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.
Were two aircraft transfers in a corporate liquidation and merger exempt, and were later crewed charter services taxable?
Both aircraft transfers were exempt: one was a ratable liquidating distribution and the other passed to the surviving corporation in a merger. The described crewed time-sharing service was exempt tran…
Is a newspaper's charge for a caller voice mailbox — where people can call in and respond to a classified/advertisement — subject to Texas sales tax?
Yes. The Comptroller held that the charge for the caller mail box is taxable as a telecommunications service under 34 Tex. Admin. Code Rule 3.344. Because the newspaper charges advertisers a single co…
After further review, does a mandatory condominium association's entire assessment count as taxable club dues, or only the portion actually funding the pool and tennis courts?
Only a reasonable portion is taxable -- this modified opinion corrects the Department's own earlier answer (TSB-A-94(6)S) on the identical facts: rather than taxing the association's ENTIRE mandatory …
Were customer-brewed beer operations legal, permitted, and taxable in South Carolina under RR 95-3?
Yes, the described brew-on-premises business was legal, but the operator had to obtain and maintain a brewery permit. The customer who rented the equipment and bought ingredients was liable for beer t…
Was natural gas used to control humidity and heat circuit-board cleaning water exempt as industrial manufacturing fuel?
Yes. The gas-powered dehumidifier maintained humidity required for circuit-board production rather than employee comfort, and gas heated cleaning water needed to remove flux. Florida treated both uses…
I sell towable rock-crushing and screening plants for road work — do those sales qualify for New Mexico's 50% gross receipts deduction for unregistered vehicles?
Yes — the seller won. Builder's Equipment Co. of Albuquerque sells large portable rock-crushing ('spokane') plants and gravel-screening plants used in road construction. They are not self-propelled bu…
Could South Carolina coin-operated-device and owner/operator licenses be transferred to a machine's buyer under RR 95-2?
No. RR 95-2 concluded that neither a license attached to a coin-operated device nor the seller's owner/operator license could be sold or transferred. When a licensed machine changed hands, the old dev…
Is a hair-replacement system for male pattern baldness -- a custom mesh grid woven with human hair, fused into the client's existing hairline and serviced every 6-8 weeks -- exempt from sales tax as a prosthetic device?
Only if it's shown to be used for a genuine medical problem, not cosmetic purposes -- and even then, fitting/fusing the hairpiece into the client's own hair is itself a taxable installation service. T…
Is the electricity a company uses to chrome-plate aircraft engine parts exempt as 'processing,' or taxable because it's really 'repair and remodeling' of the engines back to their original specifications?
Taxable, on these facts. Even assuming some of the chrome-plating applications reprocessed the engines (by adding new specification options not originally on the parts), the Comptroller's Assistant Di…
When a bakery sells some food for immediate consumption (taxable) and some food not for immediate consumption (exempt), how does the Texas Comptroller decide whether a utility (electricity) exemption certificate based on a utility study can be accepted?
An exemption certificate based on a utility study can be accepted if it comes with a statement showing the quantity of goods sold for immediate consumption versus not sold for immediate consumption, a…
Did a mortgage modification trigger more Florida documentary stamp or nonrecurring intangible tax when the lender's recovery remained capped at the amount already taxed?
No. The original Florida mortgage limited the lender's recovery to $5 million and tax had been paid on that amount. Because the modification preserved the same cap, no additional documentary stamp or …
Were a conditional purchase agreement, memorandum, and vendee's mortgage taxed when recorded even though the seller's repayment duty would arise only after a future default?
No. The documents created no present obligation to pay, and the mortgage secured a contingent repayment duty whose amount would be determined only after default. No tax was due at recording; the rulin…
Were certificates representing interests in church mortgage loans, federal obligations, certificates of deposit, and cash subject to Florida intangible tax?
No. Certificate holders participated only in cash, certificates of deposit, federal obligations, and notes fully secured by Florida church mortgages—all assets the ruling identified as exempt. They ha…
How did Florida value shares of an out-of-state investment trust holding exempt obligations and temporary taxable assets?
Shares were fully exempt when the year-end portfolio contained only exempt assets. If taxable assets remained, direct federal obligations were removed and the remaining net asset value was taxable. Ta…
Did Florida nonrecurring intangible tax apply to loans, notes, mortgages, after-acquired-property liens, and later amendments made under a confirmed Chapter 11 plan?
No. The Department exempted the described term and revolving loans, notes, mortgages, financing statements, after-acquired-property liens, renewals, and modifications because they were transactions un…
Were Florida-generated receivables taxable after a foreign corporation transferred them and their security interests to a no-nexus subsidiary before January 1?
