Was feed for work horses exempt because the horses cultivated human food and livestock feed?

Short answer No. California taxed the feed because horses were not ordinary food animals and the owners used the horses for work rather than breeding or holding them for sale.

State

Ruling

Annotation 110.0780

Tax type

Sales and Use Tax

Issued

1954-04-15

Issued by

California State Board of Equalization

Requested by

A seller asking about oats, barley, and hay sold for work horses used to cultivate food crops and animal feed

Topics

horse feed farming food crop animal feed business use exemptions

Source

View Original PDF

Apply this to your situation

This page answers the general question as of 1954. Ask about yours and see what current California tax law says, with citations.

Disclaimer: This is a California State Board of Equalization tax-counsel letter dated April 15, 1954, published by CDTFA as support for a sales and use tax annotation. It addresses work horses used principally to plow fields for human-food crops or feed for food animals under Ruling 47 as then cited. Another taxpayer should not treat it as binding and should check current work-horse, farm-feed, food-production, business-use, breeding, 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

Oats, barley, and hay sold for work horses were taxable even though the horses mainly plowed fields used to grow human food or feed for food-producing animals.

The feed exemption focused on the animal and its products, not the economic purpose of the horse's labor. Horses were not ordinarily human-food animals, and these owners used the horses for work rather than breeding them or holding them for sale in the regular course of business.

Citations and references

California State Board of Equalization Ruling 47 (as cited)

Source

Annotated Legal Opinions collection: https://cdtfa.ca.gov/taxes-and-fees/annotations-menu.htm
Annotation page: https://cdtfa.ca.gov/lawguides/vol2/suta/110-0000-all.html
Original supporting opinion: https://cdtfa.ca.gov/lawguides/annotations/110-0780.pdf

Original ruling text

110.0780

STATE OF CALIFORNIA

STATE BOARD OF EQUALIZATION

April 15, 1954

J. N. H--- & C--XXXXX --- --- -----, California

Your letter of March 16
Account No. -- XX XXXXXX

Gentlemen:
You inquire concerning the application of sales tax to sales of oats, barley, and hay for work horses. The horses are engaged principally in plowing for cultivation of food products for human consumption or feed for animals the products of which become food for human consumption. Sales tax applies to a retailer’s gross receipts from retail sales of tangible personal property other than the gross receipts from sales which are specifically exempt. The feed exemption is explained in Ruling 47 (copy enclosed). As indicated therein, the feed exemption is limited to feed for animals of a kind the products of which ordinarily constitute food for human consumption or for animals the products of which are to be sold in the regular course of business. Since horse flesh does not ordinarily constitute food for human consumption and since the owners of the work horses are using the horses rather than breeding them for sale in the regular course of business, the feed exemption does not apply to the sales in question. Very truly yours,

Bill Holden
Assistant Counsel

BH:ja
cc:

--- --- – Auditing

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