State Tax Rulings
Free state tax letter rulings and advisory opinions with plain-English summaries, full citations, and the original source on every page.
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Can a Texas dealer obtain title to a vehicle tax-free for resale, and when does registration or a manufacturer's certificate trigger tax?
A licensed dealer could title a vehicle tax-free for resale only while holding it exclusively for resale and leaving it unregistered. Registration created a presumption of taxable use. New MCO vehicle…
How did a Louisiana individual obtain relief when using IRC § 1341's federal tax-credit method for repaying more than $3,000 of previously reported income?
The taxpayer could deduct the repayment on Louisiana Schedule E in the same year the federal § 1341 credit was taken. The federal deduction method needed no special Louisiana adjustment.
Does an online travel-booking intermediary have to collect New York hotel occupancy tax on payments consumers make through its website?
No — not under the facts described here. The hotel operator, not the online booking company, is the one required to collect and remit New York hotel occupancy tax, because the booking company never op…
How did Louisiana's 2004 ruling tax software maintenance agreements containing consultation, bug fixes, upgrades, updates, enhancements, canned software, or custom software?
Consultation-only support was not taxable, while updates, modifications, and enhancements were treated as software sales. Bundles were taxed at the highest rate unless lower-tax items were separately …
Historically, did a no-consideration transfer of unencumbered commercial property from its sole owner to the owner's LLC owe more than minimum documentary stamp tax?
Historical answer only: the Department said only minimum documentary stamp tax applied when a sole owner transferred unencumbered property to a wholly owned LLC without consideration or new membership…
When did out-of-state exhibitors at Florida art and design trade shows have to collect sales tax on orders taken during the shows?
Destination controlled. Documented orders irrevocably committed to shipment outside Florida by U.S. Mail or common carrier were exempt, whether or not the exhibitor received full payment at the show. …
For Texas earned surplus, what are the IRC Section 179 expensing limit and the phase-out threshold?
The Section 179 election is capped at $25,000, and it phases out once the cost of Section 179 property exceeds $200,000. Because earned surplus for the Texas franchise tax is calculated using the Inte…
Could a Florida county buy materials for an infrastructure-development project tax-exempt under its owner-direct-purchase contract procedures?
Yes. The county was the purchaser because it approved and issued orders, supplied its exemption certificate, received and paid vendor invoices, retained title, and bore risk through insurance covering…
Could a Florida county buy materials for a deepwater cruise-terminal project tax-exempt under its owner-direct-purchase procedures?
Yes. The county's Section 00810 procedures made it the purchaser when it issued orders with its exemption certificate, received and paid vendor invoices directly, took title at delivery, and insured t…
Could a Florida public authority buy materials tax-exempt for a roadway, bridge-removal, landscaping, and rail-yard reconstruction project?
Yes. The authority qualified when it issued purchase orders with its exemption number, received vendor invoices, paid vendors directly, took title and liability at delivery, and insured the materials.…
Could a Florida public authority buy materials for a Transportation Management Center tax-exempt, including authority-owned materials sent to an off-site fabrication location?
Yes, under the detailed contract facts. The authority had to issue purchase orders, be invoiced and pay vendors directly, take title and liability at job-site delivery, and bear risk through insurance…
Which carpet, furniture, tile, duct, water-restoration, and carpet-installation services were taxable for a Florida cleaning company?
It depended on the item and service. Permanently installed carpet cleaning, carpet stain protection, deodorizing, duct cleaning, water restoration, and wall-to-wall carpet installation were not charge…
Did adding nonstructural architectural metal roofing at an existing steel-deck plant qualify as a separate new business for Florida's machinery exemption?
Yes. Although both products used cold roll-forming, architectural metal roofing was a finished, visible, nonstructural roof product for roofing contractors, while roof decking was a structural support…
Can a buyer avoid South Carolina's tax lien on transferred business assets by obtaining a transferor affidavit?
Yes, in limited cases. A buyer receiving no business assets or less than a majority by fair market value could use a transferor affidavit valid for 30 days; a majority-business-asset transfer generall…
When you sell or exchange your interest in a unit investment trust that holds Connecticut state or local bonds, how is the gain or loss treated for Connecticut income tax?
Gain is subtracted and loss is added back. A holder who sells or exchanges an interest in a unit investment trust (UIT) must, in figuring Connecticut adjusted gross income, SUBTRACT any gain -- and AD…
Is installing a hard-wired home security system a tax-exempt capital improvement, a taxable equipment installation, or a taxable protective service?
