Did people attending college short courses or public lecture series count as students for the school-meal sales-tax exemption?

Plain-English summary

A college offered specialized short courses, including a music educators' workshop and a coaching clinic, to people who were not its regular students. Tax counsel said those attendees still qualified as students if they were formally enrolled in the courses.

On that assumption, the college's receipts from dining-hall meals sold to them were exempt under section 6363. The published source later inserts a bracketed note directing readers to Regulation 1603(j) requirements, but it does not reproduce or apply those later requirements.

People attending lecture series open to the general public without any enrollment requirement did not qualify as students, so meals sold to them did not receive the stated exemption.

Common questions

Did someone have to be a regular degree student?

No. Formal enrollment in a specialized short course was enough under the letter's analysis.

Did merely attending a public college lecture make someone a student?

No. Without an enrollment requirement, the attendee did not qualify.

What meal sales did the source address?

It addressed meals the college sold in its dining hall to the described attendees.

Citations and references

• California Revenue and Taxation Code section 6363 (as cited)
• Regulation 1603(j) requirements (identified in a bracketed December 2, 2003 editorial note)

Source

• Annotated Legal Opinions collection: https://cdtfa.ca.gov/taxes-and-fees/annotations-menu.htm
• Annotation page: https://cdtfa.ca.gov/lawguides/vol2/suta/550-0000-all.html
• Original supporting opinion: https://cdtfa.ca.gov/lawguides/annotations/550-1440.pdf

Original ruling text

550.1440

STATE OF CALIFORNIA

STATE BOARD OF EQUALIZATION

February 26, 1968

Gentlemen:
This is in reply to your letter of February 13, 1968 to our San Bernardino office. It is our understanding that the College conducts short courses in various subjects for authorized personnel who are not regular students at the college. Two courses which you mentioned were your Music Educator’s Workshop and your Coaching Clinic. In reply to your specific inquiry, if the individuals who attend such courses are formally enrolled therein, it is our opinion that they qualify as “students”. Therefore, receipts from sales of meals served by the college [note Reg 1603(j) requirements SPJ 12/2/03] in the dining hall to such students are exempt from sales tax under Section 6363. On the other hand, where the college conducts lecture series open to the general public, without any requirement of enrollment, it is our opinion that those in attendance are not “students”, and sales of meals to such persons would not qualify for the exemption. Very truly yours,

George A. Trigueros
Tax Counsel

GAT:smk

[lb]