Positions for which Significant Change in Unrecognized Tax Benefits is Reasonably Possible [Table Text Block]

The following is a reconciliation of our beginning and ending amounts of unrecognized tax benefits for the year ended December 31, 2015:

	2015
	(in millions)
Balance as of January 1,	$	—
Additions for tax positions taken during the current period	15.6
Balance as of December 31,	$	15.6

As of December 31, 2015, QEP had approximately $15.6 million of unrecognized tax benefit that would impact our effective tax rate if recognized.