Did monthly Beverage Industry News price books qualify as periodicals when they alternated with newspaper-format trade issues in one serial sequence?

Plain-English summary

San Francisco Auditing's absent October 19, 1967 memorandum asked about publications that redacted printer V produced for Beverage Industry News.

V printed Valley and Coast editions. Each included two newspaper-format issues monthly with articles for liquor wholesalers and retailers, plus one magazine-format Price Book with current fair-trade wholesale and retail liquor prices and distributors for specific brands. Each Price Book said its price information was confidential to the liquor industry.

The newspaper and Price Book issues shared consecutive serial numbers. Previously, price information had appeared inside the newspaper rather than a separate Price Book. Each masthead said the publication appeared three times monthly except four times in April at San Francisco and stated that second-class postage was paid there.

Ruling 50 included publications appearing at stated intervals, containing information for the public or a particular group, relating to earlier and later issues through similar subject matter, and connecting issues through their articles.

Tax Counsel concluded that monthly Price Books qualified under former section 6362 and Ruling 50 because they were regular Beverage Industry News editions with current information for the liquor-merchandising industry.

The memo added that second-class rates required Postal Department classification as a newspaper or periodical. It said Ruling 50's definition came from unnamed cases about publications seeking those rates and treated the publication's second-class status as additional support.

Later authority and source limits

A February 5, 2002 official staff email published with Annotation 385.0920 warns that, under 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 1967 memo does not establish current treatment.

The official 385.1340 PDF does not include the October 19 audit memo, Valley or Coast issues, newspaper or Price Book, articles, liquor prices or brand-distributor listings, confidentiality notices, prior integrated-price issues, serial numbers, mastheads, publication or delivery records, second-class postal evidence, printer or publisher identity, printing agreement, prices or invoices, sales or uses, returns, exemption documentation, tax calculations or payments, audit, assessment, claim, appeal, cited postal cases, or outcome. The parties, industry recipients, transactions, and amounts are redacted or unidentified.

The source omits punctuation in “no separate Price Book the pricing information” and ends by calling the title “Business Industry News.” The original-text section preserves those forms rather than silently correcting the official record.

The live annotation preserves two monthly newspaper-format issues, monthly magazine-format price/distributor issue, liquor-industry content, section 6362, and exempt-periodical result. It conflicts with the source by stating November 9 rather than November 11. It omits the audit memo and printer V, Valley/Coast editions, confidential-information notice, former integrated-price format, serial numbering, exact masthead schedule and April exception, second-class statement and postal/case rationale, Ruling 50's full test, later 2002 warning, missing records, redactions, source form, and absent outcome.

What this means for you

Trade publishers, printers, and tax professionals

Different formats can remain one series when supported by serial numbering, stated schedules, related subject matter, and a common readership. Preserve every issue, masthead, serial number, content and price record, publication and delivery schedule, postal classification, printer contract, invoices, sales, returns, exemption records, tax calculations, and payments.

Common questions

Q: Did the magazine-format Price Book stand outside the newspaper series?

A: No. It was issued as a regular, consecutively numbered edition of Beverage Industry News.

Q: What did the Price Book contain?

A: Current wholesale and retail liquor prices and names of distributors for particular brands.

Q: Did second-class mail status matter?

A: The opinion treated it as additional support for classification as a periodical.

Q: Did the source and live annotation use the same date?

A: No. The formal memo says November 11, 1967; the live annotation says November 9.

Q: Were the cited postal cases identified?

A: No. The memo says they informed Ruling 50's definition but gives no names or citations.

Citations and references

• Former California Revenue and Taxation Code § 6362
• Former California Sales Tax Ruling 50
• Unnamed second-class-mail cases described as the basis for Ruling 50's definition
• California Revenue and Taxation Code § 6362.7 and Regulation 1590 — discussed in the February 5, 2002 staff email published with Annotation 385.0920
• Audit memo, issues and mastheads, prices and distributor records, postal records, printing transactions, tax records, and outcome — described or implicated but not documented

Verbatim support

From the official Tax Counsel memorandum:

The issues in newspaper form and magazine form are issued serially and numbered consecutively.

Inasmuch as the Price Books are issued each month as regular editions of Beverage Industry News and contain information of current interest to persons in the liquor merchandising industry, it is our opinion that they qualify as periodicals under Section 6362 and Ruling 50.

The definition of a "periodical" in Ruling 50 is based on the definition of "periodical" made in cases involving publications seeking to use second-class mailing rates.

Source

• Annotated Legal Opinions collection: CDTFA Annotated Legal Opinions
• Annotation page: Annotation 385.1340
• Original supporting opinion: 385.1340 PDF

Original ruling text

State of California

Board of Equalization

Memorandum

To:

San Francisco - Aud. (LC:DB)

From:

Tax Counsel (GAT)

385.1340

Date:

Nov. 11, 1967

Subject:

This is in regard to your memo of October 19, 1967 concerning the publications which "V" prints for Beverage Industry News. It is our understanding that "V" prints two sets of publications for the Beverage Industry. Each set (Valley Edition and Coast Edition) consists of two issues each month of the Beverage Industry News in newspaper form containing articles of interest to liquor wholesalers and retailers, one issue each month in magazine form containing listings of current fair trade wholesale and retail liquor prices, and the names of distributors handling particular brands. The issue in magazine form is titled Beverage Industry News Price Book. A notice in each Price Book states that the price information is confidential to the liquor industry. The issues in newspaper form and magazine form are issued serially and numbered consecutively. Formerly, there was no separate Price Book the pricing information being incorporated in the publication issued in newspaper form. The masthead in each issue states that the Beverage Industry News is "Published THREE TIMES MONTHLY EXCEPT APRIL WHEN IT IS PUBLISHED FOUR TIMES AT SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA." Included in the masthead is the statement "Second-Class Postage Paid at San Francisco, Calif." As indicated in Ruling 50, the term "periodical" includes publications which appear at stated intervals, each issue containing news or information of interest to the public or to some particular group of persons and bearing a relationship to prior or subsequent issues with respect to similarity of subject matter, each issue being connected with other issues of the series in the nature of the articles appearing in them.

Inasmuch as the Price Books are issued each month as regular editions of Beverage Industry News and contain information of current interest to persons in the liquor merchandising industry, it is our opinion that they qualify as periodicals under Section 6362 and Ruling 50. In addition, in order to qualify for second-class mailing rates, a publication must be classified by the Postal Department as a newspaper or periodical. The definition of a "periodical" in Ruling 50 is based on the definition of "periodical" made in cases involving publications seeking to use second-class mailing rates. In view of the foregoing, it would appear that since Business Industry News qualifies for the second-class mailing rate it is classified by the Postal Department as a periodical.

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