Income Taxes (Tables)

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2015

The components of income tax expense were as follows:



	Year Ended December 31,
	2015			2014			2013
	(in millions)
Federal
Current	$	45.1		$	69.6		$	66.5
Deferred	56.3			47.5			18.4
State
Current	5.1			6.9			10.7
Deferred	4.3			2.1			5.9
Deferred investment tax credits recognized	(0.2		)	(0.2		)	(0.2		)
Total income tax expense	$	110.6		$	125.9		$	101.3

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	1.9		1.6		4.0
Domestic production deduction	(2.0	)	(1.5	)	(1.5	)
Amortization of investment tax credits related to rate-regulated assets	(0.1	)	—		—
Tax benefits from dividends paid to employee stock plan	(1.2	)	(1.0	)	(1.0	)
Other	1.0		1.6		2.1
Effective income tax rate	34.6	%	35.7	%	38.6	%

Significant components of Questar's deferred income taxes were as follows:



	December 31,
	2015			2014
	(in millions)
Deferred income taxes - noncurrent
Deferred tax liabilities
Property, plant and equipment	$	881.8		$	827.0
Employee benefits	53.6			52.0
Other	0.6			0.5
Deferred tax liabilities - noncurrent	936.0			879.5
Deferred tax assets
Asset retirement obligations	21.3			22.5
Pension and other postretirement benefits	101.0			110.8
Deferred compensation	13.6			15.7
Hedging activities	13.1			13.2
State tax credits	3.4			3.3
Valuation allowance	(2.3		)	(1.6		)
Deferred tax assets, net of allowance - noncurrent	150.1			163.9
Net deferred income tax liability - noncurrent	$	785.9		$	715.6

Deferred income taxes - current
Deferred tax assets - current	$	14.9		$	15.7
Deferred tax liabilities - current	8.5			9.9
Net deferred income tax asset - current	$	6.4		$	5.8

The components of income tax expense were as follows:



	Year Ended December 31,
	2015			2014			2013
	(in millions)
Federal
Current	$	(16.0	)	$	(11.9	)	$	6.0
Deferred	48.8			42.4			23.5
State
Current	(2.0		)	(1.9		)	0.6
Deferred	4.2			3.6			2.0
Deferred investment tax credit recognized	(0.2		)	(0.2		)	(0.2		)
Total income tax expense	$	34.8		$	32.0		$	31.9

The difference between the statutory federal income tax rate and Questar Gas'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	1.4		1.3		2.1
Amortization of investment tax credits related to rate-regulated assets	(0.2	)	(0.2	)	(0.3	)
Other	(1.1	)	0.6		0.9
Effective income tax rate	35.1	%	36.7	%	37.7	%

Significant components of Questar Gas's deferred income taxes were as follows:



	December 31,
	2015		2014
	(in millions)
Deferred income taxes - noncurrent
Deferred tax liabilities
Property, plant and equipment	$	403.0	$	354.4
Employee benefits	28.0		23.5
Other	0.6		0.5
Deferred tax liabilities - noncurrent	431.6		378.4
Deferred tax assets
Deferred compensation	0.9		0.9
Deferred tax assets - noncurrent	0.9		0.9
Net deferred income tax liability - noncurrent	$	430.7	$	377.5

Deferred income taxes - current
Deferred tax assets - current	$	2.5	$	3.6
Deferred tax liabilities - current	8.5		9.9
Net deferred income tax liability - current	$	6.0	$	6.3

The components of income tax expense were as follows:

The difference between the statutory federal income tax rate and Questar Pipeline'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 in rate as a result of:
State income taxes, net of federal income tax benefit	1.2		1.5		8.5
Other	(0.3	)	0.5		2.6
Effective income tax rate	35.9	%	37.0	%	46.1	%

Significant components of Questar Pipeline's deferred income taxes were as follows:



	December 31,
	2015			2014
	(in millions)
Deferred income taxes - noncurrent
Deferred tax liabilities
Property, plant and equipment	$	254.0		$	246.1
Employee benefits	12.4			10.8
Deferred tax liabilities - noncurrent	266.4			256.9
Deferred tax assets
Deferred compensation	1.6			2.0
Hedging activities	13.1			13.2
State tax credits	0.7			0.7
Valuation allowance	(0.5		)	(0.4		)
Deferred tax assets, net of allowance - noncurrent	14.9			15.5
Net deferred income tax liability - noncurrent	$	251.5		$	241.4

Net deferred income tax asset - current	$	1.6		$	1.9