Was aviation gasoline exempt when delivered to the purchaser in California but partly consumed outside the state?

Plain-English summary

An aviation-gasoline purchaser's May 24, 1950 letter to a State Controller's Office special agent was referred to the Board. The purchaser asked whether California fuel purchases could be exempt because a portion was not consumed here. The request is not reproduced, and the source supplies no seller, quantity, price, aircraft, route, delivery or consumption record.

Tax counsel said California delivery generally made the sale taxable even when the purchaser intended to and actually did carry and use some fuel elsewhere. Historical Ruling 55 listed the conditions for treating goods as interstate or foreign-commerce sales.

The letter analogized aviation gasoline to fuel oil sold to steamship operators for consumption on the high seas, which the cited rule treated as taxable. Unless the aviation-fuel sale qualified under Ruling 55 A-1-(d) or A-1-(e), tax applied.

Ruling 55 itself was said to be enclosed but is absent from the published PDF. The letter names paragraphs A-1-c, d and e as exemption conditions and A-2-b for the high-seas fuel rule without reproducing their text. This page therefore does not infer what facts were needed under A-1-d or A-1-e.

Counsel gave no transaction-specific exemption finding, taxable measure, tax return, audit, payment, claim, appeal, or later outcome.

Common questions

Did intended outside consumption make California delivery exempt?

No by itself. The letter said tax applied when tangible property was delivered to the purchaser or representative here even if the purchaser intended and actually transported and used it elsewhere.

Why did the letter discuss steamship fuel?

Historical Ruling 55 paragraph A-2-b reportedly taxed fuel oil sold to steamship operators despite high-seas consumption, and counsel applied the same principle to aviation gasoline.

What could still make an aviation-fuel sale exempt?

Counsel identified Ruling 55 paragraphs A-1-d or A-1-e, but the enclosed rule is missing and the letter does not state their complete conditions.

Did counsel decide a particular purchase?

No. The source gives a conditional rule without a contract, delivery record, quantity, price, taxable measure, audit or later result.

Is Ruling 55 current?

The source provides only the 1950 citation and no amendment, repeal, replacement or current-law history.

Citations and references

• California Sales and Use Tax Ruling 55 A-1-c, A-1-d and A-1-e — cited for interstate or foreign-commerce conditions; enclosed rule and complete conditions, amendments, later history, and current law not supplied
• Ruling 55 A-2-b — cited for high-seas steamship fuel and applied by analogy; complete text, facts, amendments, later history, and current law not supplied
• May 24 request and transaction records — not reproduced or absent; seller, delivery, quantity, price, transport, consumption, measure and outcome remain unproved
• June 7 response — general and conditional, with no applied tax proceeding or later result
• Official Annotation 325.0260 — compresses the taxable result but omits the provenance, historical authority, analogy, missing evidence, conditional alternatives, outcome, and reliance status

Source

• Annotated Legal Opinions collection: https://cdtfa.ca.gov/taxes-and-fees/annotations-menu.htm
• Annotation page: https://cdtfa.ca.gov/lawguides/vol2/suta/325-0000-all.html
• Original supporting opinion: https://cdtfa.ca.gov/lawguides/annotations/325-0260.pdf

Original ruling text

325.0260

STATE OF CALIFORNIA

STATE BOARD OF EQUALIZATION

June 7, 1950

The F--- T--- L--- Inc.
--- --- Terminal
---, California
Attention:

-- - XXXX

Mr. H--- W. F--Asst. Secretary-Treasurer

Your letter of May 24, 1950, addressed to Mr. E. I. Chandler, Special Agent, State Controller’s Office, has been referred to this Board for reply. You request to be advised as to whether there is any basis upon which exemption from sales tax might be claimed with respect to your purchases of aviation gasoline in this state, a portion of which is not consumed within the state. The sales tax applies with respect to sales of tangible personal property delivered to the purchaser or his representative in this state, regardless of the fact that the purchaser intends to and does transport the property to a point outside the state and uses it outside the state. Sales and Use Tax Ruling 55, copy enclosed, sets forth the conditions under which exemption may be claimed on account of sales of goods claimed to be sales in interstate or foreign commerce. The conditions under which exemptions may be claimed are set forth in paragraphs A-1-c, d, and e. Paragraph A-2-b indicates that the tax applies with respect to sales of such property as fuel oil to operators of steamships even though the property will be consumed on the high seas. The same principle is applicable with respect to aviation gasoline. Unless the sale can qualify as an exempt transaction under paragraph A-1-d or A-1-e, it does not appear that there is any basis upon which the sales tax can be held inapplicable with respect to the sale of aviation gasoline delivered to the purchaser in this state. Very truly yours,

E. H. Stetson
Tax Counsel

EHS:bwo
cc:

Mr. Thomson