Ezel / Tax Rulings / TX
TX 9101L1069C01 Sales and/or Use Tax (State,Local,MTA) 1991-01-23

Must a Texas campground charge sales tax for storing an owner's unoccupied trailer or recreational vehicle?

Short answer: Yes. The Comptroller said a campground's charge for storing an unoccupied trailer or recreational vehicle was taxable, whether or not water and electricity were connected.

Apply this to your situation

This page answers the general question as of 1991. Ezel answers yours, under current Texas tax law, with citations.

Currency note: this ruling is from 1991
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 Code Rules 3.1 and 3.10); documents on STAR may no longer represent current policy even if not marked superseded.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

A Texas campground's charge for storing an owner's unoccupied trailer or recreational vehicle was subject to sales tax. The Comptroller said the controlling fact was that the vehicle was being stored for its owner.

Whether water and electricity were connected to the vehicle did not change that result. The letter was issued in 1991 and expressly limited its answer to the facts presented.

What this means for you

Campground and RV-park operators should not assume that an unoccupied vehicle escapes tax merely because it has no utility hookups. Under this ruling's facts, the storage charge itself was taxable.

Common questions

Were charges for storing unoccupied trailers taxable? Yes.

Did water or electrical hookups control the result? No. The Comptroller said the issue was storage of the unoccupied vehicle for its owner.

Did the letter address occupied campsite rentals? No. It addressed storage of unoccupied trailers and recreational vehicles.

Can another campground rely on this letter? Not automatically. The opinion was based on the facts presented, and the letter says similar but different facts may produce a different result.

Citations and references

  • No statute or administrative rule is cited in the ruling text.

Source

Original ruling text

January 23, 1991

Dear ** :

Charges by campground operators for storing unoccupied trailers
and recreational vehicles are subject to sales tax. The issue is
not one of having water and electricity hooked up to the vehicle
but rather the fact that an unoccupied vehicle is stored for its
owner.

This opinion is based on the facts you presented. Other facts,
though similar, may yield different results.

If you have questions or need more information, please call our
toll-free number 1-800-531-5441. My direct line number is 512-
463-4680 [FAX (512) 475-0900). You may write to me in care of
Tax Administration Division.

Sincerely,

Al Van Allen
Tax Administration Division

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