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.
Was a crane rental still taxable when the owner supplied the operator but the construction customer exclusively directed and controlled the work?
Yes. Because the lessee had exclusive direction and control over the crane and operator, the arrangement remained a taxable equipment lease. Tax applied to the total charge, including the operator. Th…
If I sell food, soft drinks, or candy to a jail or prison in Texas, or to inmates there, do I have to charge sales tax?
It depends on who is buying. Sales of food products, meals, soft drinks, and candy to the correctional facility itself (for example, to feed inmates at no charge to them) remain exempt from Texas sale…
What made each video-game room a separate 'single place or premises' under South Carolina RR 95-7?
Under the regulation explained in RR 95-7, each video-game room in a shared structure needed qualifying exterior walls or firewalls, a separate electric meter, its own employee during business hours, …
Does the Texas Comptroller agree that the industry-published 'Sales Tax Guide for Texas Printers' (June 1995 edition) — covering when printers charge sales tax, what equipment/energy purchases qualify for the manufacturing exemption, and how to claim refunds — reflects current Comptroller policy?
Yes, with the corrections shown in this letter. The Comptroller's Tax Administration Division (Gilbert Zamora) reviewed the trade associations' 'Sales Tax Guide for Texas Printers' line-by-line, marke…
Was documentary tax due when church trustees deeded church realty to the same church after nonprofit incorporation under RR 95-8?
No. RR 95-8 concluded that a church's transfer of realty from its trustees to the newly incorporated church was only a change in legal form, not a sale for consideration. Documentary tax was not due, …
Is a technical-manual developer's computer equipment, software, and supplies exempt production machinery under Tax Law Section 1115(a)(12)?
Yes, to the extent the equipment is used more than 50% of the time to produce camera-ready mechanicals or print-ready computer disks that are delivered to the customer as tangible personal property fo…
Which restaurant purchases were taxable or exempt from South Carolina sales and use tax under RR 95-6?
RR 95-6 treated food and beverage ingredients and qualifying containers or packaging used to sell and deliver the meal as nontaxable wholesale or exempt purchases. It treated supplies consumed by the …
Which entities were subject to South Carolina's corporate license fee under Revenue Ruling 95-5?
RR 95-5 applied the corporate license fee to South Carolina corporations, foreign corporations qualified or doing business or earning income in the state, and LLCs, professional associations, and othe…
What dry cleaning environmental surcharge and solvent fee did Kansas start charging on July 1, 1995?
Beginning July 1, 1995, the Kansas Dry Cleaner Environmental Response Act required dry cleaning and laundry retailers to collect an environmental surcharge of 2% of gross receipts from dry cleaning or…
Does a contractor owe Texas sales tax on renting portable toilets for a construction job site when the job is a contract to improve real property for a tax-exempt entity like a public school?
Yes, generally. A contractor owes sales tax on the rental of portable toilets used at a job site improving real property for an exempt entity, even if the contract requires the toilets to be there. Te…
If a retailer of x-ray equipment loans machines free of charge to tax-exempt hospitals and depreciates the equipment on its books, does that count as tax-free demonstration/display use, or does the retailer owe sales tax?
The retailer owes tax. The Comptroller ruled that loaning x-ray machines to hospitals for their free use is not demonstration or display under Rule 3.285(e)(1), because the hospitals have no incentive…
When Company A sells a mold to Company B under a written agreement, is the sale of the mold taxable, and does it matter whether Company B itself manufactures the end product?
It depends on whether Company B is manufacturing tangible personal property for sale and on whether a written agreement transfers title to the mold. If B uses the mold (directly or through a component…
If a company leases drilling tools that are delivered to and picked up in Texas, but then actually used at drilling sites in another state (New Mexico), does the lessee owe Texas sales tax on the lease charges?
Yes, generally. Because the lessee took possession/delivery of the leased tools in Texas (the common carrier's bill of lading showed delivery to Odessa, Texas), the operating lease was executed in Tex…
Can 14 related commercial property owners consolidate their on-site maintenance and janitorial staff's payroll processing into a single payroll corporation without triggering New York sales tax on the wages funneled through it?
Yes. As long as each property owner keeps the real controls that make the maintenance staff its own employees -- hiring/firing authority, setting salary and benefits, and reimbursing the payroll compa…
How old did employees have to be to bartend, serve alcohol, or work in a South Carolina liquor business under RR 95-4?
Under RR 95-4, bartenders serving open beer, wine, or distilled spirits had to be at least 21. Servers, waiters, and waitresses could serve open alcoholic beverages at 18. Anyone working in any capaci…
Are meal-replacement and nutritional supplement products like Extreme Measures and Preferred Whey taxable or exempt under Texas sales tax?
