State Tax Rulings
Free state tax letter rulings and advisory opinions with plain-English summaries, full citations, and the original source on every page.
No rulings match these filters
Try a different search term or clear the filters.
When did South Carolina's historical casual excise tax or use tax apply to vehicles, boats, airplanes, motors, and trailers under RR 95-12?
RR 95-12 imposed casual excise tax at titling after a nonretailer sale of a motor vehicle, motorcycle, boat, motor, or airplane, while use tax applied to covered property bought from an out-of-state r…
Are the data processing services a provider performs after taking over a bank's in-house 'item processing' operations exempt from Connecticut sales tax under the outsourcing exemption?
Yes. When a service provider takes over ALL of the data processing functions a customer formerly performed for itself at a specific location of the customer's business premises, those services are exe…
Can an environmental engineering and consulting firm buy supplies, equipment, and services tax-free for a project performed for a tax-exempt government agency, by acting as the agency's purchasing agent?
Yes, if the government agency (a New York State or federal government body) confers agency status on the firm through contract language and the firm's purchase orders show it's buying as the agency's …
Did two free Florida advertising publications and the advertising inserts mailed with them qualify for the shopper-publication sales-tax exemption?
The publications could qualify if, during a 12-month period, more than half of their editions contained more than 50% advertising. The separate inserts did not qualify because they lacked title-and-co…
Is the sale of a 'seat option' — the right to later buy a season ticket for a specific seat in a stadium being built — subject to Texas sales tax?
No. The Comptroller held that a seat option is not tangible personal property and does not itself provide admission to any amusement service — it only gives the holder the right to later buy a season …
Does an out-of-state supplier owe New York sales tax on materials it sells to New York dental laboratories that use them to make dentures and crowns?
It depends on what the material becomes. Items that end up as a physical part of the finished denture or crown (teeth, porcelain, certain acrylics, certain metals) can be sold tax-free as a resale, as…
Is the labor to repair and maintain manufacturing machinery and equipment, like owned printing presses or leased photocopy machines, exempt from Texas sales and use tax?
Yes, but only once the equipment itself qualifies for the manufacturing exemption. As of January 1, 1995, when the phased-in manufacturing equipment exemption became fully effective, maintenance on qu…
Are security labels/tags that retailers attach to merchandise to prevent theft taxable, and did the resale/exemption certificates retailers had on file for these labels remain valid after the October 1, 1991 law change?
As of October 1, 1991, security labels sold to retailers for attaching to products at the retail location are taxable (they fall under the wrapping, packing, and packaging materials rule change), and …
Is electricity used to run coolers and cooling rooms that flower shops use to extend the life of cut flowers an exempt manufacturing/processing use, or a taxable use?
Mostly taxable. Electricity used to lower cut flowers to their target (precooling) temperature counts as processing, but that only takes 30 minutes to an hour. Once flowers reach the target temperatur…
Is installing a new private cable television system for an apartment/condo complex an exempt capital improvement, or a taxable installation of tangible personal property?
Both, split by component. Burying the trunk cable, wiring buildings from the wall outlet to the cable pedestal, building the cable pedestal, and splicing/activating the cable lines are capital improve…
Is a graphic-arts firm's charge for a custom 'multi media' computer disk (a client-specific graphical presentation) an exempt sale of custom software, or a taxable sale of tangible personal property?
Taxable. Even though the firm is developing custom software written to each client's specifications, the firm isn't selling the software itself -- it's selling a physical disk containing data, along w…
Is a rate-regulated carrier of handicapped passengers in wheelchair vans classed as a 'taxicab' or an 'omnibus' for sections 183 and 184, and is it therefore taxed under Article 9-A?
It is an omnibus, and is taxed under Article 9-A. We Care carries handicapped passengers in wheelchair vans under a DOT certificate of public convenience and necessity, at rates set with the Departmen…
Is a company's charge for custom or noncustom training materials on compact disc, or for other training materials like books and video tapes, taxable under Texas sales tax, and can a separately stated training fee avoid tax?
