Ezel / Tax Rulings / TX
TX 9008L1037B05 Sales and/or Use Tax (State,Local,MTA) 1990-08-15

Was a city's landfill dump fee taxable when the city only received waste at the landfill and did not collect or remove it from the customer?

Short answer: No. A fee solely for receiving waste at the landfill was not taxable. The taxable service was collecting or removing garbage or solid waste; when a provider picked up household trash and carried it to the landfill, the entire collection charge was taxable.

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This page answers the general question as of 1990. Ezel answers yours, under current Texas tax law, with citations.

Currency note: this ruling is from 1990
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 Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts letter published on the State Tax Automated Research (STAR) system. Letters on STAR can be the basis of a detrimental reliance claim only for the taxpayer to whom the letter was directly issued (see 34 Tex. Admin. Code Rules 3.1 and 3.10); documents on STAR may no longer represent current policy even if not marked superseded. Taxpayer-identifying details are redacted. This summary is informational only and is not legal or tax advice. Consult a licensed Texas 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) is the authoritative source for any reliance.

Plain-English summary

The city's fee for only receiving waste at its landfill was not subject to sales tax.

Collection or removal of garbage was taxable. When a provider picked up household trash and carried it to the landfill, the entire collection charge was taxable. The difference was whether the party charging the fee also collected the waste or merely accepted material delivered to the dump.

Common questions

Landfill-only tipping or dump fee taxable? No.

Garbage pickup and hauling taxable? Yes.

What fact controlled? Whether the provider was responsible for collecting or removing the waste.

Source

Original ruling text

COMPTROLLER OF PUBLIC ACCOUNTS
STATE OF TEXAS
AUSTIN, 78774

August 15, 1990

Dear *:

Thank you for your letter concerning the taxability of your city's
charge for the disposal of solid waste at the city landfill. I can
clear up the misinformation you received and I regret the inconven-
ience it may have caused.

The fee charged by the City of Pampa for only receiving waste mate-
rial at the landfill is not subject to sales tax.

What the legislature did tax was the collection or removal of garbage
or other solid waste. For instance, the City of Austin charges me
to come to my home twice a week to pick-up and carry my household
trash to the city landfill. That entire charge is taxable. The leg-
islature did not elect to tax a "dump" fee where the party charging
the fee is not also responsible for collecting the waste material.

If you have any questions please do not hesitate to give me a call.
Our toll free phone number is 1-800-252-5555. My extension is 3-4684.

Sincerely,
Curt Swenson
Tax Correspondence

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