Exempt, in this case. The Comptroller found that Extreme Measures may be used as a meal replacement and is therefore treated as a food product, exempt from tax. Whey itself is classified as a food pro…
How did House Bill 2077 re-enact and change Kansas instant bingo rules in 1995?
After the Kansas Supreme Court declared the 1993 instant bingo laws unconstitutional and Kansas voters approved a constitutional amendment permitting instant bingo in April 1995, House Bill 2077 re-en…
How does Texas sales and use tax apply to a company that installs, repairs, and remodels exterior lighting permanently placed in the landscaping and hardscaping of residential and commercial property?
It depends on the type of work and the type of property. The company acts as a contractor (not a taxable-service provider) when it makes original exterior lighting improvements to residential or non-r…
Did temporary receivable entries from an investment fund's securities and share sales make its otherwise exempt portfolio subject to Florida intangible tax?
No. The settlement entries for investments sold and fund shares sold were accounting control accounts, not enforceable obligations for payment, because the fund had no recourse if the purchaser failed…
Is electricity used to recool ferns after they arrive in Texas from Mexico, and again after further processing, exempt from Texas sales tax as an exempt use in processing?
Yes, in this case. The Comptroller held that because a processing step (removing bacteria and deepening the ferns' color) occurred before each recooling, the recooling was itself part of processing, s…
For a Dallas-based mobile radio repeater service whose customers are located throughout the Dallas area and suburbs, should local sales tax be charged at the Dallas rate or at the various suburban rates based on each customer's location?
The Dallas rate. Local sales tax on mobile radio repeater services is based on where the telecommunications device (the repeater) that originates the amplified signal is located, not on the customer's…
When a cigarette manufacturer packages a free promotional item -- like a lighter or playing cards -- together with a pack of cigarettes as a marketing premium, is buying that item a tax-free purchase for resale?
No. Promotional items given away for free with a product (rather than genuinely sold to the end customer) don't qualify for the resale exclusion -- the manufacturer's purchase of the premiums is a tax…
Was the cash-collateral asset recorded by a securities-lending intermediary subject to Florida intangible personal property tax?
No. The intermediary's recorded asset was a collateral cash deposit securing return of borrowed securities, and the cited statutes treated money as exempt. The ruling addressed only the middleman's bo…
Who owed South Carolina sales and use tax under PLR 95-4 when a food-service company managed hospital or private-company cafeterias?
For the addressed contracts, the food-service company made a nontaxable wholesale sale when it supplied food to a hospital and provided a nontaxable service when the hospital bought the food itself; t…
I paid the coal severance surtax while finalizing a contract, then registered the contract — can I still get the surtax exemption for coal I sold before registration?
Yes — the producer won. New Mexico's coal severance surtax exemption (Section 7-26-6.2) requires a producer to register the qualifying sales contract 'prior to taking the exemption.' Hearing Officer G…
On a utility's sale-leaseback of business equipment, is only the gain (not the entire proceeds) taxed under section 186, and how is the gain/profit computed for sections 186 and 186-a?
Only the gain, and it is computed from original cost. On a sale-leaseback of equipment used in (not held for sale in) its business, only the gain -- not the entire proceeds -- is a 'receipt from the e…
Did temporary receivable entries from an investment trust's securities and beneficial-interest sales count as taxable assets in its Florida portfolio?
No. The receivables for investments sold and beneficial interests sold were settlement-period accounting controls, not enforceable obligations for payment, because the trust had no recourse if the pur…
Is a scrap metal processing service — cutting, chopping, and separating aluminum and copper conductors for electric utilities and co-ops — taxable, and does the machinery used qualify for the Texas manufacturing exemption?
The processing service itself is taxable, but the utility company can give the processor a resale or exemption certificate stating the service is purchased to further processing of property that will …
When a country club charges members a separate capital assessment to pay for remodeling the club, and the club itself already pays sales tax to the contractors doing the remodeling, is the members' assessment also taxable, or does that create impermissible double taxation?
Both charges are taxable — this isn't double taxation on the same transaction. The remodeling contractors must collect tax from the country club on the total charge for remodeling the nonresidential r…
Is a vehicle's DMV registration by the lessee proof that sales tax was paid on a pre-June-1990 lease, and separately, does a lessor keep its exemption-certificate protection when it accepts a farmer's exemption certificate for leasing an ultrasound machine to a veterinarian for use on farm livestock?
No, DMV registration alone doesn't prove sales tax was paid -- for leases before June 1, 1990, the lessor owed sales tax on each lease payment separately (not all at once as under the current law), an…
How were Florida documentary stamp and nonrecurring intangible taxes calculated on limited-recovery mortgages securing a new subsidiary's guaranties?
