Ezel / Tax Rulings / CA

Were sales of live nutria exempt as food animals, and was nutria meat exempt?

Short answer Live nutria sales were not exempt because nutria were not ordinarily human-food animals, but nutria meat sold for human consumption was exempt.
State
CA
Ruling
Annotation 110.0160
Tax type
Sales and Use Tax
Issued
1957-10-24
Issued by
California State Board of Equalization
Requested by
A nutria business receiving the Board's position after district reports about nutria sales
Topics
food animals human food exemptions
Source
View Original PDF

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This page answers the general question as of 1957. Ask about yours and see what current California tax law says, with citations.

Currency note: this ruling is from 1957
Subsequent statutory amendments, regulation changes, court decisions, or later rulings may have changed the analysis. Treat this page as historical context, not current tax advice. Verify current law before relying on any specific rule, rate, or position mentioned here.
Disclaimer: This is a California State Board of Equalization tax-counsel letter dated October 24, 1957, published by CDTFA as support for a sales and use tax annotation. It relies on district reports then available and distinguishes sales of live nutria from sales of nutria meat for human consumption. Another taxpayer should not treat it as binding and should check current nutria, live-animal, meat, human-food, food-animal, exemption, and sales-and-use-tax rules. This summary is informational only and is not legal or tax advice.
About this page: The plain-English summary, reader guidance, and Q&A below were written by Ezel based on the official state tax ruling. The original ruling (linked on this page as a PDF) is the authoritative source for any reliance.
View original ruling (PDF)

Plain-English summary

Live nutria did not qualify for the food-animal exemption. Although district reports showed some nutria meat was sold for human consumption, the Board was not prepared to say nutria were a kind whose products ordinarily constituted human food.

The meat itself received different treatment: nutria meat sold for human consumption was exempt.

Citations and references

  • California Revenue and Taxation Code section 6358(a) (as cited)

Source

Original ruling text

110.0160

STATE OF CALIFORNIA

STATE BOARD OF EQUALIZATION

October 24, 1957

Mr. J--- H--N--- D--- R--- Co.
XXXX --- -----, California

H-XXXXX
now: SR -- XX-XXXXXX

Dear Mr. H---:
We have received a number of reports from our Los Angeles district and sub-district offices with reference to the status of Nutria for purposes of the sales tax. In order for the sales of this animal to be regarded as exempt from sales tax upon the basis that the animal is used for food, it must be determined that the animal is one “of a kind the products of which ordinarily constitute food for human consumption” (Section 6358(a)). While the reports show that in some instances Nutria meat is sold as food for human consumption, the reports indicate that it would be incorrect to state that this animal is of a kind the products of which ordinarily constitute food for human consumption. We, therefore, must inform you that we are not prepared at this time to rule sales of Nutria to be exempt as sales of animals of a kind the products of which ordinarily constitute food for human consumption. Sales of Nutria meat for human consumption would, of course, be exempt from the tax. Very truly yours,

E. H. Stetson
Tax Counsel

EHS:rc
cc:

--- – Compliance
--- --- - Auditing

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