Ezel / Tax Rulings / CA

Could California representatives soliciting only sales for resale make a mail-order retailer collect use tax on its separate consumer sales?

Short answer Yes under the historical memorandum. The representative provision covered selling any tangible property, not only retail sales, so resale solicitation supplied the local activity.
State
CA
Ruling
Annotation 220.0220
Tax type
Sales and Use Tax
Issued
1964-10-26
Issued by
California State Board of Equalization
Requested by
Out-of-state compliance staff seeking confirmation about representative activity under section 6203
Topics
representative mail order registration use tax collection
Source
View Original PDF

Apply this to your situation

This page answers the general question as of 1964. Ask about yours and see what current California tax law says, with citations.

Currency note: this ruling is from 1964
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 short October 26, 1964 internal memorandum confirms an earlier telephone opinion but supplies no call date, complete participants, factual request, or call record. It states a general historical interpretation using a hypothetical retailer rather than deciding a named company or transaction, and it supplies no underlying representative, resale, mail-order, registration, return, or remittance records. A March 28, 2001 SPJ source note relabels former section 6203(b) as section 6203(c)(2) without changing the conclusion or original date. Current law and complete facts control.
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

California said the historical representative provision did not require local activity to involve retail sales. It was enough that a retailer had a California representative selling, delivering, or taking orders for any tangible personal property.

Accordingly, local representatives soliciting sales for resale could make the retailer register and collect use tax on separate mail-order sales to California consumers.

A 2001 source note updates the statutory paragraph label but does not change the original conclusion.

Common questions

Did the representative have to solicit the consumer sales being taxed?

No.

Did wholesale or resale solicitation count as selling activity?

Yes, under the historical memorandum.

Citations and references

  • California Revenue and Taxation Code section 6203(b), historical lettering; a March 28, 2001 SPJ source note identifies later section 6203(c)(2)
  • Earlier telephone opinion confirmed by the October 26, 1964 memorandum — call date, participants beyond the memorandum addressee, factual request, and call record not supplied in the official PDF
  • Hypothetical retailer's local resale solicitation and separate California consumer mail orders — general activity described; no named retailer, transaction records, or determination supplied in the official PDF
  • Potential registration and use-tax collection under the opinion — no application, permit, return, remittance, audit, or final outcome supplied in the official PDF

Source

Original ruling text

State of California

Memorandum

To:

Out-of-State – District Principal
Compliance Supervisor

From:

Tax Counsel (PM) - Headquarters

Subject:

Section 6203

Board of Equalization

220.0220

October 26, 1964

This is to confirm the following opinion, given earlier by telephone: Section 6203(b)* does not require that the activity of local representatives be related to retail sales, but merely that the retailer have a representative here “for the purpose of selling, delivering, or the taking of orders for any tangible personal property.” Accordingly, a retailer making mail-order sales to California consumers can be required to register with the board and collect the use tax even though its only in-state activity is the solicitation of sales for resale.

PM:o’b

  • See now §6203(c)(2). SPJ 3/28/01.

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