Did a venetian-blind contractor need a seller's permit and returns when buying installed fixtures tax-paid?

Plain-English summary

An October 19, 1950 internal memorandum transmitted an absent individual's letter and an absent Board reply to a redacted recipient. The attachments and full factual record are not in the official PDF.

The memorandum emphasized language from former Sales Tax General Bulletin 39-22: a contractor installing fixtures was the retailer of those fixtures, had to hold a permit, and had to file periodic returns for the fixtures installed.

The quoted bulletin allowed cancellation of a plumber's or electrician's permit only when that person made no over-the-counter retail sales, jobbing sales, or fixture installations. The memorandum applied that condition to a venetian-blind contractor.

It therefore directed the redacted contractor to retain his permit and file returns even though he might buy the venetian blinds tax-paid. The source supplies no contract, sale, price, purchase-tax record, permit, return, tax computation, deduction, audit, assessment, payment or later outcome.

Source posture and current cross-reference

The live 410.0120 annotation preserves the core permit-and-return conclusion and the tax-paid-purchase fact. It omits the absent letter and reply, the Bulletin 39-22 quotations, the conditional cancellation rule, the retail and jobbing alternatives, and the absence of any applied tax outcome.

Current Regulation 1521 defines fixtures, lists venetian blinds as a typical fixture, treats non-United States construction contractors as retailers of fixtures they furnish and install, and requires a seller's permit when a contractor sells fixtures or other covered property. Those provisions support a current cross-reference but are not the 1950 bulletin itself.

Current subdivision (b)(6)(C) separately permits a tax-paid-purchases-resold deduction when the contractor is the retailer, reimbursed the vendor for tax or paid use tax, and resold the property before using it. The 1950 memo does not identify a claimed deduction or its amount, and tax-paid purchasing did not eliminate the permit and return duties stated there.

The official one-page PDF has a clean native text layer and one stencil image, so no OCR was required. Two fresh direct downloads and default text extractions matched exactly. The original-text section remains byte-identical to its committed version and matches fresh extraction after removing only terminal extractor whitespace.

What this means for you

Fixture installers and tax professionals

Classify each item and contract under current rules before assuming tax paid to a supplier ends the analysis. Track fixture sales, seller's-permit and return duties, vendor tax reimbursement or use tax, resale timing, invoices, and any tax-paid-purchases-resold deduction separately.

Common questions

Q: Did tax-paid purchasing eliminate the permit duty?

A: No under the memorandum's historical conclusion. It directed the contractor to retain the permit and file returns despite tax-paid purchases.

Q: How did California classify the installer?

A: As the retailer of the fixtures furnished and installed, quoting former Bulletin 39-22.

Q: Could the contractor cancel the permit while installing fixtures?

A: Not while making fixture installations under the quoted rule. Cancellation required no retail, jobbing or fixture-installation sales.

Q: Did the memo calculate tax or a tax-paid-purchase deduction?

A: No. It supplies no sales, prices, purchase-tax records, return, computation or applied outcome.

Q: Are the attached inquiry and Board reply available?

A: No. The memorandum says both were attached, but the official PDF contains only the one-page transmittal memorandum.

Citations and references

• Former California Sales Tax General Bulletin 39-22, dated July 21, 1939 — quoted in part but not reproduced in full
• California Code of Regulations, title 18, § 1521 — current fixture-contractor, permit and tax-paid-purchases-resold cross-reference, not cited in the 1950 memorandum
• Individual's letter; Board reply; full General Bulletin 39-22; identities; contracts; blinds and other property; prices and invoices; tax-paid purchase records; permits; returns; tax amounts and deductions; audit; assessment; payment; protest and outcome — described or implicated but not included

Verbatim support

From the official October 19, 1950 memorandum:

Our reply should be largely self-explanatory, but we wish to emphasize, and it is clearly so stated in Sales Tax General Bulletin 39-22 dated July 21, 1939, that any contractor installing fixtures is required to hold a permit.

He [the contractor] must continue to file returns periodically with respect to fixtures installed, since under the ruling he is the retailer of all such fixtures.

Accordingly, X-----------------, should retain his permit and file returns, even though he may purchase his venetian blinds tax paid.

Source

• Annotated Legal Opinions collection: CDTFA Annotated Legal Opinions
• Live annotation: Annotation 410.0120
• Original supporting opinion: 410.0120 PDF
• Current cross-reference: Regulation 1521

Original ruling text

STATE OF CALIFORNIA

410.0120

STATE BOARD OF EQUALIZATION
0025 Installer purchases fixtures tax-paid, required to hold permit

Sacramento
October 19, 1950
X---------------,
Attached is a copy of a letter from the above-named individual and a copy of our reply. Our reply should be largely self-explanatory, but we wish to emphasize, and it is clearly so stated in Sales Tax General Bulletin 39-22 dated July 21, 1939, that any contractor installing fixtures is required to hold a permit. The bulletin states "He [the contractor] must continue to file returns periodically with respect to fixtures installed, since under the ruling he is the retailer of all such fixtures." The bulletin states further that a plumber's or electrician's permit may be cancelled (and this would include a venetian blind contractor) provided "a. That he is not making sales, i.e., is not making over-the-counter retail sales, nor 'jobbing sales,' nor installation of fixtures." (Underscoring added.) Accordingly, X-----------------, should retain his permit and file returns, even though he may purchase his venetian blinds tax paid.

EHS:ph