Yes, the charge for the training materials themselves is taxable. The Comptroller ruled that the total charge for each custom or noncustom training project documented on compact disc is taxable, as is…
Were floor-plan receivables and a related intercompany note subject to Florida intangible tax after ownership moved to out-of-state entities before January 1?
No, under the detailed transfer arrangement. The non-Florida trust, trustee, and Delaware subsidiary had no Florida situs, and receivables transferred out of Florida before January 1 were not taxable.…
Did an out-of-state partnership and corporate general partner have to file Florida intangible-tax returns when a Florida resident made their investment decisions?
No. The partnership and corporation had no Florida taxable situs because their actions and operations occurred at their out-of-state offices. A Florida-resident owner still had to report his corporate…
How does Utah sales tax apply when a cellular carrier or agent sells a phone below cost, gives it away for free with a service contract, or bundles the phone's price into a service contract?
Equipment sold to an agent purely for resale is tax-exempt, but equipment an agent keeps for its own use is taxable to the agent at its cost. When an agent or provider sells a phone to a customer, it …
When are motor vehicle sales between family members exempt from Kansas sales tax?
Beginning July 1, 1995, sales of motor vehicles between immediate family members are exempt from Kansas sales tax. 'Immediate family members' are lineal ascendants and descendants and their spouses --…
Were fencing, watering tubs, feed troughs, and hay feeders exempt for commercially raised poultry and livestock under RR 95-11?
Yes. RR 95-11 exempted fencing and fencing supplies used to enclose poultry or livestock raised or maintained for commercial purposes, whether inside a barn or around a dedicated field. Watering tubs,…
An industrial development agency's tax-exempt construction mortgage on our shopping mall is being converted to permanent financing -- we're terminating our installment sale agreement, taking title ourselves, having the lenders assigned to new permanent lenders, and consolidating and amending the mortgage. Does converting from construction to permanent financing this way stay exempt from mortgage recording tax?
Exempt, as a tax-free supplemental mortgage. The Westchester County Industrial Development Agency financed construction of a White Plains regional shopping mall (Fashion Mall Partners) with a $160 mil…
Is labor to repair, remodel, restore, or renovate a building that is a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark, but not listed in the National Register of Historic Places, exempt from Texas sales tax?
No. Rule 3.357(e)(4) only exempts labor to remodel, restore, or repair buildings that are listed in the National Register of Historic Places. Being a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark (a state designat…
Was tuition for 14 short Florida instructional courses, including a supervised children's field trip, subject to sales or use tax?
No. Thirteen courses were educational or personal-service transactions, with any included materials only incidental and not separately charged. The supervised children's field trip was not educational…
Does a business owe sales tax on what it pays a service like Telecredit for guaranteeing the funds on its customers' checks?
It depends on exactly what's being purchased. A pure check-guarantee service (the guarantor replaces funds on a bad check) is NOT a taxable service and isn't subject to sales tax. But if the service a…
Is a New York corporation licensed only as an independent insurance adjuster (not as a private investigator) subject to sales tax on its trial-preparation work for insurers -- interviewing witnesses, taking statements, photographing accident scenes, serving subpoenas, and evaluating and negotiating claims?
No. Because the client is licensed exclusively as an independent insurance adjuster and does not perform private investigation services, its charges for investigating and adjusting insurance claims (i…
A firm is licensed as both a private investigator and an independent insurance adjuster -- are its fees for insurance-adjusting work taxed as 'detective services,' the same as its private-investigator fees?
No. Fees for activities that require an independent-adjuster license under Insurance Law Article 21 are NOT subject to the detective/protective-services sales tax, even though some of the underlying w…
How much Florida documentary stamp tax was due on a corrective deed replacing the wrong grantee on a previously taxed deed in lieu of foreclosure?
