Did the four-times-monthly Official Airline Guide qualify as a periodical even though it consisted largely of comprehensive flight and fare data?

Plain-English summary

San Jose auditor Ray Doying's absent October 29, 1985 note sent Headquarters Legal the redacted North American edition of the Official Airline Guide dated October 15, 1985. The guide was published by a redacted entity that was part of a redacted corporation, under a redacted sales-tax account.

The guide said it appeared four times monthly and consisted almost entirely of scheduled-flight data arranged by destination. It listed departure and arrival cities and times, carriers, flight frequency, connections, fares, minimum connecting times, itineraries, transportation taxes on fares, and an airline index. The issue included a fare issue that was also published four times monthly.

John Abbott concluded that the guide was an exempt periodical under the 1986 version of Regulation 1590. It had the required frequency and served the travel industry as a comprehensive reference for all or almost all scheduled flights to and from the covered cities. That breadth showed a reference purpose rather than promotion of selected airlines.

The memo drew support from Annotation 385.0660's three-month railroad-tariff correction pages and Annotation 385.0920's monthly freight-guide supplements. It stated a general criterion: comprehensive data that is not merely proprietary to one company and serves as a reference source can be information of general interest to a particular group under Regulation 1590.

Doying also asked about six subscription publications advertised in the guide: Pacific Area Travel Planner, Desk Edition Flight Guides, Pocket Flight Guides, Travel Planners, Cruise and Ship Line Guide, and Air Cargo Guide. Abbott could not definitively classify all six from the ads, but said the same criteria should apply if they were comprehensive travel-industry reference publications. The Air Cargo Guide's single base publication failed the frequency test, while the advertised quarterly supplements qualified under the memo's historical analysis.

Later authority and source limits

The memorandum relies on Annotation 385.0920. A February 5, 2002 official staff email published with that annotation warns that, under the then-current section 6362.7 and Regulation 1590, periodicals were no longer exempt unless sold by subscription and delivered by mail or common carrier, or covered by another exemption such as nonprofit distribution. The live 385.0925 annotation nevertheless continues to call the Official Airline Guide a periodical whose sale and use is exempt. These official sources do not resolve current treatment for a present guide.

The official 385.0925 PDF does not include the October 29 audit note, Official Airline Guide, fare issue, flight or fare data, publication or delivery records, six related publications, advertisements, subscription terms, customers, invoices, sales, uses, returns, exemption documentation, tax calculations or payments, audit, assessment, claim, appeal, or outcome. The publisher, parent corporation, account, customers, transactions, and amounts are redacted or unidentified.

The source prints “date concerning scheduled airline flights,” “same published,” and “determinng.” The original-text section preserves those forms rather than silently correcting the official record.

CDTFA's live Annotation 385.1825 states the same January 16, 1986 Official Airline Guide facts and comprehensive-reference holding. Its conventional 385.1825 PDF returns 404, while this complete official memorandum supplies the title, date, flight data, frequency, travel-industry purpose, and holding. The companion 385.1825 corpus page therefore uses this exact shared source and discloses the alternate identity rather than treating a missing duplicate PDF as a missing opinion.

The live annotation preserves the four-times-monthly schedule, major flight-data categories, periodical classification, and exemption statement. It omits the audit note and personnel, issue date, redacted entities and account, fare issue, connecting times, itineraries, transportation taxes and index, comprehensive and nonproprietary reference tests, two prior annotations and their facts, six other publications and conditional guidance, Air Cargo distinction, later 2002 warning, missing records, redactions, and absent outcome.

What this means for you

Travel-data publishers and tax professionals

Document every issue and supplement, publication and delivery frequency, comprehensive-data scope, intended professional audience, independence from proprietary promotion, subscriptions, mail or carrier delivery, ads, contracts, invoices, sales, uses, returns, payments, and the current exemption elements.

Common questions

Q: Could schedules and tables qualify as periodical information?

A: Yes.

Q: Was the guide treated as airline advertising?

A: No.

Q: Did a one-time Air Cargo Guide qualify?

A: No, though its quarterly supplements could.

Q: Did the memo definitively approve the six related travel publications?

A: No. It had only their advertising descriptions and made its guidance conditional on their actual comprehensive reference content.

Q: Does periodical status alone establish a current exemption?

A: Not according to the later 2002 staff warning published with Annotation 385.0920. The live 385.0925 annotation still says exempt, so current treatment requires separate verification.

