Tax refund case named by Law360 among “Top Federal Tax Cases of 2022”
Law360 Tax Authority named Mayo Clinic v. United States among its Top Federal Tax Cases of 2022. In November, a federal court in Minnesota ruled that the Mayo Clinic is an educational institution exempt from unrelated business income tax on debt-financed income. After a five-day bench trial, Jones Day, on behalf of Mayo Clinic, won a tax refund case of more than $11 million (plus statutory interest) in a lawsuit against the United States in federal court in St. Paul, Minnesota. Mayo proved that it is an "educational institution" under 26 U.S.C. § 170(b)(1)(A)(ii) and thus was exempt from certain taxes for tax years 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2010, 2011, and 2012. Mayo had paid unrelated business income taxes on certain investments for those tax years and sought a refund, which the government denied.
The Jones Day team representing Mayo Clinic was led by Mark Rotatori (Chicago), and included Erin Sindberg Porter (Minneapolis), Gerald Griffith (Chicago), and Nicole Henning (Chicago).