No. The no-nexus subsidiary owned the receivables and assigned security interests on January 1, so neither it nor the seller owed intangible tax on them. The related promissory note was eliminated on …
Were receivables taxable when a Florida corporation sold them at face value to a no-nexus subsidiary before January 1 and bought them back after January 2?
No. The no-nexus subsidiary owned the receivables on January 1, so neither it nor the Florida parent owed intangible tax on them. The promissory note given for the receivables was an intercompany acco…
I buy diesel fuel only for off-road equipment (hi-lift tractors and a crane) that never touches a public highway. Is that fuel exempt from New York's diesel motor fuel excise taxes?
No exemption at purchase, but a refund is available. New York's diesel motor fuel excise taxes (Tax Law §§ 282-a, 282-b, 282-c) apply to all diesel fuel sold or used in the state unless the buyer is a…
When a fleet company's damaged tires are adjusted and replaced under a manufacturer's or dealer's warranty, and the tires were originally sold on open account, how is Texas sales tax figured on the replacement or credit?
It depends on timing. Under Tax Code Section 151.007(c)(5), the sales price subject to tax does not include the separately identified value of property taken by the seller in trade as part of the cons…
Could a recording company claim Florida's sound-recording-equipment exemption directly on lease payments instead of first paying tax and requesting a refund?
No. Assuming exclusive qualifying production use, the leased recording system met the sound-recording-equipment exemption, but the statute allowed that benefit only through a refund of previously paid…
In a reorganization forming a Texas real-estate limited partnership, which entities are subject to Texas franchise tax?
None of the three entities asked about were subject. In a planned reorganization, a Delaware parent would form two Delaware subsidiaries: one holding a 99% limited-partnership interest in a new Texas …
We're trustees of two charitable lead annuity trusts, created under the same family trust instrument with currently identical beneficiaries, that co-own New York real property as tenants-in-common. We're proposing to combine them into one 'Surviving Trust' because declining income no longer covers required annual charitable payments. To protect the separate remainder beneficiaries' interests, we're setting up a detailed 'Pro Forma Account' formula (tracking what each set of beneficiaries would have received had the trusts stayed separate, adjusted annually for investment gains/losses and a liquidity test comparing available assets against the discounted present value of future charitable obligations). Will combining the trusts trigger New York's Real Estate Transfer Tax or Real Property Transfer Gains Tax?
Exempt -- this is the first (earliest) of three related advisory opinions the Department issued to the same trustees about the same proposed trust combination, as the underlying facts evolved. Lew R. …
Under Florida's 1995 rules, were prepaid telephone calling cards taxed when sold or when the telephone service was used?
Generally at use, not at the card's retail sale. The ruling applied 7% sales tax and 2.5% gross receipts tax to the charge deducted for calls that originated or terminated and were billed in Florida. …
Will the reorganization of a mutual savings bank into a stock savings bank held by a mutual holding company, tax-free federally under IRC sections 368(a)(1)(F) and 351, also be tax-free for Article 32 (bank) and Article 22 (personal income) purposes?
Yes. Oswego City Savings Bank plans to reorganize from a mutual savings bank into a stock savings bank controlled by a mutual holding company, in a transaction intended to be tax-free federally under …
For sections 186 and 186-a, are a utility's taxable gross earnings/gross income the reduced amounts actually billed to customers under a PSC-approved rate-reduction plan, or the higher pre-reduction figures shown in its accounting true-up entries?
The amounts actually billed. Under a RICO-settlement Rate Reduction Plan, LILCO reduced customer bills via PSC-approved tariffs. For sections 186 and 186-a, the 'receipts' includable in gross earnings…
Does a New York sales office that only signs up new clients generate receipts from services performed in New York for the Article 9-A receipts factor, when all the investment consulting is performed elsewhere?
No, if it only signs up clients. Insight Management's income comes from performing its investment consulting (and related financial transactions), not from the mere signing up of clients. So if its Ne…
Did a retailer correctly charge Florida sales tax on the full face value of manufacturer-funded coupons even when aggregate reimbursement could be reduced?
Yes. The coupons were manufacturer funded, so their full face value formed part of the sales price at each transaction. Possible later reductions in aggregate reimbursement from volume caps, incentive…
When a redevelopment agency (RDA) finally starts taking its tax increment years after being created, does the resulting rise in other taxing entities' certified tax rates count as an illegal 'tax increase' under Utah's truth-in-taxation law?
No. Utah's truth-in-taxation law (§ 59-2-924(2)(a)) guarantees each taxing entity the SAME total property tax REVENUE as the prior year, not the same RATE — so when a redevelopment agency (RDA) finall…
Is a company's charge for maintaining and calibrating the tools it uses to repair aircraft owned by a certificated or licensed carrier subject to Texas sales tax?
