Ezel / Tax Rulings / CA

Were publisher purchases of authors' stories taxable, and when could a manuscript itself become taxable tangible property?

Short answer Publisher purchases of stories remained nontaxable, but collector-item manuscripts were taxable when the buyer primarily wanted the physical manuscript itself.
State
CA
Ruling
Annotation 515.0300
Tax type
Sales and Use Tax
Issued
1968-11-21
Issued by
California State Board of Equalization
Requested by
A requester asking about publisher purchases of manuscripts (identity redacted)
Topics
manuscripts publishers
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 short California State Board of Equalization Tax Counsel opinion dated November 21, 1968, published by CDTFA as support for a sales and use tax annotation. It distinguishes publisher purchases of stories from sales in which another author's manuscript has particular physical value as a collector's item. Another author, publisher, dealer, archive, or collector should check current manuscript, copyright, licensing, original-artifact, collectible, reproduction, digital-file, 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

California confirmed that publishers' purchases of stories remained nontaxable.

The source distinguished sales in which the manuscript itself had particular value as tangible property and the buyer's main interest was the physical object. That rule primarily reached collector-item manuscripts written by other authors.

What this means for you

Authors, publishers, and collectors

Acquiring an author's story for publication differed from buying a physically valuable original manuscript as a collectible.

Accountants and tax professionals

Review authorship, publication rights, physical ownership, collector value, copies, provenance, licensing, and digital delivery.

Common questions

Q: Was a publisher's purchase of a story taxable?

A: No.

Q: Could a manuscript sale be taxable?

A: Yes, when the buyer primarily wanted the physical collector's item.

Source

Original ruling text

515.0300
November 21, 1968

Gentlemen:
Your letter of October 22, 1968 raises the question whether the letter opinion of September 16, 1968, relative to sales of manuscripts, is contrary to the Board's wellestablished position that purchases of stories by publishers are not subject to tax. The purchase of stories by publishers will continue to be free of tax. The sales of manuscripts of others which the letter opinion attempts to reach are those in which the manuscript itself is of particular value as an item of tangible personal property, and the buyer's principal interest is in the physical property. It would apply primarily to sales of manuscripts which are collector's items. Very truly yours T. P. Putnam Tax Counsel By Lawrence A. Augusta LAA:ph [lb]

What does the law say today, for your facts?

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