Ezel / Tax Rulings / CT
CT Ruling 89-192 Sales Tax 1989-11-06

Were sales of copies of Hartford's official block maps and sewer profiles subject to Connecticut sales tax?

Short answer: No under this historical ruling. DRS treated the official maps and sewer profiles as public records excluded from sales tax under Conn. Gen. Stat. § 12-15, even though the taxpayer charged a typical copying cost of $1 per sheet.

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This page answers the general question as of 1989. Ezel answers yours, under current Connecticut tax law, with citations.

Currency note: this ruling is from 1989
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 an official 1989 Connecticut Department of Revenue Services Ruling applying the public-record sales-tax exclusion to copies of Hartford's official block maps and sewer profiles. Its result depended on the documents being official public records; another seller should not assume the same treatment for private maps, added services, or current law. Connecticut imposes sales tax solely at the state level: there are no local or municipal sales taxes. This summary is informational only and is not legal or tax advice. Consult a licensed Connecticut tax professional about your specific situation.
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

The taxpayer sold copies of Hartford's official block maps and sewer profiles, which included utility, property-line, street-right-of-way, and ownership information. The typical copying charge was $1 per sheet.

DRS treated the maps as public records and excluded their sales from sales tax under Conn. Gen. Stat. § 12-15.

What this means for you

The historical exclusion depended on the copies being sales of official public records, not merely maps or engineering information generally.

Common questions

Were copies of the official maps taxable? No.

What did a copy typically cost? $1 per sheet.

What exclusion did DRS cite? Conn. Gen. Stat. § 12-15.

Citations and references

  • Conn. Gen. Stat. § 12-15, as cited in the ruling.

Source

Original ruling text

Ruling 89-192, Engineering

Ruling 89-192

Engineering

The Taxpayer sells block maps and sewer profiles that also contain information regarding utilities, property lines, street rights-of-way and ownership. These block maps are the official maps of the City of Hartford and, as such, are kept in vaults or protected files. The typical charge for the cost of copying is $1.00 per sheet.

The sales of the maps described herein constitute sales of public records and, as such, they are excluded from the sales tax under Conn. Gen. Stat. §12-15.

LEGAL DIVISION

November 6, 1989

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