Ezel / Tax Rulings / TX
TX 8712L0854G13 Sales and/or Use Tax (State,Local,MTA) 1987-12-15

Were hourly charges for landmen and lawyers to inspect private tract books taxable when customers read and copied the information themselves?

Short answer: Yes. Texas treated the hourly access charge as a taxable information service even though the provider did not transmit, explain, or write down the information and the tract books were not public records.

Apply this to your situation

This page answers the general question as of 1987. Ezel answers yours, under current Texas tax law, with citations.

Currency note: this ruling is from 1987
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 taxpayer-specific December 1987 Texas Comptroller letter based on private tract books opened only to landmen and lawyers for an hourly fee, with customers reading and recording the information themselves. It says the opinion may change if the facts differ. Rule 3.342, information-service definitions, real-estate record services, and access-fee rules may have changed substantially; verify current law and the nature of the records and charge. STAR documents may no longer represent current policy even when not marked superseded. Identities are redacted. 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) is the authoritative source for any reliance.

Plain-English summary

The requester allowed oil-company landmen and lawyers to inspect private tract books for an hourly fee. The provider did not transmit information to them; customers read the books and wrote down what they needed.

The Comptroller nevertheless said the charges were taxable as an information service under Rule 3.342.

What this means for you

Under the historical letter, the provider did not avoid information-service tax merely because customers extracted the information themselves or because the records were privately held rather than public.

Common questions

Were the hourly access fees taxable? Yes.

Did it matter that the provider handed over no written report? No. The letter still classified the charge as an information service.

Were the tract books public records? No, according to the requester, but that did not change the answer.

Citations and references

  • 34 Tex. Admin. Code Rule 3.342 — historical information-services rule enclosed with the response.

Source

Original ruling text

COMPTROLLER OF PUBLIC ACCOUNTS
STATE OF TEXAS
AUSTIN, 78774

BOB BULLOCK
Comptroller December 15, 1987

Dear ***:

Thank you for your recent letter which is restated with response below.

I got a notice from Texas Land Title Association yesterday telling
me to apply for a sales tax permit and start collecting sales tax
on October 1st for Abstracts of Title and information furnished on
real estate.

We charge for oil companies for looking at our tract books--we
don't transmit information to them; they read the tract book and
write down the information they need. These are not public
records and we do not allow just anyone to look at them. Only
landmen, and lawyers and we charge them by the hour.

Since we don't write or hand them anything we don't feel it is
taxable. I called your toll free number and asked the guy who
answered and he said since its not a public record and we are not
telling them anything or handling them anything in writing, but
charge for looking-it is not taxable.

Please furnish me an answer in writing that I can put in my file
and show to the first person from your office that comes in here
and asks what we are collecting tax on.

Response: Your charges are subject to sales tax as an information
service. I
am enclosing Rule 3.342 for your reference.

This opinion is based on the facts presented. If there are additional or
different facts, the opinion may change.

If you have any questions or need more information, please call me at
1-800-252-5555 toll free from anywhere in Texas. The regular number is
512/463-4600. You may write me at the Tax Policy Division.

Sincerely,
Al Van Allen
Tax Policy Division

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