Ezel / Tax Rulings / CA

Were charges taxable for mixing dry Bentonite with water into a gelatinous material that could be spread on fire?

Short answer Yes. The mixing physically changed dry Bentonite into a usable fire-fighting product and was taxable processing under the cited law and ruling.
State
CA
Ruling
Annotation 435.1060
Tax type
Sales and Use Tax
Issued
1965-04-05
Issued by
California State Board of Equalization
Requested by
Board Audit Review staff asking about charges for mixing Bentonite and water into fire-fighting material
Topics
mixing processing customer furnished property
Source
View Original PDF

Apply this to your situation

This page answers the general question as of 1965. Ask about yours and see what current California tax law says, with citations.

Currency note: this ruling is from 1965
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 is a California State Board of Equalization tax-counsel memorandum dated April 5, 1965, published by CDTFA as support for a sales and use tax annotation. It applies historical section 6006 and Ruling 15 to a physical change from dry Bentonite and water into a usable fire-fighting product. Another taxpayer should not treat it as binding and should check current mineral-processing, mixing, fire-suppression-material, fabrication, and sales-and-use-tax rules. This summary is informational only and is not legal or tax advice.
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

Mixing dry Bentonite with water created a gelatinous mass that could be spread on fire. The memorandum treated that work as taxable processing under section 6006 and Ruling 15, as cited.

The result depended on physical change. Combining the solid and liquid produced a usable product that was physically different from the dry Bentonite, which the memorandum compared to making cement or freezing water into ice.

Citations and references

  • California Revenue and Taxation Code section 6006 (as cited)
  • California Sales Tax Ruling 15 (as cited)

Source

Original ruling text

State of California

Board of Equalization

Memorandum

To:

Audit Review (RN)

From:

Tax Counsel (RHA)

Subject:

X-------------------

435.1060

Date:

April 5, 1965

Reference is made to your memo of March 16 regarding the application of tax to charges for mixing Bentonite with water to form a gelatinous mass so that it can be readily spread on fire. We are of the opinion that this constitutes processing dry Bentonite to form a useable product and is taxable under Ruling 15 and Section 6006 of the Sales and Use Tax Law. There is a change in the physical properties comparable to making cement or freezing water to make ice. The end product is something physically different brought about by mixing a solid and a liquid.

RHA;o’b

[lb]

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