Did a monthly missal placed in church pews qualify as an exempt periodical?

Plain-English summary

A redacted publisher planned to sell a monthly missal to Catholic churches. Churches would place copies in their pews for congregants to use without charge. Each issue contained prayers for the daily services in one month, and the title indicated use during church services.

Former section 6362 exempted newspapers and periodicals regularly issued at average intervals no longer than three months. The letter defined a periodical through stated intervals, general-interest news or information, continuity or similar subject matter across issues, and a connection in the articles. It then stated that programs were excluded, citing a visibly printed but unidentified “ruling SO” with one absent enclosure.

California concluded that the missal was a program rather than a periodical because it listed what would be said or sung at Mass and appeared intended only for church services. Its sale was taxable.

Source-identity and live-annotation limits

The official PDF visibly prints “190.0480” as its first control number, while its exact URL and CDTFA's live Annotation 385.0520 entry identify 385.0520 and accurately match the letter's missal facts and May 9, 1969 date. CDTFA's separately published Annotation 190.0480 supporting source concerns landscape contractors and begins with a March 25, 1953 opinion. This page preserves the erroneous control number but uses the official 385.0520 identity supported by the matching content and live entry.

The official missal PDF also visibly prints “as indicated in our ruling SO, I copy enclosed.” It does not reliably identify that ruling or include the enclosure. This page does not silently change the printed letters or number.

The missal PDF does not include the April 25, 1969 request, publication, any issue, prayers or service content, title, publisher records, Catholic churches, pew placement or congregant use, purchase orders, sales, prices, invoices, printing, distributions, returns, exemption claim, tax calculation or payment, unidentified ruling enclosure, audit, assessment, claim, appeal, or other outcome. The publisher, publication, churches, congregation, transactions, and recipient are redacted or unidentified.

The live annotation accurately preserves the monthly missal, spoken-or-sung service content, church-only use, program classification, and taxable result. It omits the April request, publisher-to-church sales, pew placement and free congregant use, prayers and daily services, detailed periodical criteria, section 6362, unidentified ruling and missing enclosure, erroneous control number and unrelated actual 190.0480 source, redactions, missing records, and outcome limits.

What this means for you

Religious publishers, churches, and tax professionals

A monthly schedule did not itself create periodical treatment under the historical letter. Preserve complete issues, schedules, content, church orders, prices, printing and distribution records, returns, tax records, and the governing authority.

Common questions

Q: Did monthly publication make the missal a periodical?

A: No.

Q: Did free use by congregants make the sale exempt?

A: No. The opinion treated the publisher's sale to the churches as taxable.

Q: What feature controlled?

A: The missal listed prayers and other material to be said or sung during church services and was intended only for that use.

Citations and references

• Former California Revenue and Taxation Code § 6362
• Source-printed “ruling SO, I copy enclosed” — visually confirmed but not reliably identified; the enclosure is absent
• Actual CDTFA source for Annotation 190.0480 — an unrelated landscape-contractor document
• April 25, 1969 request, monthly missal and other issues, church-sale and use records, unidentified ruling enclosure, tax records, and outcomes — described or implicated but not documented

Verbatim support

From the official Tax Counsel letter:

No charge will be made for the use of the leaflet.

However, as indicated in our ruling SO, I copy enclosed, the term does not include programs.

It is our opinion that "---" which is a listing of what is to be said or sung at mass and which appears to be intended for use only during church services, is a "program" and not a "periodical" and, accordingly, that its sale is subject to tax.

Source

• Annotated Legal Opinions collection: CDTFA Annotated Legal Opinions
• Annotation page: Annotation 385.0520
• Original supporting opinion: 385.0520 PDF

Original ruling text

190.0480

STATE OF CALIFORNIA

STATE BOARD OF EQUALIZATION

May 9, 1969

Dear Mr. --This is in reply to your letter of April 25, 1969. You ask our opinion as to whether the publication --- --- qualifiers as an exempt periodical under section 6362 of the Revenue and Taxation Code. We understand that "---" will be published monthly and will be sold by you to Catholic churches. The churches will put copies of the publication in the pews for use by the congregation. No charge will be made for the use of the leaflet. The publication can be described as a monthly missal; that is, each issue contains prayers for the various daily services for a particular month. As its title indicates, the publication is intended for use during church services. Section 6362 of the Revenue and Taxation Code exempts from the tax the sale of any newspaper or periodical regularly issued at average intervals not exceeding three months. The term "periodical" as used in section 6362 is limited to those publications which appear at stated intervals, each issue of which contains news or information of general interest to the public, or to some particular organization or group of persons. Each issue must bear a relationship to prior or subsequent issues in respect to continuity of literary character or similarity of subject matter, and there must be some connection between the different issues of the series in the nature of the articles appearing in them. However, as indicated in our ruling SO, I copy enclosed, the term does not include programs. It is our opinion that "---" which is a listing of what is to be said or sung at mass and which appears to be intended for use only during church services, is a "program" and not a "periodical" and, accordingly, that its sale is subject to tax.

Very truly yours,

T. P. Putnam
Tax Counsel
Enclosure
bc: San Diego - District Administrator