No. Charges to maintain, calibrate, and repair tools used exclusively to repair, remodel, or maintain aircraft, aircraft engines, or aircraft component parts for a certificated or licensed carrier of …
Which construction consumables, supplies, and equipment used by a road construction contractor are taxable versus exempt — LP gas, slings and cables, safety stickers, safety chains, safety flags, rope and twine, marking paint, caulk and putty, sponges, tape, razor blades, snap ties, and various safety wear?
It depends on the item: LP gas used off-road is exempt from sales tax, and several consumable-type supplies (marking paint, caulk and putty, sponges/rubbing bricks used once, duct and electrical tape,…
Is removing waste from a restaurant's grease trap taxable, and what about cleaning the sewer line it's connected to?
Removing wastes from a grease trap that is part of a sewer system is a non-taxable service, but cleaning out the sewer line itself is taxable when done for a non-residential customer such as a restaur…
Is machinery and equipment that a grower buys to dry, sort, grade and pack its own fruit and vegetables exempt from Texas sales tax as agricultural processing equipment?
Yes. Because Company A owns the fruit and vegetables being processed and is the original producer (grower) of those products, the machinery and equipment it buys to dry, sort, grade and pack them qual…
Are Juice Plus+ nutritional energy/protein bars subject to Texas sales tax, or are they treated as an exempt food product?
They are exempt from Texas sales tax. The Comptroller's Tax Administration staff reviewed samples and the label/brochure for the Juice Plus+ Bars and concluded the bars are a food product, and food pr…
Can Texas require the federal government (such as the U.S. Department of Defense running retail surplus stores) to pay Texas sales tax?
No. The Comptroller explains that Texas sales tax is legally imposed on the vendor's gross receipts, not on the buyer, so requiring the federal government to pay it as a purchaser would amount to Texa…
Did notarized acknowledgments and delivery affidavits adequately prove that promissory notes payable to Florida lenders were executed and delivered outside Florida?
Yes. The notarized note acknowledgments and lender or agent delivery affidavits sufficiently showed that the notes were signed and delivered outside Florida. Returning them to Florida afterward did no…
How did Florida's 1995 sales and gross-receipts taxes apply when tax-exempt colleges provided long-distance telephone service to students?
The colleges' nonprofit status did not eliminate their provider obligations. Long-distance service billed to full-time students' campus residences was exempt from sales tax, but the ruling applied the…
Could an S corporation earn South Carolina's historical job tax credit and use the carryforward after converting to a C corporation under PLR 95-3?
Yes, for the addressed taxpayer if all statutory requirements were met. The Department treated the S corporation as 'subject to' corporate tax even when it had no ordinary corporate-level liability. I…
Are Juice Plus capsules — made only of dried fruit and vegetable juices — exempt from Texas sales tax as food products, and what about the related Juice Plus Bars?
Yes, the Juice Plus capsules are exempt food products because they contain only dried fruit and vegetable juices and are not advertised as anything else; that exemption applies to this distributor fro…
Did Public Law 86-272 protect an out-of-state seller whose products were regularly delivered to Florida customers in the seller's own trucks?
No. Florida treated regular delivery in company-owned trucks as unprotected activity under Public Law 86-272. The trucks were company property in Florida, and contracted drivers performed delivery ser…
Was Florida's nonrecurring intangible tax due on the full construction note when its mortgage covered both Florida real and personal property?
No. Although tax had been paid on the note's full face amount, the ruling said the nonrecurring intangible tax was due only on the portion secured by Florida real property, as allocated by the indepen…
How much of an investment trust's shares was exempt from Florida intangible tax when its portfolio contained federal, territorial, and other exempt securities?
The portion attributable to direct U.S. and territorial obligations was exempt. The remaining share value was also exempt if that portfolio portion contained only Florida-exempt assets, but it was tax…
Were two Florida funeral and cemetery contracts taxable written obligations when neither contained an unconditional promise to pay a specific amount?
No. One pre-need contract could be canceled, and the other allowed the selected goods, services, payments, and remaining balance to change. Neither contained a promise to pay a specific amount, althou…
Are flash-dried fruit and vegetable juice capsules exempt from Texas sales tax as food products?
Yes. The Texas Comptroller confirmed the capsules — which contain only dried fruit and vegetable juices and nothing more — are exempt from sales tax as food products, consistent with a prior ruling is…
If a passive-investment limited liability company keeps its office, books and records, and securities depository in New York, is the interest income it distributes to nonresident members subject to New York personal income tax?
No, for a nonresident member with no other New York-source income. Under Tax Law § 601(f), the LLC (taxed as a partnership) isn't itself subject to Article 22 tax - only its members are, in their indi…
Was a $200,000 payment to end a Florida real-property lease early subject to sales tax as rent?
