Income Taxes

Except to the extent noted below, Note 6 to the financial statements included in SPS’ Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended Dec. 31, 2014 appropriately represents, in all material respects, the current status of other income tax matters, and are incorporated herein by reference.

Federal Audit — SPS is a member of the Xcel Energy affiliated group that files a consolidated federal income tax return. In the third quarter of 2012, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) commenced an examination of tax years 2010 and 2011, including the 2009 carryback claim. As of Sept. 30, 2015, the IRS had proposed an adjustment to the federal tax loss carryback claims that would result in $13 million of income tax expense for the 2009 through 2011 claims, the recently filed 2013 claim, and the anticipated claim for 2014. SPS is not expected to accrue any income tax expense related to this adjustment. As of Sept. 30, 2015, the IRS had begun the appeals process; however, the outcome and timing of a resolution are uncertain. The statute of limitations applicable to Xcel Energy’s 2009-2011 federal income tax returns expires in December 2016 following an extension to allow additional time for the appeals process. In the third quarter of 2015, the IRS commenced an examination of tax years 2012 and 2013. As of Sept. 30, 2015, the IRS had not proposed any material adjustments to tax years 2012 and 2013.

State Audits — SPS is a member of the Xcel Energy affiliated group that files consolidated state income tax returns. As of Sept. 30, 2015, SPS’ earliest open tax year that is subject to examination by state taxing authorities under applicable statutes of limitations is 2009. There are currently no state income tax audits in progress.

Unrecognized Tax Benefits — The unrecognized tax benefit balance includes permanent tax positions, which if recognized would affect the annual effective tax rate (ETR). In addition, the unrecognized tax benefit balance includes temporary tax positions for which the ultimate deductibility is highly certain but for which there is uncertainty about the timing of such deductibility. A change in the period of deductibility would not affect the ETR but would accelerate the payment of cash to the taxing authority to an earlier period.

A reconciliation of the amount of unrecognized tax benefit is as follows:



(Millions of Dollars)	Sept. 30, 2015		Dec. 31, 2014
Unrecognized tax benefit — Permanent tax positions	$	1.6	$	1.5
Unrecognized tax benefit — Temporary tax positions	12.7		11.7
Total unrecognized tax benefit	$	14.3	$	13.2

The unrecognized tax benefit amounts were reduced by the tax benefits associated with net operating loss (NOL) and tax credit carryforwards. The amounts of tax benefits associated with NOL and tax credit carryforwards are as follows:



(Millions of Dollars)	Sept. 30, 2015			Dec. 31, 2014
NOL and tax credit carryforwards	$	(6.3	)	$	(4.8	)

It is reasonably possible that SPS’ amount of unrecognized tax benefits could significantly change in the next 12 months as the IRS appeals process and audit progress and state audits resume. As the IRS examination moves closer to completion, it is reasonably possible that the amount of unrecognized tax benefit could decrease up to approximately $2 million.

The payable for interest related to unrecognized tax benefits is partially offset by the interest benefit associated with NOL and tax credit carryforwards. The payables for interest related to unrecognized tax benefits at Sept. 30, 2015 and Dec. 31, 2014 were not material. No amounts were accrued for penalties related to unrecognized tax benefits as of Sept. 30, 2015 or Dec. 31, 2014.