Did Service Notes qualify as an exempt periodical when model changes, rather than a regular schedule, determined when instructions were issued?

Plain-English summary

An unnamed requester's July 13 letter sought a sales-tax ruling for Service Notes. The requester described printed instructions for servicemen issued from time to time as model changes dictated, not necessarily at regular intervals.

Former section 6362 required a newspaper or periodical to be regularly issued at average intervals no longer than three months. Based on the facts stated, counsel said Service Notes did not appear to qualify.

The conclusion was not absolute. Tax Counsel E. H. Stetson invited the requester to provide more information and a copy of the publication for further consideration.

Source and live-annotation limits

The official PDF does not include the July 13 request, Service Notes, any instruction or issue, model or model change, publication or delivery schedule, requester identity, prices, invoices, sales or uses, returns, exemption documentation, tax calculations or payments, audit, assessment, claim, appeal, supplemental information or sample, reconsideration, or later outcome. The requester, copied recipient, service personnel, customers, products, transactions, and amounts are redacted or unidentified.

The source addresses the reader as Gentleman, uses the historical term servicemen, and quotes the regular-issuance language with underscoring. The original-text section preserves the official wording, though text extraction does not reproduce visual underlining.

The live annotation preserves the title, printed-instruction function, model-change trigger, irregular schedule, date, and nonqualification. It omits the request and counsel, former section 6362 and quoted three-month test, tentative “does not appear” formulation, invitation for more information and a sample, missing records, redactions, source wording, and absent outcome.

What this means for you

Manufacturers, technical publishers, and tax professionals

Event-driven updates may fail a regular-issuance requirement even if they sometimes occur frequently. Preserve every issue and instruction, model-change history, prearranged and actual schedules, contracts, invoices and sales, returns, exemption documents, tax calculations, and payments before claiming periodical treatment.

Common questions

Q: What triggered each issue?

A: Changes in product models.

Q: Were the notes issued on a regular schedule?

A: Not necessarily.

Q: Was counsel willing to reconsider?

A: Yes, if the requester supplied additional information and a copy of the publication.

Q: Did the source include a sample or follow-up decision?

A: No.

Citations and references

• Former California Revenue and Taxation Code § 6362
• July 13 request, Service Notes issues and schedule, sales, tax records, supplemental submission, and outcome — described or implicated but not documented

Verbatim support

From the official Tax Counsel opinion:

You state that these are printed instructions for servicemen and are issued from time to time as changes in models dictate and not necessarily at regular intervals.

It does not, accordingly, appear that the publication in question qualifies for the exemption, but if you wish to supplement your letter with any additional information and send us a copy of the publication in question, we shall be glad to give further consideration to the matter.

Source

• Annotated Legal Opinions collection: CDTFA Annotated Legal Opinions
• Annotation page: Annotation 385.1900
• Original supporting opinion: 385.1900 PDF

Original ruling text

385.1900

STATE OF CALIFORNIA

STATE BOARD OF EQUALIZATION

July 27, 1951

Gentleman:
This is in answer to your letter of July 13 requesting a ruling as to the application of the sales tax with respect to a publication known as “Service Notes”. You state that these are printed instructions for servicemen and are issued from time to time as changes in models dictate and not necessarily at regular intervals. You will observe that section 6362 of the Sales and Use Tax Law describes those publications that fall within the exemption as “any newspaper or periodical regularly issued at average intervals not exceeding three months”. (Underscoring added.) It does not, accordingly, appear that the publication in question qualifies for the exemption, but if you wish to supplement your letter with any additional information and send us a copy of the publication in question, we shall be glad to give further consideration to the matter.

Very truly yours,

E. H. Stetson
Tax Counsel

EHS: ph
cc: ---