No intangible tax was due because the mortgages secured contingent guaranty obligations. The guaranties themselves drew no documentary stamp tax, but recording the mortgages did. Stamp tax was measure…
Were a credit union's signed open-end loan application, plan, addendum, and advance request subject to Florida documentary stamp tax?
No. None of the submitted forms combined a borrower's signature, a written promise to pay, and a determinable amount. The advance request stated an amount but did not promise payment or incorporate th…
I own a one-third tenant-in-common interest in a commercial building (subject to a tenant's purchase option worth over $3 million for the whole property). I want to transfer my one-third interest, for no payment, into my own revocable trust -- I'm the grantor and sole trustee, I'll keep receiving all the income during my life, and I can amend or revoke the trust at any time. Does moving my interest into my own revocable trust trigger New York's Real Estate Transfer Tax or Real Property Transfer Gains Tax?
Exempt -- moving property into your own revocable trust doesn't change who beneficially owns it. Betty G. Reader owned a one-third interest, as tenant-in-common, in a commercial building at 391-401 Si…
Did filing a Florida UCC-1 create documentary stamp tax when the note, security agreement, and other loan documents were executed and kept out of state?
No. Filing the UCC-1 alone was not taxable unless the note, security agreement, or another obligatory document was also filed or recorded in Florida. The UCC-1 still had to state that proper stamp tax…
How does Texas sales and use tax apply to the packing supplies, equipment, and moving vans a moving company uses for local, intrastate, interstate, and international moves?
It depends on how the mover bought the supplies and how it bills the move. If the mover pays tax when it buys supplies, no further tax is due on interstate, intrastate, and local moves (the customer's…
Is the Instituto Panamericano De Geografia E Historia (an organ of the Organization of American States) exempt from Texas sales tax on its purchases because of the OAS treaty?
No. The Comptroller ruled that the Instituto Panamericano De Geografia E Historia is not exempt from Texas sales tax because of the OAS Treaty. The 1948 treaty creating the OAS included a reservation …
Did Florida follow federal tax-free treatment for a savings association's reorganization into a stock association under a mutual holding company?
Yes, assuming the transactions qualified under federal sections 368 and 351 and produced no federal taxable income. Florida recognized no reorganization gain, loss, or basis and holding-period changes…
Is a manufacturer's post-warranty travel-expense charge, travel extension contract, and extended service contract for repairing equipment taxable in Texas, and does bringing replacement parts into Texas under a warranty or service contract create a use tax liability?
Yes, the charges are taxable, but the parts generally are not use-taxed. The Comptroller held that a manufacturer's lump-sum "On-Site Expenses" charge for post-warranty travel (meals, lodging), a sepa…
Could a Florida landlord stop collecting rent tax after a production-company tenant supplied a blanket exemption certificate?
Yes. A landlord receiving a properly executed certificate in good faith could stop collecting tax and was absolved of liability. The tenant was directly responsible for unsupported claims. Only produc…
Is a bank-account verification service -- where subscribers call in or log on to check whether an applicant's prior checking account was closed for cause -- a taxable information service, even though each answer is about one specific applicant?
Yes, taxable. Even though each inquiry is 'tailored' to one specific applicant, the answer is pulled from the same shared database used to answer every subscriber's inquiries -- so it isn't 'personal …
How does House Bill 2161 relieve Kansas school buses from motor fuel tax?
House Bill 2161, effective July 1, 1995, helps school districts and nonpublic schools with motor fuel tax on fuel for their buses. A 'school bus' (per K.S.A. 8-1406) is a bus privately owned and contr…
As a customs broker, what date should I use as the 'date of export' when a proof of export covers multiple invoices grouped together, and how far back can those invoices go?
Under the Comptroller's rules, a single proof of export may cover multiple purchases from multiple vendors, but only if those purchases were made within the 30 days before the goods are certified as e…
Was a Florida commercial landlord liable when it failed to collect sales tax from a tenant that refused to pay rent tax?
Yes. The landlord had the duty to collect the stated 6% sales tax plus applicable local surtax in addition to rent. Because it failed to collect, section 212.07(3) made the landlord liable for the tax…
Is a hospital's charge for an outside company's inspection and certification of hospital electrical and biomedical equipment (to meet federal or state safety regulations required for licensing) subject to Texas sales or use tax?
No. The Comptroller ruled that this inspection and certification service is a nontaxable service. It is not the repair or maintenance of tangible personal property, not the repair of nonresidential re…
Do cotton gins in Texas need to have a utility study performed before they can buy gas and electricity tax-exempt for processing?
