Ezel / Tax Rulings / CA

Were unique written astrology personality profiles and forecasts taxable, and what happened if a provider reused an earlier client's identical report?

Short answer Unique client-specific profiles were nontaxable services, but selecting and sending a previously prepared profile to a new client was a taxable sale.
State
CA
Ruling
Annotation 515.0011.490
Tax type
Sales and Use Tax
Issued
1993-05-12
Issued by
California State Board of Equalization
Requested by
An astrology-based personality and forecast provider (identity redacted)
Topics
individualized reports
Source
View Original PDF

Apply this to your situation

This page answers the general question as of 1993. Ask about yours and see what current California tax law says, with citations.

Currency note: this ruling is from 1993
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 opinion dated May 12, 1993, published by CDTFA as support for a sales and use tax annotation. It assumes every personality profile and forecast was uniquely interpreted from the client's time, date, and place of birth and draws a different result when a prior report is selected and resent. Another report provider should check current customization, standardized-content, automated-report, digital-delivery, subscription, and sales-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

An astrology business charged a flat fee for a written personality profile and offered individualized forecasts for additional monthly charges. Each report interpreted a client's time, date, and place of birth, and the provider said no two profiles were the same.

California treated genuinely individualized profiles and forecasts as nontaxable services. The result changed if a new client had matching birth data and the business simply selected and mailed a previously prepared profile: that reused report was a taxable sale.

What this means for you

Personalized-report businesses

The opinion distinguished original client-specific work from selecting an existing report.

Automated content providers

Document what new interpretation or customization occurs for each customer rather than assuming a personalized label controls.

Accountants and tax professionals

Review inputs, production steps, uniqueness, template reuse, delivery method, and whether an earlier finished report can be resold unchanged.

Common questions

Q: Were unique personality profiles taxable?

A: No. They were treated as services.

Q: Were individualized monthly forecasts taxable?

A: No, under the same client-specific facts.

Q: What if two clients had identical birth data?

A: If the business selected and sent the earlier client's existing profile, the new charge was taxable.

Citations and references

  • California Sales and Use Tax Regulation 1501, as stated on the official annotation page
  • California Sales and Use Tax Annotation 515.0340 (August 20, 1969), as cited in the opinion

Source

Original ruling text

515.0011.490

STATE OF CALIFORNIA

STATE BOARD OF EQUALIZATION

MEMBER
First District

450 N STREET, SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA
(P.O. BOX 942879, SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA 94279-0001)
(916) 445-6496

BRAD SHERMAN
Second District, Los Angeles
ERNEST J. DRONENBURG, JR.
Third District, San Diego

May 12, 1993

MATTHEW K. FONG
Fourth District, Los Angeles
GRAY DAVIS
Controller, Sacramento
BURTON W. OLIVER
Executive Director

Re: Taxability of Individual Profile
Dear Mr. REDACTED TEXT,

This office has recently received a letter from you in which you requested a legal opinion as to the taxability of the profiles that you prepare for the public. You state in your letter that your business provides a personality profile and prediction service utilizing astrology. Each person responding to your advertisement, after paying a flat fee, receives a unique written report describing their personality profile. There is also an option for clients to receive individualized forecasts for set periods of time for which a per-month charge is to be paid. You state that both services rely on a person’s time, date and location of birth to calculate their aspects which you interpret in writing. No two profiles are ever the same. If individual profiles are prepared and sent to the client and no two profiles are identical, the production of these individualized profiles is considered a “service” and the charge for these profiles is not subject to California sales tax. If, because a client had the same time, date and location of birth as a previous client, the previous client’s profile was selected and mailed to the new client, the charge billed to the new client would be subject to California sales tax (California Sales and Use Tax Annotation 515.0340, 8/20/69). Very truly yours, Thomas Cooke Tax Counsel TC:cl

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