Citations and references

• California Sales and Use Tax Regulation 1590
• California Sales and Use Tax Annotation 385.0660 (November 1, 1965)
• California Sales and Use Tax Annotation 385.0920 (March 2, 1967), plus its February 5, 2002 staff email discussing section 6362.7 and Regulation 1590
• October 29 audit note, guide and fare issues, related publications and ads, subscriptions, transactions, tax records, and outcome — described or implicated but not documented

Verbatim support

From the official Headquarters Legal memorandum:

Its comprehensiveness indicates that its purpose is not to advertise or promote the flights of one or more of the airlines listed in the guide.

if a publication consists of comprehensive data (other than data which is merely proprietary to a particular company or firm) intended to be used as a reference publication, then the data qualifies as information of general interest to a particular group of persons within the meaning of Regulation 1590.

While we cannot say definitively that these are all exempt periodicals, the descriptions given in the advertising for these publications would appear to indicate that they are all intended as comprehensive data reference publications for members of the travel industry.

Source

• Annotated Legal Opinions collection: CDTFA Annotated Legal Opinions
• Annotation page: Annotation 385.0925
• Original supporting opinion: 385.0925 PDF

Original ruling text

State of California

Memorandum

To:

San Jose Auditing
Ray Doying

From:

Headquarters – Legal
John Abbott

Subject:

D--- & B--- Inc. – SC --- XX-XXXXXX
“Official Airline Guide” publication

Board of Equalization

385.0925

January 16, 1986

In your October 29, 1985 note to the legal section, you sent us the “Official Airline Guide”, North American edition, dated October 15, 1985, published by O--- A--- G---, a part of the D--& B--- Corporation. You ask for our opinion on whether this is an exempt periodical. The Official Airline Guide consists almost entirely of date concerning scheduled airline flights arranged by city of destination. For each flight listed it includes such information as the city of departure, the times of departure and arrivals, the air carrier providing the flight, the frequency of the flights, and references to connecting flights. This publication states that it is published four times monthly, and this issue includes a fare issue listing the fares in effect for the direct flights listed in the guide. The fare issue is also published four times monthly by Official Airline Guides. This publication also includes other data helpful in using the airline flight information, such as minimum connecting times, flight itineraries, transportation taxes applicable to fares, and an index of the airlines covered by the guide. Opinion Our opinion is that this is an exempt periodical within the meaning of Regulation 1590. It is published with the requisite frequency, and is intended to be used by the travel industry as a comprehensive reference source for all or almost all scheduled airline flights to and from the cities covered by the publication. Its comprehensiveness indicates that its purpose is not to advertise or promote the flights of one or more of the airlines listed in the guide. Our conclusion is supported by two annotations. Annotation 385.0660, dated 11/1/65, which you cite states that tariff supplements issued by the Pacific Southcoast Freight Bureau which are published and distributed every three months to member railroads as correction pages are exempt periodicals. Also, Annotation 385.0920, dated 3/2/67, states that monthly supplements to a basic guide book which sets forth information concerning the freight rates and routings of various

San Jose Auditing

-2-

January 16, 1986
385.0925

motor freight transporters serving areas in and outside of California are exempt periodicals. In Annotation 385.0920, the basic guide books themselves were not considered as exempt periodicals, but only because they were not issued with the required frequency to be regarded as periodicals. We think the applicable principle here is that if a publication consists of comprehensive data (other than data which is merely proprietary to a particular company or firm) intended to be used as a reference publication, then the data qualifies as information of general interest to a particular group of persons within the meaning of Regulation 1590. You also ask us to give you some guidelines regarding other publications listed in the “Official Airline Guide” which are available by subscription from the same published. These publications include: “Pacific Area Travel Planner” “Desk Edition Flight Guides” “Pocket Flight Guides” “Travel Planners” “Cruise and Ship Line Guide” “Air Cargo Guide” While we cannot say definitively that these are all exempt periodicals, the descriptions given in the advertising for these publications would appear to indicate that they are all intended as comprehensive data reference publications for members of the travel industry. If so, then you should apply the same criteria as described above for the “Official Airline Guide” in determinng whether these other publications are in fact exempt. In the case of the “Air Cargo Guide”, I note that the advertising indicates that this guide is a single publication with additional quarterly supplements. The “Air Cargo Guide” itself would, therefore, not be an exempt periodical, but the quarterly supplements would be exempt.

JA:ab