Ezel / Tax Rulings / CA

Was labor for mounting a scope taxable on a new gun and on a customer's used gun?

Short answer Mounting a scope on a new gun was taxable fabrication. Mounting one on a customer's used gun was exempt installation labor.
State
CA
Ruling
Annotation 435.1080
Tax type
Sales and Use Tax
Issued
1968-07-23
Issued by
California State Board of Equalization
Requested by
Board staff considering sales tax on sporting-goods-store labor for mounting gun scopes
Topics
sporting goods fabrication labor installation labor
Source
View Original PDF

Apply this to your situation

This page answers the general question as of 1968. Ask about yours and see what current California tax law says, with citations.

Currency note: this ruling is from 1968
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 staff memorandum dated July 23, 1968, published by CDTFA as support for a sales and use tax annotation. Its result turns on whether scope mounting is connected with the sale and processing of a new gun or is installation on a customer's used gun. Another taxpayer should not treat it as binding and should check current sporting-goods, fabrication, installation, repair, 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

Mounting a scope on a new gun was taxable fabrication because it was a step in processing the property for sale. The memorandum said tax could still apply when the mounting occurred after the sale if it remained an essential part of, or clearly connected with, the sale.

That conclusion changed once the gun had become used. Mounting a scope on a customer's used gun was installation labor, and the charge was exempt.

The memorandum therefore treated timing and the gun's new-or-used status as important. A sufficiently delayed mounting could fall outside the original sale once the gun had become used.

Citations and references

  • No numbered statute or regulation was cited in the source memorandum.

Source

Original ruling text

State of California

Board of Equalization

Memorandum

To:

Mr. Robert Nunes

From:

T. P. Putnam

Subject:

Application of Sales Tax to Labor in a Sporting Goods Store

435.1080

Date:

July 23, 1968

In a footnote to your letter of July 22 to Mr. X----------------, you suggested that we annotate the portion of the article attached to your letter which dealt with the installation of gun scopes. This letter to you will be annotated accordingly. The mounting of a scope on a new gun constitutes fabrication labor and charges therefor are taxable as part of the sales. This is a step in the processing of the property. Tax would be imposed on the labor charge incurred in mounting a scope on a new gun even at a time subsequent to the sale of the scope and gun unless the mounting was done so long after the sale as not to be regarded as an essential part of or clearly connected with the sale and the gun had become a used gun. On the other hand, the mounting of a scope on a customer's used gun constitutes installation labor and charges therefor are exempt.

TPP:kc [lb]

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