Mauer v. Commissioner of Revenue

829 N.W.2d 59, 2013 WL 1629197, 2013 Minn. LEXIS 215
CourtSupreme Court of Minnesota
DecidedApril 17, 2013
DocketNo. A12-0499
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 829 N.W.2d 59 (Mauer v. Commissioner of Revenue) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Minnesota primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Mauer v. Commissioner of Revenue, 829 N.W.2d 59, 2013 WL 1629197, 2013 Minn. LEXIS 215 (Mich. 2013).

Opinions

OPINION

ANDERSON, PAUL H., Justice.

Kenneth B. Mauer, a Saint Paul, Minnesota native who at all times relevant to this case was employed by the National Basketball Association as a referee, did not file Minnesota income tax returns for the 2003 and 2004 tax years. Following an inquiry by the Minnesota Department of Revenue, Mauer filed a 2003 state tax return as a part-year Minnesota resident. The Department subsequently conducted a tax audit of Mauer, after which the Commissioner of Revenue determined that Mauer was a full-time, legal resident of Minnesota during the 2003 and 2004 tax years. Mauer filed an administrative appeal in which he asserted that, in July 2003, he established his domicile in Fort Myers, Florida, and therefore he was not required to file a Minnesota tax return as a full-time resident for either the 2003 or the 2004 tax year. After considering Mauer’s administrative appeal, the Commissioner again determined that Mauer was a full-time Minnesota resident during the 2003 and 2004 tax years. Mauer appealed the Commissioner’s determination to the Minnesota Tax Court, which affirmed the Commissioner. Mauer then filed a petition for certiorari with our court challenging the decision of the tax court.

Whether a taxpayer has changed domicile is ordinarily a question of fact, which means we review the court’s decision to determine if there is sufficient evidence in the record to support the decision. Our review of the court’s fact-specific analysis of the factors weighing for and against Mauer’s continuing domicile in Minnesota shows that, when all the relevant factors are weighed and considered, including Mauer’s acts and statements, there is more than sufficient evidence to support the tax court’s decision. More specifically, the court correctly concluded that Mauer failed to carry his burden of overcoming the legal presumption that he remained domiciled in Minnesota during the 2003 and 2004 tax years. We affirm.

Relator Kenneth B. Mauer was born in 1955 in Saint Paul, Minnesota. After high school, Mauer attended Anoka-Ramsey Junior College, where he played baseball, basketball, and football competitively. During Mauer’s freshman year at Anoka-Ramsey, he took a course in refereeing and thereafter he began to officiate football, baseball, and basketball games. As a result of this experience, Mauer realized that he “loved” refereeing athletic games and decided to pursue a career as a professional referee. After one year at Anoka-Ramsey, Mauer earned a baseball scholarship to the University of Minnesota, graduating in 1977.

By the time Mauer was 24, he had begun attending National Basketball Association (NBA) summer camps so that he could advance his career as a professional basketball referee. Mauer began his pro[64]*64fessional career by refereeing NBA summer training games in Milwaukee, Detroit, and Chicago. In the winter, Mauer would return to Minnesota as well as referee high school and college football, basketball, and baseball games. In 1986, Mauer’s work at the NBA summer camps paid off when the NBA hired him as a full-time referee. Employment as a referee with the NBA requires extensive travel nationwide between late September and early June. During the NBA season, Mauer spends as many as 27 days per month on the road. During the summer months, Mauer frequently travels abroad. Throughout his NBA career, and at least up through the disputed 2003-04 time frame in this case, Mauer continued to referee high school football games in Minnesota each fall.

In 1987, Mauer purchased six acres of land in Afton, Minnesota and retained an architect to design a large, year-round home for the property. Mauer began construction of the home in May 1990, and moved into the partially completed home in September 1991. Mauer completed and furnished the home as funds became available, and he completed the entire 10,600-square-foot home by 2002. During the time frame relevant to this case, Mauer carried insurance coverage for the Afton home in the amount of approximately $2,194,900. The Afton home was Mauer’s sole residence until July 2003.

On September 12, 1994, the Internal Revenue Service initiated “Operation Slam Dunk,” an investigation into whether NBA referees were evading federal income taxes through the use of airline ticket-refund policies. As a result of this IRS investigation, the United States Department of Justice indicted 22 NBA referees, including Mauer, for violation of federal tax laws. On July 11, 2000, Mauer was indicted on one count of endeavoring to obstruct and impede due administration of tax laws and four counts of tax evasion. A federal petit jury sitting in Minnesota found Mauer guilty on four out of the five counts, and on April 24, 2001, the United States District Court for the District of Minnesota sentenced Mauer to five months in prison, 800 hours of community service, and three years of supervised release, including five months of home confinement. The home-confinement part of Mauer’s sentence was served in Minnesota. The last day of Mauer’s home confinement under his federal sentence was June 30, 2003.

The next day, July 1, 2003, Mauer flew from Minnesota to Fort Myers, Florida. Two days later, Mauer signed a purchase agreement for a townhome in Fort Myers for a total purchase price of $235,038.51. That same day, Mauer obtained a Florida driver’s license, surrendered his Minnesota driver’s license, and registered to vote in Florida. On July 4, Mauer flew from Florida to Kentucky to visit family members, and then returned to Minnesota on July 7. On the same day he returned to Minnesota, Mauer’s accountant sent him a letter with advice on how to establish Mauer’s domicile in Florida. The accountant also advised Mauer to keep a detailed log of where he spent his time so that he could prove that he was in Minnesota for less than one-half of each year. On July 9, Mauer signed a Florida declaration of domicile before a Minnesota notary public. The closing on Mauer’s Fort Myers town-home was on July 9, but Mauer did not attend the closing in person because he remained in Minnesota.

Over the next several months, Mauer traveled extensively between Minnesota, Florida, and other locations. On July 11, 2003, Mauer left Minnesota for a personal vacation to Europe, returning to Minnesota on July 27. He remained in Minnesota until August 8, when he left for a personal [65]*65vacation to Saint Kitts. Mauer returned to Minnesota on August 17 and wrote in his travel log for that day that he had “returned home” — meaning Minnesota. On August 27, Mauer moved some of his household furniture and personal belongings from his Afton home to his Fort Myers townhome. Mauer returned to Minnesota one day later. In August and September 2003, Mauer left from and returned to Minnesota for several trips, including to Fort Myers and a vacation in Las Cruces, New Mexico. Mauer acknowledged that he remained in Minnesota during a significant portion of that fall so he could referee high school football games.

On August 27, 2003, Mauer filed an application seeking a homestead exemption for his Fort Myers townhome. Mauer purchased insurance for the Fort Myers townhome through a Florida insurance agent and engaged a Florida tax consultant to assist him with Florida tax issues. Later in the fall of 2003, Mauer contacted officials in Washington County, Minnesota, to request that they remove the homestead status from his Afton home.

After purchasing the Fort Myers town-home, Mauer provided the townhome’s address to the NBA as his main residence.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
829 N.W.2d 59, 2013 WL 1629197, 2013 Minn. LEXIS 215, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mauer-v-commissioner-of-revenue-minn-2013.