Only the minimum documentary stamp tax was due. The original, already-taxed deed in lieu of foreclosure mistakenly named the wrong corporate grantee, and the new deed merely corrected that deficiency …
Which steps in a Florida aircraft purchase, resale, dry lease, and crewed charter structure were subject to sales tax?
The registered dealer's purchase and resale to an exclusively leasing subsidiary were exempt with valid resale certificates. The subsidiary's dry lease to the charter operator was taxable, but the ope…
Are camera-ready mechanical drawings sold to garment and textile manufacturers -- used to make the silkscreens that print designs onto fabric -- exempt production equipment, or taxable tangible personal property?
Exempt production equipment, as long as the customer buying them uses the mechanical drawings directly and predominantly (over 50% of the time) to produce printed fabric or other tangible goods for sa…
What did Florida's original 1995 ruling say about dial-up Internet access, setup charges, residential use, business use, and homepage advertising before it was amended?
This original ruling was amended and replaced by TAA 95A-025R. It imposed gross receipts tax on recurring Florida access charges, sales tax and surtax on business use, exempted documented nonbusiness …
How did South Carolina RR 95-10 count player stations and licenses on multiplayer video-gaming devices?
RR 95-10 counted each player station on a multiplayer video-gaming device as a separate machine. A location could not allow more than five people to play the device at once under the five-machine limi…
What South Carolina income, sales, and deed-tax consequences did RR 95-9 assign to a partnership's conversion into an LLC?
For a conversion with the same owners, ownership shares, and business, RR 95-9 treated the LLC as a continuation of the partnership. The partnership did not terminate or close its tax year, no new tax…
Were blood glucose meters exempt from South Carolina sales and use tax under PLR 95-6?
Yes, for the addressed taxpayer when a blood glucose meter was sold to a diabetic under a physician's authorization and direction. The Department treated the meter as a technological development servi…
Can a corporation with multiple internal divisions get separate direct payment (direct pay) permits for each division, so each division reports and pays its own Texas sales and use tax?
No. The Comptroller's Tax Administration division denied the request. Only one direct payment permit may be held by the legal entity (the corporation as a whole, referred to in the letter as "CORP A."…
When a shop changes a customer's oil and oil filter, does it charge sales tax on a lump-sum price or does it need to separately state and tax the materials?
Either method is allowed, and the tax treatment differs. If you charge one lump-sum price for the oil change (parts and labor not separated), you do not collect sales tax from the customer, but you mu…
I'm the fee owner and ground tenant of an office building. To help a tenant (Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette) get NYC Industrial Development Agency economic-development benefits, I'm converting the building to condominium units and conveying title to the IDA-benefited units to the IDA for nominal consideration, then leasing them back from the IDA under a 22-year 'Overlease.' I'll keep all the rent, insurance and condemnation proceeds, income-tax ownership treatment, and the right to sell, mortgage, or transfer the units; title reverts to me automatically in 2016 or whenever the tenant's IDA benefits end. Are the conveyance to the IDA, the eventual reversion, and the various leases subject to New York's Real Estate Transfer Tax or Real Property Transfer Gains Tax?
Exempt at every step -- Stanley Stahl, doing business as Stahl Park Avenue Co., kept all the real economic benefits and burdens of ownership throughout. Stahl, the fee owner and ground tenant of 277 P…
When a Texas customer calls an 800 number to order flowers for delivery through an FTD-type wire-order florist network, is the sale subject to Texas sales tax?
It depends on where the telemarketer who takes the order — the "selling florist" — is located, not on where the flowers are delivered. If the telemarketer-florist is in Texas, the sale is taxable in T…
Did Florida's daily rental-car surcharge restart every 30 days when a customer signed one addendum for a specific rental longer than 30 days?
No. When the customer signed the addendum at the start and it set the full term for the same vehicle, the surcharge applied only to the first 30 days. Later rental agreements completing that stated te…
Was Florida estate tax due when the federal credit for tax on a prior transfer eliminated all federal estate tax, including the state death-tax-credit amount?