It depends on three specific conditions, not just on whether wires run through the walls. A hard-wired alarm system is a tax-exempt capital improvement ONLY if it (1) substantially adds to the home's …
Does a media/PR company owe New York sales tax on its fees for producing and distributing news stories, satellite/wire transmissions, and other media-relations services to news outlets?
No, in general — producing and placing news stories, video and audio features, satellite media tours, and similar public-relations services with news outlets is treated as a form of advertising, which…
Can a newly formed bank holding company elect to be taxed under Article 9-A, and must it file a combined Article 32 return with its banking affiliates, for its first short year?
Yes to the election, and no combined Article 32 return is required. A newly formed wholly owned domestic subsidiary that registers for the first time as a bank holding company and elects financial hol…
Did Public Law 86-272 protect Dart Industries from New Mexico corporate income tax when its exclusive Tupperware franchise distributor maintained an office, handled warranties, and used Dart's trademark and business system?
No. The distributor acted on Dart's behalf and was not an independent contractor under Public Law 86-272 because she sold for one principal. Her New Mexico office, complaint and warranty work, Dart's …
Are membership dues for a national boat-towing club subject to New York sales tax, and does the club (or its administrator) have to register and collect New York tax?
The dues themselves aren't taxable — BoatU.S. isn't a 'social or athletic club' under New York's club-dues tax, since members don't control any of its activities, elections, or management, so its memb…
Under the 2004 documentary-stamp-tax rules, did the $2,450 cap for an unrecorded premium-finance agreement continue if the agreement was later filed or recorded in Florida?
No. Under the 2004 statute, an unfiled and unrecorded premium-finance agreement was an unsecured written obligation subject to a maximum $2,450 documentary stamp tax. If the document was later filed o…
Could a reorganized and diversified corporate group stop filing Florida consolidated income-tax returns because its business circumstances had materially changed?
Yes. Florida found good cause in the group's reorganization, diversification, subsidiary turnover, management changes, decentralized finance, and new liability and financing structure. It allowed sepa…
Which of the many separately stated fees a medical-record retrieval company charges -- retrieval, delivery, per-page, postage, handling, certification, notarization, deposition, and electronic storage -- are subject to Utah sales tax?
It depends fee-by-fee, based on whether the customer's primary objective is getting a copy of the records. Basic Retrieval, Quickview Delivery, and Per Page fees are all taxable, because the Commissio…
Which disposable and reusable anesthesia breathing and intubation products were exempt from Florida sales tax?
Endotracheal tubes were exempt because a practitioner temporarily incorporated them into the patient. The other listed breathing circuits, CO2 absorbents, bags, adapters, laryngoscope handles and blad…
Could Team Specialty Products obtain New Mexico technology jobs tax credits for 2001 when employee misconduct delayed its application until September 2003?
No. Section 7-9F-9(A) required the application for 2001 qualified expenditures by December 31, 2002. Team Specialty Products filed in September 2003 after new owners discovered that former accounting …
Under the Department's 2004 position, what documentary stamp tax applied when partners deeded unencumbered property to their pre-existing partnership without changing beneficial ownership?
The Department's formal position was that only minimum documentary stamp tax applied. The same partners already owned the pre-existing partnership in identical percentages, partnership returns had lon…
Could a hospital-housekeeping company separately exempt its supervisory management contract while charging tax on a different physical-cleaning contract?
Yes. The management agreement was purely supervisory and administrative and required no physical cleaning, so it was an exempt professional service. The separate labor-and-services agreement covered a…
Were single-use plasma-preparation blood collection tubes used for physician-ordered diagnostic testing exempt from Florida sales tax?
Yes. The single-use plasma-preparation tubes worked with exempt hypodermic needles and syringes and contained an anticoagulant and separation material needed to prepare plasma for molecular diagnostic…
Did a note secured only by the purchased leasehold interest in a government-owned Florida beach resort owe nonrecurring intangible tax?
No. The reviewed assignment transferred a leasehold interest, and the lease required the lessee to surrender the land and improvements to the governmental lessor at expiration. Florida treated that le…
Did executing a contingent receivables-purchase agreement and related mortgage in Florida trigger documentary stamp tax when neither document stated a sum certain?
No. The receivables agreement let the bank choose future purchases in its sole discretion and did not create an unconditional obligation to pay a fixed amount. The mortgage and security agreement also…
When were South Carolina hotel stays for government, diplomatic, credit-union, nonprofit, or Red Cross travelers exempt?
