Ezel / Tax Rulings / CA

Did the historical ice exemption cover precooling food for interstate shipment?

Short answer Yes. Tax Counsel concluded that former section 6359.5 exempted sales of ice used to precool human-consumption food for interstate shipment because the statute covered packing as well as shipping or transporting. The letter supplies no identified food, sale, route, tax amount or later outcome.
State
CA
Ruling
Annotation 400.0300
Tax type
Sales and Use Tax
Issued
1955-09-28
Issued by
California State Board of Equalization
Requested by
A redacted traffic manager asking about ice used to precool human-consumption food for interstate shipment
Topics
ice interstate commerce packing sales tax exemption
Source
View Original PDF

Apply this to your situation

This page answers the general question as of 1955. Ask about yours and see what current California tax law says, with citations.

Currency note: this ruling is from 1955
Subsequent statutory amendments, regulation changes, court decisions, or later rulings may have changed the analysis. Treat this page as historical context, not current tax advice. Verify current law before relying on any specific rule, rate, or position mentioned here.
Disclaimer: This September 28, 1955 California State Board of Equalization Tax Counsel letter answers a redacted traffic manager's September 23 request. It applies former Revenue and Taxation Code section 6359.5 to the stated use of ice for precooling human-consumption food for interstate shipment; it does not establish current law. The source omits the addressee and request year and text, food products and owners, seller and buyers, ice type and quantities, actual precooling, other uses, origin and destination, route and carriers, packing and shipping records, purchases and sales, prices and invoices, exemption certificate, tax period, measure and rate, return, audit, assessment, payment, claim, appeal and outcome. Another taxpayer cannot treat this historical staff letter as its ruling. Check current ice, product, human-consumption, precooling, packing, shipping, carrier, interstate-commerce, sales-and-use-tax, exemption and documentation law.
About this page: The plain-English summary, reader guidance, and Q&A below were written by Ezel based on the official state tax ruling. The original ruling (linked on this page as a PDF) is the authoritative source for any reliance.
View original ruling (PDF)

Plain-English summary

California said the sale of ice used to precool food products for human consumption for interstate shipment was exempt under former section 6359.5. The letter treated the statutory language as covering ice used in packing as well as in shipping or transporting qualifying food products.

The one-page source gives no identified sale, food product, quantity, route, tax amount or later administrative outcome.

Request, statutory basis, and narrow conclusion

Tax Counsel E. H. Stetson addressed the September 28 response to a redacted traffic manager and answered a September 23 letter. The source gives neither the request year nor its text and does not identify the company, seller, buyer, food product, ice, shipment or carrier.

The stated question was whether the sale of ice used to precool human-consumption food for interstate shipment qualified under former section 6359.5. Tax Counsel said yes because that section covered ice used in packing as well as in shipping or transporting human-consumption food in interstate commerce.

The response does not discuss ice used for storage, production, later processing, intrastate movement or any nonfood use. It supplies no allocation among uses, actual sale, exemption certificate, invoice, origin, destination, route, measure, rate, assessment or payment.

The copied Sacramento Tax Administrator is identified, but no review, implementation, audit or final transaction outcome follows.

Live annotation and source limits

The live 400.0300 annotation accurately condenses the exemption conclusion and retains the September 28, 1955 date. It omits the redacted traffic manager, September 23 request, packing rationale, Tax Counsel identity, copied administrator and missing transaction and tax-outcome record.

The official PDF has a clean rendered text layer and contains no case citation. Two fresh downloads and text extractions matched exactly, and the preserved source tail remains byte-identical after removing only pdftotext's terminal newline and form feed.

What this means for you

Food shippers and ice sellers

Document that the ice's actual use is precooling food for human consumption for a qualifying interstate shipment. This historical letter offers no result for mixed, storage, processing, intrastate or nonfood uses.

Accountants and tax professionals

Keep the request, product description, quantities, use records, exemption documentation, invoices, carrier papers, origin and destination, route, and the law effective for the transaction date. The brief 1955 opinion is not proof of current treatment.

Common questions

What food use did the letter address?

Precooling before interstate shipment.

Did it cover food for human consumption?

Yes.

Did the letter analyze storage or later processing?

No.

Is the cited section current?

No. It is the former section applied in this 1955 source.

Did the letter identify a particular food or shipment?

No. It names no food product, owner, quantity, origin, destination, route or carrier.

Did it decide a tax amount or later outcome?

No. The source provides no measure, rate, assessment, payment, claim, appeal or implementation record.

Citations and references

  • Former California Revenue and Taxation Code section 6359.5 — historical ice exemption applied
  • September 23 request — answered but not reproduced; its year is not stated
  • Redacted traffic manager and organization; ice and food products; owners, seller and buyers; quantities and actual uses; origin, destination, route and carriers; packing and shipping records; purchases and sales; prices and invoices; exemption certificate; tax period, measure and rate; return, audit, assessment, payment, claim, appeal and outcome — described or implicated but not included

Verbatim support

From the official September 28, 1955 letter:

Answering your letter of September 23, it is our opinion that the sale of ice used in precooling food products for human consumption for shipment in interstate commerce is exempt from sales tax under Section 6359.5 of the Sales and Use Tax Law.

This section exempts sales of ice used in packing as well as in shipping or transporting food products for human consumption in interstate commerce.

Source

Original ruling text

400.0300

STATE OF CALIFORNIA

STATE BOARD OF EQUALIZATION

September 28, 1955

Attention:

[X]
Traffic Manager

Gentlemen:
Answering your letter of September 23, it is our opinion that the sale of ice used in precooling food products for human consumption for shipment in interstate commerce is exempt from sales tax under Section 6359.5 of the Sales and Use Tax Law. This section exempts sales of ice used in packing as well as in shipping or transporting food products for human consumption in interstate commerce. Very truly yours,

E. H. Stetson
Tax Counsel
EHS:ph
cc:

Sacramento – Tax Administrator

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