Ezel / Tax Rulings / CA

Was feed sold to a business that raised and sold earthworms exempt?

Short answer Yes. California exempted the feed because it was used for animal life—the worms—that the purchaser sold in the regular course of business.
State
CA
Ruling
Annotation 110.0660
Tax type
Sales and Use Tax
Issued
1953-11-04
Issued by
California State Board of Equalization
Requested by
A seller asking whether feed sold to an earthworm-raising and selling business was taxable
Topics
animal life regular course of business exemptions
Source
View Original PDF

Apply this to your situation

This page answers the general question as of 1953. Ask about yours and see what current California tax law says, with citations.

Currency note: this ruling is from 1953
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 November 4, 1953, published by CDTFA as support for a sales and use tax annotation. Its conclusion assumes the feed was for earthworms and the purchaser was in the business of selling those worms. Another taxpayer should not treat it as binding and should check current earthworm, worm-feed, animal-life, regular-course-of-business, resale, 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

Feed sold to a business that raised and sold earthworms was exempt. The letter treated earthworms as animal life sold in the regular course of business under Ruling 47 as then cited.

The conclusion depended on the feed being used for the worms and the buyer actually operating a worm-selling business.

Citations and references

  • California State Board of Equalization Ruling 47 (as cited)

Source

Original ruling text

110.0660

STATE OF CALIFORNIA

STATE BOARD OF EQUALIZATION

November 4, 1953

C--- E--- G--- A--XXXX --- -----, California
Your letter of September 29
Attention:

Mr. W--- R. Q--Secretary-Treasurer

Gentlemen:
You ask if the sales tax applies to a sale of feed to a person in the business of raising and selling earthworms. We enclose a copy of Sales and Use Tax Ruling 47, Animals and Feed. Tax does not apply to sales of feed for any form of animal life the products of which are to be sold in the regular course of business. Assuming that the feed is for the worms and that the purchaser of the feed is engaged in the business of selling the worms, the sale of the feed is exempt from the tax. Very truly yours,

Bill Holden
Junior Counsel

BH:ja
cc:

--- --- - Auditing

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