No. The Comptroller reviewed utility studies of large and small cotton gins showing that gas usage was 98 percent exempt (processing) and electricity usage was over 91 percent exempt, even counting of…
If a direct pay permit holder buys equipment or software, stores it in Texas, and then ships it out of state before using it for anything other than storage, does Texas use tax apply?
No. The Comptroller confirmed that a direct pay permit holder does not owe Texas use tax on tangible personal property that is purchased (whether from a Texas or an out-of-state seller), stored in Tex…
Who bore aviation-fuel tax penalties and interest when a Florida refiner failed to collect tax from a licensed importer?
The refiner had to collect and remit the aviation-fuel tax and was subject to applicable penalties and interest on the unpaid tax. The importer still had monthly filing duties, and the ruling separate…
Were sales of a bottled meat-and-poultry marinade and a dry herb-and-spice blend subject to Florida sales tax?
No. The Department treated the bottled marinade as an exempt grocery sauce used to flavor or tenderize meat and poultry, and the dry onion, herb, garlic, and pepper blend as exempt spices. Sales to fo…
Did a glossy monthly publication distributed mostly free, but also sold by annual subscription, qualify for Florida's shopper or community-newspaper exemption?
No. Although the publication carried substantial advertising and community content, it was monthly, offered annual subscriptions, called itself a magazine, and used glossy paper. Florida taxed subscri…
Does a bone growth stimulator device, prescribed by a physician but applied and owned by the physician in the physician's own office rather than by the patient at home, qualify for Utah's home medical equipment sales tax exemption?
No. Utah's home medical equipment exemption requires (among other things) that the device be purchased or leased by or on behalf of a home patient for that patient's own personal and exclusive use. Al…
Was a lump-sum charge for prepackaged software customized after analyzing each customer's systems subject to Florida sales tax?
No. The seller analyzed each customer's environment, modified the software's format and features, identified the customer in the program, and sold the package only to that customer for one lump sum. F…
Were admission charges to a section 501(c)(3) urban marine museum exempt from Florida sales tax as charges by a nonprofit sponsoring organization?
Yes. The organization qualified under section 501(c)(3), planned and operated the museum, bore operational costs and losses, carried liability insurance, faced negligence liability, and was entitled t…
When a business buys copywriting and graphic design for employee newsletters, sales brochures, and community economic-impact statements, is that a taxable service in Connecticut — and can the fee for the design's reproduction/ownership rights be carved out?
Yes, they're taxable — the only question is which category and where. Copywriting and graphic-design services a business buys to influence a group are taxable Connecticut services: work for employee/i…
Are the poles that an electric utility uses to support step-down transformers (and the transmission lines running along them) exempt from Texas sales and use tax as equipment necessary to the manufacturing of electricity?
No. The Comptroller concluded the poles are not exempt. Even though step-down transformers themselves are treated as part of the manufacturing process, the poles supporting them also carry transmissio…
Did transferring seller-financed vehicle receivables through a corporate reorganization and then to a limited partnership accelerate unpaid Texas tax?
The first transfer from the dealer corporation to a newly formed corporation did not trigger § 152.047(g). The later transfer of seller-financed receivables from that corporation to a limited partners…
Is a company that operates school buses under contract with a school district providing a taxable rental of the buses, or an exempt transportation service?
An exempt transportation service. Even though the school district's contract dictates the bus routes, stops, timing, equipment specs, and even the pool of drivers to hire from, the bus company itself …
Are in-room hotel pay-per-view movie charges taxed in Connecticut as sales tax, as room occupancy tax, or both — and who owes what?
Both taxes apply, at two different links in the chain. The pay-per-view movie service a company provides to a hotel is a taxable 'community antenna television service' under Conn. Gen. Stat. § 12-407(…
I sold two parcels of land on the same road to the same buyer on the same day, but they're separated by a third parcel owned by a completely unrelated party. Do I have to add the two sale prices together to test New York's $1 million Real Property Transfer Gains Tax threshold, since they're roughly in the same area?
No aggregation required. Gick Road Development Corp. owned two parcels on the same side of Old Gick Road in Suffolk County: a narrow 1.24-acre former railroad-bed strip used for a mobile home park, an…
Is the fee a firm pays a third-party mainframe host to store and let it access its own previously-purchased databases -- with no hardware transferred -- a taxable information service or a taxable computer-timeshare rental?
Neither -- the flat monthly fee is untaxed. There's no transfer of possession of the host's computer (so it's not a taxable rental), and since the host is just storing and serving back the customer's …
Does a factory-manufactured home dealer owe sales tax on homes it buys and resells already-installed, and is the installation work of a related but separately-owned installation company subject to sales tax?
Homes sold and installed as permanent capital improvements (not mobile homes, not display models) escape sales tax on both the dealer's purchase and its resale, with the manufacturer owing the use tax…
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.