Is a power lift recliner exempt from sales tax as medical equipment?

Plain-English summary

Russell J. Shapiro runs a retail furniture store selling power lift recliners -- motorized chairs that raise a person to their feet and recline for comfort, marketed as both a "medical necessity" and a "sensible luxury." He asked whether the recliners are exempt medical equipment under Tax Law 1115(a)(3).

The Department said no -- they're taxable:

• Medical equipment must be primarily medical. Under 20 NYCRR 528.4(e)(2), exempt medical equipment must be primarily and customarily used for medical purposes and not generally useful in the absence of illness, injury, or physical incapacity. (Exempt examples: hospital beds, wheelchairs, crutches, walkers.)
• A dual-use comfort product doesn't qualify. The recliner can serve a medical need, but it's also marketed and used as ordinary furniture for comfort by the general public.
• Craftmatic controls. In Craftmatic Comfort Manufacturing Corp. v. New York State Tax Commission, the Court of Appeals held that electrically adjustable beds were not exempt, because -- though useful for medical purposes -- they are "obviously also suitable for and are indeed used by the general public." The Department found the power lift recliners substantially similar, so they do not qualify for the exemption and are subject to sales tax.

What this means for you

Retailers of dual-use comfort or mobility products

A product that has a medical use but is also generally useful to healthy people is taxable -- adjustable beds, lift recliners, and similar comfort items. The exemption is for equipment that is primarily and customarily medical and not generally useful absent illness or incapacity.

A doctor's note or Medicare eligibility doesn't control

The brochure said the chair "may qualify as a medical necessity for Medicare or insurance." That doesn't make it exempt for sales tax -- New York applies the "not generally useful to the public" test, and dual-use comfort furniture fails it.

Genuinely medical devices remain exempt

Items primarily used for medical purposes -- wheelchairs, hospital beds, walkers, crutches, braces -- stay exempt under section 1115(a)(3). The line is drawn at products that are also everyday consumer goods.

Common questions

Q: The recliner helps people with limited mobility -- why is it taxed?
A: Because it's also generally useful to the public for comfort. Exempt medical equipment must be primarily and customarily medical and not generally useful absent illness or incapacity.

Q: What case did the Department rely on?
A: Craftmatic, where the Court of Appeals held electrically adjustable beds weren't exempt because they're also used by the general public. Lift recliners are treated as substantially similar.

Q: What about Medicare or insurance calling it a "medical necessity"?
A: That doesn't make it exempt for New York sales tax; the sales-tax test is whether it's generally useful to the public, and comfort furniture is.

Q: Can I rely on this opinion?
A: It binds the Department only as to the petitioner and the facts described. Treat it as guidance and confirm your own facts.

Citations and references

• Tax Law section 1115(a)(3) (medical equipment exemption)
• Tax Law section 1115(a)(4) (prosthetic aids and artificial devices)
• 20 NYCRR 528.4(e) (definition of medical equipment; primarily/customarily medical, not generally useful absent illness)
• Craftmatic Comfort Manufacturing Corp. v. New York State Tax Commission, 69 NY2d 141

Source

• Landing page: https://www.tax.ny.gov/pubs_and_bulls/advisory_opinions/sales_ao_1993.htm
• Opinion: https://www.tax.ny.gov/pdf/advisory_opinions/sales/a93_39s.pdf

Original ruling text

New York State Department of Taxation and Finance

Taxpayer Services Division
Technical Services Bureau

TSB-A-93 (39)S
Sales Tax
June 21, 1993

STATE OF NEW YORK
COMMISSIONER OF TAXATION AND FINANCE
ADVISORY OPINION

PETITION NO. S930318A

On March 18, 1993 a Petition for Advisory Opinion was received from Russell J. Shapiro,
222 Main St., Saugerties, New York 12477.
The issue raised by Petitioner, Russell J. Shapiro, is whether a power lift recliner is
considered to be exempt medical equipment under Section 1115(a)(3) of the Tax Law.
Petitioner operates a retail furniture store which sells Stylecraft and LA-Z-BOY power lift
recliners. A power lift recliner is designed to facilitate a handicapped person to get into a chair and
by using the motorized hand held control, tower the person to a regular chair seat position with the
benefit of raising their legs for circulation and also recline the body to relax and sleep so they are not
always confined to a bed.
The brochure for the Stylecraft recliner includes the following statement:
Introducing the recliner that brings you to your feet or takes you to your favorite
reclining position at the touch of your fingertips. It can serve as a medical necessity
or a sensible luxury for people who want to maintain their independence.
The Stylecraft Power Lift/Recliner is designed for comfortable long-term sitting,
short-term napping or whatever reclining position comforts you. The classic style
and choice of fabrics and colors lets it fit into any decor. Most importantly, it
satisfies a sense of thrift.
In addition, the brochure states that the chair may qualify as medical necessity for Medicare
or insurance purposes.
Section 528.4(e) of the Sales and Use Tax Regulations defines medical equipment in part as
follows:
(e) Medical equipment. (1) Medical equipment means machinery, apparatus
and other devices (other than prosthetic aids, hearing aids, eye glasses and artificial
devices which qualify for exemption under section 1115(a)(4) of the Tax Law),
which are intended for use in the cure, mitigation, treatment or prevention of illnesses
or diseases or the correction or alleviation of physical incapacity in human beings.
(2) To qualify such equipment must be primarily and customarily used for
medical purposes and not be generally useful in the absence of illness, injury or
physical incapacity.

-2­
TSB-A-93 (39)S
Sales Tax
June 21, 1993
Example 1: Items such as hospital beds, wheel chairs, hemodialysis
equipment, iron lungs, respirators, oxygen tents, crutches, back and neck braces,
trusses, trapeze bars, walkers, inhalators, nebulizers and traction equipment are
exempt medical equipment.
Example 2: A medical patient purchases an air conditioner to be used to
lower air temperature to alleviate his illness. Since an air conditioner is non-medical
in nature, it is not exempt from the tax.
In Craftmatic Comfort Manufacturing Corp v. New York State Tax Commission, 69 NY2d
141, the Court of Appeals, for the reasons stated in the dissenting memorandum by Justice Paul J.
Yesawich, Jr. at the Appellate Division (118 AD2d 995, 997-998), reversed the Appellate Division
and held that electrically adjustable beds were not exempt from sales tax. Justice Yesawich noted
in his dissent "[T]hat these beds can be utilized to fulfill a useful medical purpose, as attested to by
various agencies, does not, however, detract from the fact that they obviously are also suitable for
and are indeed used by the general public." He further stated that "[R]espondent's regulation
mandating that the equipment not be generally useful for nonmedical purposes (20 NYCRR
528.4[e][2]) not only gives practical construction to the legislation, but forecloses overextension of
the exemption".
The power lift recliners in the instant case are substantially similar to the electrically adjusted
beds which were the subject of the Craftmatic decision by the Court of Appeals. Accordingly the
power lift recliners sold by Petitioner do not qualify for the exemption from sales tax provided by
Section 1115(a)(4) of the Tax Law and Section 528.4(e) of the Sales and Use Tax Regulations.

DATED: June 21, 1993

/s/
PAUL B. COBURN
Deputy Director
Taxpayer Services Division

NOTE: The opinions expressed in Advisory Opinions
are limited to the facts set forth therein.