Did new or used baseball cards qualify as periodicals because distributors printed dated player statistics annually and sold packs throughout the season?

Plain-English summary

A hobby shop argued that baseball cards were periodicals because distributors printed dated player information and statistics each year and issued the cards as a series.

California agreed that cards contained information of general interest to purchasers but held that neither new nor used cards were periodicals. Annual printing did not satisfy stated intervals or regular average intervals no longer than three months.

Selling smaller packs throughout the season and maintaining a resale market for used cards did not change the publication schedule. By contrast, a magazine about baseball cards published at stated intervals at least four times a year could qualify.

Source and live-annotation limits

The official PDF responds to the hobby shop's March 13, 1989 letter, which itself answered a February 10 letter from a redacted Return Review Unit representative. Neither letter is included. The PDF supplies no shop or distributor, card, dated player information, annual schedule, seasonal pack, used-card transaction, comparison magazine, contract, invoice, return, assessment, refund, or later outcome.

The live annotation preserves the hobby shop's argument, general-interest finding, interval requirements, annual-printing fact, seasonal-pack and used-resale-market results, and new- and used-card conclusion. It omits the February and March correspondence provenance, the all-criteria requirement, four-times-yearly magazine contrast, missing records, and no-outcome limit.

What this means for you

Collectibles sellers and tax professionals

Test the producer's actual publication schedule, not the retailer's selling season or later resale activity, when evaluating recurring printed collectibles.

Common questions

Q: Did annual player-statistics cards qualify as periodicals?

A: No.

Q: Did selling packs throughout the season matter?

A: No.

Q: Could a recurring baseball-card magazine qualify?

A: Yes, if published at stated intervals at least four times a year and otherwise eligible.

Q: Did the official PDF include the hobby shop's letter or any cards?

A: No. It quotes the shop's central argument but includes neither the correspondence nor transaction records.

Citations and references

• California Sales and Use Tax Regulation 1590(a)(2) and (b)(1)
• February 10, 1989 Return Review Unit letter — described but not included
• March 13, 1989 hobby-shop response — described and quoted but not included
• Cards, distributor schedules, packs, sales, comparison magazine, tax records, and outcomes — described or hypothesized but not documented

Verbatim support

From the official senior-tax-counsel letter:

Only publications meeting all of the criteria described in Regulation 1590(a) (2) will qualify as nontaxable periodicals.

Rather, baseball cards are printed on an annual basis by the distributors, and it makes no differences for sales and use tax purposes that smaller packages of the cards are sold throughout the season, or that there is a resale market for used cards.

By contrast, a magazine devoted to baseball cards which was published at stated intervals at least four times per year would qualify as a nontaxable periodical.

Source

• Annotated Legal Opinions collection: CDTFA Annotated Legal Opinions
• Annotation page: Annotation 385.0012
• Original supporting opinion: 385.0012 PDF

Original ruling text

385.0012

STATE OF CALIFORNIA

STATE BOARD OF EQUALIZATION
(916) 445-6493

April 20, 1989

Periodicals – sales of baseball cards
Dear --Your March 13, 1989 letter to --- Senior Tax Representative, Return Review Unit, was referred to the legal staff for reply. You wrote in response to a February 10, 1989 letter from --to you, stating that your sales of used baseball cards do not meet the qualifications for a periodical exempt from sales and use tax under Regulation 1590 (a)(2). In your March 13 reply, you contend that baseball cards meet the criteria of a periodical under the Board's Regulation 1590 because they “are printed/dated material of each ball player and his statistics on a yearly basis. Therefore, they fall into the same category as any printed material issued in a series.” We agree with --- that sales of used baseball cards (or new baseball cards) do not qualify as nontaxable sales of periodicals, within the meaning of Regulation l590 (a) (2). Only publications meeting all of the criteria described in Regulation 1590(a) (2) will qualify as nontaxable periodicals. Although baseball cards contain information of a general interest to purchasers, they are not “publications which appear at stated intervals” (subdivision (a) (2)) nor are they “regularly issued at average intervals not exceeding three months” (subdivision (b) (l)). Rather, baseball cards are printed on an annual basis by the distributors, and it makes no differences for sales and use tax purposes that smaller packages of the cards are sold throughout the season, or that there is a resale market for used cards. By contrast, a magazine devoted to baseball cards which was published at stated intervals at least four times per year would qualify as a nontaxable periodical. Please feel free to contact me if you have any further questions or comments about this letter.

Sincerely,

John Abbott
Senior Tax Counsel

cc: Ms. Sandra L. Shaver Return Review Unit