Did revised editions of San Diego's anniversary souvenir and program guide qualify as exempt periodicals?

Plain-English summary

A redacted publisher planned The Official 200th Anniversary Souvenir and Program Guide for San Diego's 200th Anniversary Celebration, with approval from a civic 200th Anniversary Committee. At least 100,000 copies would be distributed in Southern California for $1 each.

The approximately 140-page booklet would include the official event schedule, maps, San Diego history, articles about the city's present and future, and what-to-do, where-to-go, and travel information. About 20 pages would be advertising.

Several editions were anticipated to update events, add advertising, and expand editorial material. The committee suggested at least four editions per year, with more if demand justified them.

Tax Counsel concluded that the guide was not an exempt periodical. It remained essentially one complete souvenir program reissued in revised form. Added advertising, editorial commentary, and event-calendar updates did not transform it into a periodical, and the changing, demand-driven publication plan was not a regular schedule under former section 6362.

Source and live-annotation limits

The official PDF does not include the December 9 request, guide or any revised edition, committee approval or publication plan, event schedule, maps, historical data, articles, visitor information, calendar updates, advertising, publication or distribution records, demand data, contracts, prices beyond the stated $1, invoices, sales or uses, returns, exemption documentation, tax calculations or payments, audit, assessment, claim, appeal, or later outcome. The publisher, committee members, readers, advertisers, transactions, actual edition count, quantities beyond the planned minimum, prices beyond $1, and tax amounts are redacted or unidentified.

The source says the schedule was not regular as regarded by the law. The original-text section preserves that wording rather than silently substituting a different phrase.

The live annotation preserves the title, official San Diego anniversary-guide role, single-publication characterization, revised calendar, date, and nonperiodical result. It omits the request and counsel, redacted publisher, civic-committee approval, planned distribution, quantity and price, page count, advertising, maps and editorial content, additional advertising and commentary, anticipated four-or-more yearly editions, demand-driven timing, section 6362 and complete definition, separate irregular-schedule ground, missing records, redactions, source wording, and absent outcome.

What this means for you

Event-guide publishers and tax professionals

Revising a complete guide does not necessarily create a periodical series. Preserve each edition, editorial and advertising changes, event-calendar updates, a fixed publication schedule, committee and publisher plans, demand data, distribution records, contracts, invoices and sales, returns, exemption documents, tax calculations, and payments.

Common questions

Q: Did new advertising, editorial material, and calendar updates create new periodical issues?

A: No. Counsel treated them as revisions of one souvenir program.

Q: Was publishing at least four times per year enough?

A: No. The timing could vary with demand, so counsel found no regular schedule.

Q: Did the guide contain substantial editorial content?

A: Yes, but that did not change its character as a complete souvenir and program guide.

Q: Was the publication plan actually carried out?

A: The source describes anticipated editions and distribution but does not document what was ultimately published.

Q: How much advertising was planned?

A: About 20 pages in an approximately 140-page guide.

Citations and references

• Former California Revenue and Taxation Code § 6362
• December 9 request, guide and revised editions, committee and demand records, distribution, sales, tax records, and outcome — described or implicated but not documented

Verbatim support

From the official Tax Counsel opinion:

Rather, we view the Guide as being essentially a single publication subject to being reissued in revised form.

We do not think that the facts that later issues of the Guide will contain some additional advertising, some additional editorial commentary, and an updated calendar-of-events are sufficient to alter the character of the Guide from a souvenir program to a periodical.

We do not regard such a schedule of publication to be a regular schedule as regarded by the law.

Source

• Annotated Legal Opinions collection: CDTFA Annotated Legal Opinions
• Annotation page: Annotation 385.1960
• Original supporting opinion: 385.1960 PDF

Original ruling text

385.1960

STATE OF CALIFORNIA

STATE BOARD OF EQUALIZATION

December 20, 1968

Gentlemen:
This is in response to your letter of December 9 in which you inquire as to the tax status of a booklet to be published by you to be known as "The Official 200th Anniversary Souvenir and Program Guide" of the 200th Anniversary Celebration of San Diego. Briefly, we understand that the booklet will be the official guide of the celebration and will be published with the approval of a civic committee called the 200th Anniversary Committee. At least 100,000 of the booklets will be distributed in Southern California. They will sell for $1.00. They will contain the official schedule of events, maps, historical data on San Diego, articles on the present and future of the city, what to do, where to go, and how to get there. The booklet will carry a small percentage of advertising, approximately 20 pages out of approximately 140. Several editions are anticipated in order to bring the calendar-of-events up to date, in order to accept more advertising, and in order to embellish the editorial sections. The executive committee believes you should publish at least four times a year, but, depending on demand, the editions might be more frequent. Section 6362 of the Revenue and Taxation Code provides that there are exempted from the sales tax, the sale of any periodical regularly issued at average intervals not exceeding three months. The term "periodical" 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 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. The term does not include books complete in themselves, catalogs, or programs. In our opinion the Guide does not qualify as a "periodical" within the definition given above. Rather, we view the Guide as being essentially a single publication subject to being reissued in revised form. We do not think that the facts that later issues of the Guide will contain some

additional advertising, some additional editorial commentary, and an updated calendar-of-events are sufficient to alter the character of the Guide from a souvenir program to a periodical. It further appears that the Guide will not be published with sufficient regularity to qualify it for the exemption provided for in Section 6362. It appears that it is anticipated that the Guide will be republished at least four times a year. It also appears that if the demand is sufficient, additional editions will be published. We do not regard such a schedule of publication to be a regular schedule as regarded by the law. For the reasons stated above, it is our opinion that the Guide does not qualify for exemption from the tax.

Very truly yours,

T. P. Putnam
Tax Counsel

By Gary J. Jugum
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