No. Because the unified credit and the federal credit for tax on the prior transfer consumed all federal estate tax, the ruling concluded that no Florida estate tax was due from the resident's estate.
Is a certified sonographer's fee for a veterinary ultrasound exam -- including the written report, video tape, and thermal prints she gives the client -- subject to New York sales tax?
No, as long as she's selling a personal written report (impression) that isn't and can't be reused in reports to other clients -- that's an exempt 'personal or individual' information sale. But if she…
Does a free bi-weekly arts-and-entertainment magazine qualify as an exempt 'periodical,' and are the typesetting/layout charges for its pre-press camera-ready mechanicals taxable?
The publication itself qualifies as an exempt periodical. But because it's given away free rather than sold, its purchases of typesetting and camera-ready mechanicals -- which would otherwise be exemp…
Which affiliated-group sales belonged in the Florida processor sales-factor percentage furnished to growers and grower cooperatives?
The reported factor had to include the processor's sales, the affiliated sales company's sales, and any other affiliated-group sales that could be considered sales of the Florida processor. Unrelated …
Were payments to a property owner for dropping objections to an adjacent power plant and covering anticipated rental losses subject to Florida rent tax?
No. The agreement gave the adjacent developer no possession, occupancy, or right to use the owner's property. The fixed and monthly payments were compensation for forbearance and prospective financial…
In a nightly-rental resort property, is the property owner or the property manager legally responsible for collecting and remitting sales tax, transient room tax, and resort communities tax?
It depends on the property manager's contractual role. If the property manager contracts to receive payment for room rentals on the owner's behalf, the manager is a "vendor" who must obtain a sales ta…
Will a new Utah resident owe Utah income tax on retirement income (pensions, deferred compensation, Social Security) already taxed by California, and what are Utah's general sales and property tax rates?
Yes, a Utah resident must report all of their income, including retirement income earned or received from another state -- but they get a credit that prevents double taxation. A prospective retiree pl…
When a construction contract commingles taxable renovation/remodeling labor with nontaxable new-construction labor and the contract doesn't separately state the two, can a taxpayer's own engineer certify how much labor was new construction in order to claim a tax refund?
Yes. The Comptroller's Tax Policy Division said the customer's construction engineer may certify the split between new-construction labor and renovation/remodeling labor on a commingled job, citing Ru…
How did PLR 95-7 apportion trademark royalties and the corporate license fee for a South Carolina licensing subsidiary?
The addressed licensing subsidiary used a gross-receipts ratio: its South Carolina numerator included royalties from licensees' sales delivered to customers in South Carolina, while the denominator in…
Does Utah sales tax apply to a multi-day river rafting trip that starts in Colorado, spends most of its time there, and ends in Utah?
A river rafting trip conducted entirely within Utah is subject to Utah sales tax. A multi-day trip that crosses into Colorado is subject to Utah sales tax only if more than half (a 'preponderance,' me…
If a beverage distributor buys pre-mix or post-mix carbonated drink machines and loans them to restaurant customers as a marketing incentive (in exchange for the customer agreeing to buy that distributor's soft drink products), can the machines be purchased tax-free as manufacturing equipment?
No. Even though pre-mix and post-mix drink machines otherwise qualify as manufacturing equipment under Rule 3.300, loaning them to customers is itself a taxable "use" of the equipment by the distribut…
Are a television, a VCR, and pre-recorded or blank video cassettes sold for use on a maritime vessel exempt from Texas sales and use tax as component parts of the vessel or as sea stores/ships' stores?
A television and/or VCR can qualify as an exempt component part of a vessel if it is bolted or otherwise firmly attached to the vessel, under Rule 3.297(b)(2)(B). A video cassette cannot be attached t…
If a company designs tools, dies, jigs, and fixtures on a computer for manufacturers, is the sale of those designs subject to Texas sales tax?
Yes. The Texas Comptroller ruled that selling a computer-generated design is taxable as the sale of a pattern for use in manufacturing. Selling a design modification for an existing production-line ma…
Is a business's total charge to etch glass items (such as awards or motor vehicle windows), including labor, subject to Texas sales tax?