Direct federal-government, federal-credit-union, American Red Cross, and qualifying diplomatic purchases could be exempt, while an employee-paid stay reimbursed later was generally taxable. State-gove…
Do Kansas contractors owe sales or use tax on the materials and supplies they buy for their construction projects?
Yes. In Kansas a contractor is treated as the final consumer of the supplies and materials it uses on a construction project, so the contractor owes sales or use tax on everything it buys for the job …
For Texas franchise-tax apportionment, when may software embedded in tangible personal property be treated separately from the property?
Software embedded in tangible personal property is generally treated as part of the property sale. The Comptroller said the software receipt may instead be apportioned to the payor's location only if …
Under Florida's former commercial-rent tax, was a city's voluntary license of city-owned beach space to an equipment-rental concessionaire taxable?
Yes for the 2004 period. The city owned the beach property in fee simple, voluntarily selected the concessionaire through an RFP, charged fixed license payments, and was not acting under a regulatory …
Can off-the-shelf software expensed under the 2003 federal Section 179 amendment be deducted for Texas earned surplus?
No for earned surplus, but yes for taxable capital under the FIT method. The Jobs & Growth Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2003 expanded IRC Section 179 property to include off-the-shelf computer sof…
Did a Florida resident owe use tax when bringing in a yacht bought outside Florida and used for more than six months in other taxing jurisdictions?
No on the documented 2004 facts. The yacht was purchased and titled outside Florida and used for more than six months in jurisdictions that had authority to tax it before its first Florida entry. Alth…
Under Florida's former commercial-rent tax, could a fixed-base operator exempt 42.5% of airport rent based on acreage used exclusively for aircraft taxiing?
Yes in principle, pending Department verification. The operator leased 42.8 acres and documented about 18.2 acres—42.5%—as used exclusively for aircraft taxiing. That qualifying share of monthly and p…
Under Florida's former commercial-rent tax, was the portion of a fixed-base operator's airport lease used exclusively for aircraft taxiing exempt, and how could overpaid tax be refunded?
Yes, pending Department verification. The fixed-base operator could exempt the lease portion used exclusively for aircraft taxiing and allocate mixed airport rent by qualifying area. For overpaid tax,…
Can a corporate group's dedicated transportation subsidiary buy an executive jet tax-free and treat its charges to affiliates as untaxed transportation services?
Yes, as long as it genuinely uses the plane over 50% of the time to fly people for hire at cost-based rates and keeps real corporate separation from its parent and sister companies. A subsidiary set u…
Are an office-equipment company's 'convenience copier' agreements with customers taxed as an equipment rental, or exempt as a maintenance service?
As a rental. Because the customer gets exclusive possession and control of the photocopier (choosing how, when, and how much to use it) without ever taking title, the whole arrangement is a taxable re…
How did a Florida financial organization source its redacted service fees, securities income, other financial income, and assets for apportionment?
Florida applied the special financial-organization rules in section 220.15(5)(c). Redacted service and other fees were sourced by the customer's or client's location; fees and gross profits from manag…
Was an independent carrier's separately stated newspaper-delivery charge nontaxable when subscribers could avoid it by pickup or mail?
Yes, the delivery charge was nontaxable if subscribers were told at the initial subscription or renewal about carrier and mail charges, were told they could avoid the charge through distribution-cente…
Who owed and collected Louisiana advance, sales, or use tax when catalog incentive merchandise moved through a distributor and end client to a Louisiana participant?
Dealer status and nexus controlled. Louisiana distributors generally paid advance tax and collected final tax; nondealer distributors could document their status, leaving the Louisiana end client liab…
Does a compressor in a natural gas pipeline compressor station qualify for the Kansas manufacturing machinery and equipment exemption?
No. A compressor in a natural gas pipeline compressor station — used to boost line pressure so gas can move down the pipeline — does not qualify for the manufacturing machinery and equipment exemption…
Which county's discretionary sales surtax applied when a Florida document-reproduction business delivered taxable products itself or by common carrier?
The surtax rate followed the Florida county where the reproduced property was delivered, whether delivery was by the taxpayer or a common carrier. The customer's delivery options and a contract saying…
Could a city buy construction materials tax-free for a public library when contractors selected suppliers and handled the materials?
Yes, if the reviewed exhibit and procedures were incorporated into the contract and followed. The city had to issue its own purchase orders with its exemption number, receive vendor invoices, pay vend…
How are receipts from selling digital products apportioned for Texas franchise tax - as services or as license receipts?
