Income Taxes

9 Months Ended

Feb. 29, 2020

Income Tax Disclosure [Abstract]

Income Taxes

Income Taxes

In the normal course of business, Cintas provides for uncertain tax positions and the related interest and adjusts its unrecognized tax benefits and accrued interest accordingly. As of February 29, 2020 and May 31, 2019, recorded unrecognized tax benefits were $34.4 million and $37.3 million, respectively, and are included in long-term accrued liabilities on the consolidated condensed balance sheet.

The majority of Cintas' operations are in North America. Cintas is required to file federal income tax returns, as well as state income tax returns in a majority of the domestic states and also in certain Canadian provinces. At times, Cintas is subject to audits in these jurisdictions. The audits, by nature, are sometimes complex and can require several years to resolve. The final resolution of any such tax audit could result in either a reduction in Cintas' accruals or an increase in its income tax provision, either of which could have an impact on the consolidated results of operations in any given period.

All U.S. federal income tax returns are closed to audit through fiscal 2016. Cintas is currently in various audits in certain foreign jurisdictions and certain domestic states. The years under foreign and domestic state audits cover fiscal years back to 2013. Based on the resolution of the various audits and other potential regulatory developments, it is reasonably possible that the balance of unrecognized tax benefits would not change for the fiscal year ending May 31, 2020.

Cintas’ effective tax rate for continuing operations was 18.9% and 20.1% for the three months ended February 29, 2020 and February 28, 2019, respectively. For the nine months ended February 29, 2020 and February 28, 2019, Cintas' effective tax rate for continuing operations was 16.5% and 19.3%, respectively. The effective tax rate for all periods were impacted by certain discrete items (primarily the tax accounting for stock-based compensation).