Yes. The Comptroller held that etching glass items is taxable processing or fabrication of tangible personal property, so the total charge to the customer — including labor — is taxable as graphic art…
Does a company's proposed Multi-Jurisdictional Sales Tax Certificate form comply with Texas resale certificate requirements?
Yes, with one fix needed. The Comptroller found the submitted Multi-Jurisdictional Sales Tax Certificate form met Texas's basic requirements, but flagged one gap: Texas resale certificates may only co…
How did PLR 95-5 apply South Carolina's historical job credits and job development fee to a new multi-county industrial-park facility?
For the addressed project, 1995 was the first job-credit year because permanent staff began operating the facility then. The company qualified for a historical $1,500 annual credit per new full-time j…
Is a heavy truck chassis a tax-exempt 'commercial truck' in Connecticut when a bucket lift is mounted on it — and when it's still bare?
It depends on whether it hauls freight. A heavy truck chassis (GVWR over 26,000 lbs) with an aerial lift mounted on it is NOT an exempt 'commercial truck' under Conn. Gen. Stat. § 12-412(70), because …
Is replacing the ground beds/anodes in a cathodic corrosion protection system on an existing pipeline every 7 to 15 years considered nontaxable real property maintenance, or taxable repair and remodeling of real property?
It's taxable repair and remodeling, not maintenance. The Comptroller reaffirmed that adding cathodic protection systems to existing pipelines is taxable repair, restoration, or remodeling of real prop…
When an independent auto dealer is the actual lessor on a vehicle lease and accepts a trade-in, but then immediately sells (assigns) the lease and vehicle to a finance company, can the trade-in still be excluded from the taxable lease receipts?
Yes. Because the dealer itself -- not the finance company -- is the lessor who negotiates and accepts the trade-in with intent to resell it, the trade-in value can be excluded from the taxable lease r…
Is a software-duplication company's disc-copying machinery exempt production equipment, and is the electricity powering it exempt production electricity?
Yes to both, but with different thresholds. The duplicating machinery is exempt if used more than 50% of the time ('predominantly') to copy master discs onto blank discs for resale. The electricity po…
Is a Texas insurance underwriter liable for sales and use tax on the risk-inspection services it buys from an outside vendor as part of underwriting a policy, and is the underwriting activity itself taxable?
The underwriting activity itself is not taxable — Tax Code § 151.0039(b) and Rule 3.355(c)(1) exclude insurance coverage for which a premium is paid, or sales commissions paid to insurance agents, fro…
When a business sells tickets to a taxable amusement service in Texas, how much local sales tax must it collect, and can it report the tax on a mixed cash/accrual basis?
The seller of a ticket to a taxable amusement service must collect tax on the full admission price, including any convenience fee, handling charge, service charge, or other amount charged above the pr…
Are separately stated charges for original design work performed by a Certified Kitchen and/or Bath Designer subject to Texas sales tax?
No. The Texas Comptroller's Tax Policy Division confirmed that separately stated charges for original design work performed by a Certified Kitchen and/or Bath Designer are not subject to sales tax.
Is a ripper and the bulldozer that powers it exempt from Texas sales and use tax as manufacturing equipment when they are used to break limestone and shale out of the earth as the first step in making cement?
Yes, with a condition. The Comptroller ruled the ripper qualifies as manufacturing equipment and is exempt from sales and use tax because it is the first stage in producing cement, breaking limestone …
How these rulings are useful
- See how the rule applies: A letter ruling shows how a state revenue department actually applied the tax law to a specific business and set of facts.
- Plan with confidence: Find a ruling with facts close to yours before you charge, remit, or claim an exemption.
- Binding only on the requester: A ruling is binding on the department only for the taxpayer who asked. It is persuasive, not a substitute for your own ruling or professional advice.
- Research across states: Compare how different states treat the same issue, from SaaS and food exemptions to nexus and contractor purchases.