It depends on whether the product is custom or generic. If the client contracts to create specific digital products for a customer, those receipts are for services and are apportioned to the location …
Were ABC's separately stated dumpster delivery, daily rent, dumping, disposal, and fuel charges taxable in SC PLR 04-2?
No, for ABC's stated full-service operation. Customers were buying construction-waste hauling and disposal, not renting the container, so all listed charges were nontaxable service charges. A containe…
Were ABC's healthcare claims, patient-statement, network, and compliance-software charges taxable in SC PLR 04-1?
No, for ABC's stated customer-specific processing. Claims, statements, archives, network access, and compliance tools qualified as excluded data processing when the information remained tied to the su…
If a nonresident servicemember files a Nebraska return for other income, can they subtract their active-duty military pay, and how?
Yes. Revenue Ruling 22-04-1 holds that compensation paid to a nonresident servicemember of the uniformed services for active-duty military service can be deducted from federal adjusted gross income fo…
Does a corporation that controls a trust leasing railcars in Texas have franchise-tax nexus, and how are the trust's receipts and distributions apportioned?
The corporation has nexus, the trust is respected as separate, and apportionment turns on the trust's legal domicile. A California corporation that controlled a Connecticut-administered trust leasing …
Could a taxpayer avoid penalty and interest on unpaid 1998 New Mexico income tax because the Department waited 29 months to assess him and he missed the 1999 amnesty period?
No. Gerard Desjardins filed his 1998 return during the 1999 amnesty period but included no payment. The Department assessed within the three-year period allowed by Section 7-1-18(A), and New Mexico's …
For the 2004 Texas franchise tax, how much IRC Section 179 depreciation from a 2003 federal return is allowed in earned surplus?
Only $25,000 is allowed in earned surplus. The Comptroller confirmed in writing that IRC Section 179 depreciation taken on a 2003 federal return is allowed on the 2004 Texas franchise tax report only …
Did a California merger that automatically vested mortgaged Florida property trigger documentary stamp tax, and would a later renewal note trigger new stamp or intangible tax?
No tax applied to the merger transfer because California law vested the Florida property in the surviving limited partnership by operation of law and paralleled Florida merger law. A later qualifying …
Was a charge for DNA-based ancestry analysis and an individualized report delivered on CD-ROM subject to Florida sales tax?
No. Florida treated the charge for analyzing a customer's cheek-swab DNA and reporting that person's ancestry results as an exempt professional service. The individualized report was not available to …
When a trucking company provides dump trucks with its own drivers to a construction contractor to haul dirt, concrete, or debris — billed by the hour — is that a taxable equipment rental, a non-taxable transportation service, or a taxable trash-removal service, and what paperwork does the trucking company need to prove which one it is?
It depends on the facts of the contract, not just on how it's billed. If Truck Co. keeps 'dominion and control' of its trucks and drivers (it maintains the vehicles, pays and can hire/fire the drivers…
How is the 2003 federal credit for prior year minimum tax (Form 8801) recomputed for an estate or trust to figure the Nebraska credit, and where does it go on Form 1041N?
Revenue Ruling 23-03-2 directs that an estate's or trust's 2003 federal credit for prior year minimum tax -- from Federal Form 8801 -- be recalculated for Nebraska fiduciary income tax purposes to det…
Does the alternative minimum tax on a 2003 federal fiduciary return (Form 1041, Schedule I) have to be recomputed to figure the Nebraska minimum tax, and which Form 1041N lines change?
Yes. Revenue Ruling 23-03-1 directs that the 2003 federal alternative minimum tax for estates and trusts -- from Federal Form 1041, Schedule I -- be recalculated for Nebraska fiduciary income tax purp…
How do you recompute the 2003 federal credit for prior year minimum tax (Form 8801) to figure the Nebraska minimum tax credit on Form 1040N?
Revenue Ruling 22-03-2 directs that the federal credit for prior year minimum tax figured on a taxpayer's 2003 federal return (Federal Form 8801) be recalculated for Nebraska individual income tax pur…
Does the alternative minimum tax on your 2003 federal individual return have to be recomputed to figure the Nebraska minimum tax, and which Form 1040N lines change?
Yes. Revenue Ruling 22-03-1 directs that the 2003 federal alternative minimum tax -- from Federal Form 6251 or the Form 1040A Alternative Minimum Tax Worksheet -- be recalculated for Nebraska individu…
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