Are receipts from coin-operated machines that measure and print a person's height and weight subject to Florida sales tax?
Apply this to your situation
This page answers the general question as of 1996. Ezel answers yours, under current Florida tax law, with citations.
Plain-English summary
The Florida Department of Revenue concluded that the receipts from the company's coin-operated height-and-weight machines were not subject to sales tax. The machines printed a customer's height and weight, which the Department treated as health-awareness information and a personal service rather than entertainment or amusement.
The machines also were not vending machines under the cited definition because they did not dispense food or beverages. Although each machine supplied a paper printout, the Department called that printout an inconsequential element of tangible personal property within an exempt personal-service transaction.
The exemption applied to the customer receipts, not to the operator's own purchases. Because the company owned the machines rather than leasing them to the host locations, its purchases of the machines, repairs, parts, and printout paper remained taxable.
What this means for you
Operators of measurement and health-information machines
A coin slot does not by itself make a machine taxable as an amusement or vending machine. Under this advisement, the decisive point was what the machine provided: health information as a personal service, with only an incidental paper printout.
Businesses hosting the machines
The ruling addressed receipts earned by the machine owner and stated that the owner was not leasing the machines to the location owners. It did not decide the tax treatment of a different leasing or revenue-sharing arrangement.
Accountants and tax professionals
Keep the two sides of the transaction separate. The service receipts were exempt under section 212.08(7)(v)1., but the operator's inputs—the machines, repairs, parts, and paper—were taxable. The conclusion also depended on the machines providing information rather than amusement or food and beverage items.
Common questions
Q: Are the coins collected from the height-and-weight machines taxable?
A: No. On the facts presented, the Department treated the receipts as payment for an exempt personal service.
Q: Why were the machines not coin-operated amusement machines?
A: They supplied height and weight information for health awareness. The Department said that was not entertainment or amusement.
Q: Why were they not vending machines?
A: The cited vending-machine definition covered machines dispensing food or beverages. These machines dispensed only health information and an incidental paper printout.
Q: Does the exemption make the equipment and supplies tax-free?
A: No. The Department expressly said the company's purchases of the machines, repairs, parts, and printout paper were taxable.
Q: Can another operator rely on this TAA?
A: Not automatically. The advisement states that it binds the Department only under the facts and circumstances described in the request, and later legal changes or court interpretations may produce a different result.
Citations and references
- Fla. Stat. § 212.02(24) (coin-operated amusement machine)
- Fla. Stat. § 212.0515(1)(a) (vending machine)
- Fla. Stat. § 212.08(7)(v)1. (professional, insurance, or personal-service transactions with inconsequential sales elements)
- Fla. Stat. § 213.22 and Fla. Admin. Code ch. 12-11 (technical assistance advisements)
- Fla. Stat. ch. 119 (public records)
Source
- Landing page: Florida Tax Law Library
- Advisement: TAA 96A-063
Original ruling text
Dec 20, 1996
Re: Technical Assistance Advisement 96(A)-063
Weight and Height Machines
XXXX( Company)
s. 212.08(7)(v), F.S.
FEI# XXXX
Dear :
This response is to your petition dated November 15, 1996,
requesting the Department's issuance of a Technical Assistance
Advisement (TAA) pursuant to s. 213.22, F.S., and Ch. 12-11,
F.A.C., regarding the referenced matter. Your letter and
supporting documents provided the following pertinent
information.
FACTS PRESENTED
The Company operates coin-operated machines that measure height
and weight within businesses located in multiple Florida
counties. These machines provide a printout of a person's height
and weight. You have provided illustrations of the machines and
a copy of a printout for our review. You have asked for a
determination of the taxability of the receipts removed from
these machines.
DISCUSSION AND LAW
Section 212.02(24), F.S., provides the following definition:
"Coin-operated" amusement machine means any machine
operated by coin, slug, token, coupon, or similar device
for the purposes of entertainment or amusement. The term
includes, but is not limited to, coin-operated pinball
machines, music machines, juke boxes, mechanical games,
video games, arcade games, billiard tables, moving picture
viewers, shooting galleries, and all other similar
amusement devices.
The machines you have described are coin-operated and provide a
printout of a person's height and weight. The provision of
height and weight is health awareness information, and is not
entertainment or amusement. Therefore, the machines do not fall
within the definition of a coin-operated amusement machine.
Section 212.0515(1)(a) provides the following definition:
"Vending machine" means a machine operated by coin,
currency, credit card, slug, token, coupon, or similar
device, which dispenses food or beverage items.
The machines described are operated by coin, but they solely
provide health information which is a personal service, and the
item dispensed is a printout of the person's height and weight
which is an inconsequential element of tangible personal
property.
Section 212.08(7)(v)1., F.S. provides:
Also exempted are professional, insurance, or personal
service transactions that involve sales as inconsequential
elements for which no separate charges are made.
Therefore, based upon the information provided, the machines
described are neither amusement machines nor vending machines.
The machines provide a service that is exempt pursuant to the
above referenced statute.
In conclusion, the receipts generated by the height and weight
machines would not be taxable. Since your company is the owner
of the machines and is not currently leasing them to the
location owners, the purchase of the machines, repairs, parts,
and paper used to provide the printout would be taxable.
This response constitutes a technical assistance advisement
under s. 213.22, F.S., which is binding on the department only
under the facts and circumstances described in the request for
this advice as specified in s. 213.22, F.S. Our response is
predicated on those facts and the specific situation summarized
above. You are advised that subsequent statutory or
administrative rule changes or judicial interpretations of the
statutes or rules upon which this advice is based may subject
similar future transactions to a different treatment than
expressed in this response.
You are further advised that this response and your request are
public records under Chapter 119, F.S., which are subject to
disclosure to the public under the conditions of s. 213.22, F.S.
Your name, address, and any other details which might lead to
identification of the taxpayer must be deleted by the department
before disclosure. In an effort to protect confidential
information, we request you notify the undersigned in writing
within 15 days of any deletions you wish made to the request or
this response.
Sincerely,
Edith Sapp
Tax Law Specialist
Tax Policy and Dispute Resolution
ES/
CTRL# 27063
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