No. On the proposed agreement's facts, the $200,000 payment bought a general release and ended the tenant's right to use or occupy the property. Both parties designated it as liquidated damages, and t…
Did Florida's related-corporation lease rule exempt rent paid by a partnership to a trust whose owners partly overlapped?
No. The rule applied only when both lessor and lessee had corporate form, and the tenant was a partnership. The Department therefore treated the entire rent as taxable unless another exemption applied…
How should a direct sales (multi-level marketing) organization collect and remit Texas sales and use tax on sales its independent distributors make in Texas?
The direct sales organization itself — not each individual distributor — is responsible for collecting and remitting Texas state and local sales and use tax on the taxable sales its distributors make …
Is caring for indoor plants a taxable service in Texas, and do I owe sales tax on the supplies (stakes, fertilizer, leaf cleaner, containers) I use to provide that service?
Yes, indoor plant maintenance is a taxable service in Texas, and whether you owe tax on your supplies depends on whether they're transferred to the customer: items like plant stakes that stay with the…
Is the lease of aerial-application tracking equipment to a crop duster exempt from Texas sales tax when the equipment is used for aerial spraying of insecticide and fertilizer on farms and ranches?
Yes, the lease can be exempt from sales tax if the aircraft is FAA-licensed for aerial application of fertilizers and insecticides and is used exclusively for aerial spraying on farms and ranches to p…
Can a manufacturer issue an exemption certificate for the part of its garbage collection service that removes waste from its manufacturing process, and how is 'industrial solid waste' defined?
Yes, but only for the manufacturing-related portion. The Comptroller told a poly bag manufacturer that it could give its waste removal service provider an exemption certificate for the part of the ser…
Is a remote computer data backup service, where a client's data is copied over phone lines by modem and temporarily stored (not manipulated), subject to Texas sales tax?
Yes. The Comptroller ruled that a remote backup service — where a client's computer data is copied daily over phone lines by modem and temporarily stored for security purposes — is a taxable data proc…
Is an indoor plant care and maintenance business subject to Texas sales tax, and does taxing an existing service contract violate the Constitution's ban on impairing contracts?
Yes, the service is taxable. The Comptroller told an indoor plant care provider that maintaining tangible property (like indoor plants) has been taxable since the Legislature imposed the tax in 1984, …
We're a public authority helping relocate a major commodities exchange to our development site. Depending on how the construction loan is structured, we might be the named mortgagee, or we might sublease the property back from the tenant and co-sign the mortgage as co-mortgagor on just our leasehold interest. Is recording that mortgage -- however it's structured -- exempt from mortgage recording tax?
Exempt either way. This is the origin ruling establishing the Battery Park City Authority's now-familiar 'sublease-back' mortgage recording tax exemption mechanic, arising from the New York Mercantile…
Does Utah sales/use tax apply to imported manufacturing machinery sold to a Utah manufacturer, and to replacement parts for that machinery?
Machinery can qualify for exemption, but replacement parts cannot. A sales office representing foreign machinery manufacturers asked the Utah State Tax Commission whether it needed to collect sales ta…
Is a business that programs customers' own cellular phones by selecting preset options built in by the manufacturer required to collect Texas sales tax on that service?
No. The Comptroller's Tax Policy Division held that this cellular phone programming service is not subject to Texas sales tax, because the business does not sell or repair any tangible personal proper…
Is the radioactive wafer used in nondestructive X-ray testing a taxable purchase of tangible personal property, even though what the tester actually wants is the radioactivity it emits?
Yes. The Comptroller ruled that the wafer containing radium 192 is the sale of tangible personal property, so sales or use tax is owed on its purchase even though the buyer's real interest is in the r…
Is converting a purchased warehouse into a manufacturing facility — by adding electrical wiring, HVAC, interior structure, processing piping, floor specs, and reinforcements — taxable remodeling or non-taxable new construction under Texas sales tax rules?
It is taxable remodeling, not new construction. The Comptroller told the taxpayer that even though the warehouse-to-manufacturing conversion was extensive — adding electrical wiring, heating and air c…
Can an operator buy coin-operated amusement devices like pinball machines tax-free under the resale exemption?
No. Purchasing a coin-operated or other amusement device (pinball machines, music machines, mechanical/electronic games) to generate admission or use-fee revenue is a taxable retail purchase, not a pu…
Is the film used to create a template for burning circuit boards exempt from Texas sales tax, and are fees paid to programmers for custom software taxable?
Both are tax-favorable for the taxpayer: the film qualifies for the manufacturing exemption under Tax Code Section 151.318 because it is used by a third-party custom manufacturer to produce circuit bo…
Is selling pooled telephone survey data taxable in Texas, and does modifying that data for a specific client change the answer?
Yes, it's taxable either way. The Comptroller ruled that selling pooled telephone survey information to a specific client without modification is a taxable transaction, that modifying the pooled infor…
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.