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 retailer pay a sales-tax export refund to a customs broker instead of directly to the purchaser who paid the tax?
Yes, on an interim basis. The Comptroller reviewed a customs broker's proposal in which a purchaser who exports goods assigns their right to a sales-tax refund to the broker, and concluded that — even…
Were a skin cleanser and conductive gel used during medical diagnostic procedures exempt from Florida sales tax?
No. The cleanser and conductive gel were taxable even when sold to physicians or hospitals for use in medical treatment because the ruling found no specific exemption for them. A registered purchaser …
Did a Florida-domiciled trustee's management and control give a bankruptcy-created trust's intangible assets Florida taxable situs?
Yes. The trustee was domiciled in Florida and managed or controlled the trust assets while acting as assignee for the trust, corporation, and estate. That Florida presence and control created taxable …
Is the North American Development Bank (NADBank), created under NAFTA, exempt from Texas sales, excise, use, and hotel occupancy tax?
Yes. The Comptroller confirmed that NADBank qualifies for exemption from Texas limited sales, excise, and use tax and from hotel occupancy tax as an entity exempted from tax by federal law. No exempti…
Is propane used to heat a homeowner's pool -- prescribed by her doctor as medically necessary water therapy after knee surgery -- exempt from sales tax as a medical supply, and if not, is there any other exemption available?
The medical-supplies exemption doesn't apply, since it only reaches items taxed under a different section of the Tax Law than the one that covers propane gas service. But the propane still escapes Sta…
Were patents, copyrights, trademarks, trade secrets, trade names, and service marks managed by a Florida subsidiary subject to Florida intangible tax?
No. Florida treated the listed intellectual-property rights as government-granted privileges closely related to franchises and concluded that they were not subject to intangible tax. The published rul…
Would Florida residents owe intangible tax after contributing their publicly traded stock to a New York general partnership with no Florida situs?
No, after the transfer. The Florida residents owed intangible tax while they personally owned the stock. Once they contributed it to a New York general partnership whose offices, records, accounts, an…
Which chamber-of-commerce event receipts were taxable, including admissions, sponsorships, space rentals, educational programs, and event purchases?
Treatment depended on the transaction. Entertainment, golf, and casino-night admissions were taxable; educational meetings and leadership programs were not. Cash donations were not sales, while many v…
Did a conditional purchase agreement, memorandum, and vendee's mortgage create documentary stamp or nonrecurring intangible tax before any present payment obligation arose?
Not at recording, under this superseded ruling. The documents created no present obligation to pay a sum certain, so documentary stamp and nonrecurring intangible tax were not then due. If the seller …
Can a Utah holding company exclude a dividend from its premium-tax-exempt insurance subsidiary from its Utah corporate franchise tax income, either by filing a combined return or under the § 59-7-117 double-tax relief provision?
No. A Utah holding company (P) owned about 80% of a Utah insurance subsidiary (S) that was exempt from Utah franchise and income tax because it already paid premium tax under Title 59, Chapter 9. When…
When a customer breaches a taxable data-processing services contract and settles a lawsuit for damages plus past-due charges, is the entire settlement amount subject to Texas sales tax?
No. Only the portion of a lawsuit settlement that covers the price of taxable services already rendered is subject to Texas sales tax. Amounts covering attorney's fees and amounts covering damages for…
Is Texas sales tax due on liquor pool dues and other minimum-spending charges billed by a private club to its members?
It depends. Liquor pool dues and similar minimum-spending fees charged by a private club (including a Sec. 501(c)(7) nonprofit club that provides amusements) are generally taxable as fees for a specia…
Is a phone-based auto-parts locating service — where employees use a computerized directory but do the finding by telephone — a taxable computer and data processing service in Connecticut?
No. A telephone auto-parts locating service is NOT a taxable computer and data processing service under Conn. Gen. Stat. § 12-407(2)(i)(A). Applying the 'true object' test, DRS found the computer here…
I'm a New Mexico resident but I work out of state most of the year — can I pay New Mexico income tax on only the fraction of the year I'm actually here?
No. A New Mexico resident is taxed on 100% of their income no matter how little time they spend in the state — there is no time-based apportionment for residents. Darrell Bowers was an offshore drilli…
If a company factors an exhibit-booth invoice and passes on a factoring fee (interest) to the client because the client can't pay the manufacturer up front, is that factoring fee subject to Texas sales tax?
Yes. The factoring fee (interest charge) is part of the taxable sales price of the custom-made exhibit booth, because Sec. 151.007 of the Texas Tax Code defines 'sales price' without any deduction for…
Is Texas sales tax due on the gross receipts from coin-operated air machines (tire inflators)?
No. The Comptroller ruled that gross receipts from coin-operated air machines (tire inflators) are not subject to Texas sales tax.
Is Texas sales tax due when a city bills a telephone company to reimburse it for repairing water lines that the telephone company's employees accidentally damaged?
No. The Comptroller concluded the reimbursement charge for repairing the damaged water lines is not taxable.
Does a trade show promoter owe Texas sales tax on booth space rentals, booth furniture rentals, electricity charges, or telephone service provided to exhibitors?
No sales tax is due on booth space or booth furniture rental, because renting a booth (real property) along with furniture like tables and chairs is treated the same as renting a furnished apartment. …
Does a title insurance company owe Texas sales tax on the premium-split payments it makes to attorneys or other title companies for title examinations, title evidence, and real estate closing services?
No. The Comptroller concluded that title examinations, title evidence, and real estate closing services purchased by a title insurance company from attorneys or other title companies — and paid for ou…
Is Texas sales tax due on foot reflexology services provided at a reflexology shop?
No, not if the shop is licensed as a physical therapist or massage therapist — the Comptroller advised that licensed physical or massage therapists are not required to collect tax on reflexology servi…
Is a marketing consulting firm's fee -- covering sales-data analysis, purchased-data analysis, written marketing plans, and specific written recommendations for a client -- subject to New York sales tax?
No. The written reports are exempt personal/individual information since each report relates specifically to one client and isn't derived from a shared database or reused in other clients' reports, an…
Does a medical case management / disability management consultant have to collect Texas sales tax on its services to insurance companies?
It depends on what the consultant actually does. Texas taxes "insurance services" — including insurance claims adjustment/claims processing and insurance investigation (evaluating eligibility for cove…
Are massage service charges subject to Utah sales tax, and what about tangible products like lotion sold alongside the massage?
Massage services themselves are not taxable in Utah. But if you also sell tangible personal property to the client — like a bottle of lotion for home use — that portion of the charge IS taxable, and y…
When were supermarket seafood, deli foods, meats, and cut produce taxable as food prepared for immediate consumption?
Store-cooked or store-prepared food sold ready for immediate consumption was taxable, including steamed seafood, prepared deli beans, smoked ribs, heated foods, and dinners. Many uncooked foods, froze…
Is Texas sales tax due on towing charges for repossessed vehicles?
It depends on who has possession of the vehicle. If a repossession company is hired by a financial institution to repossess a vehicle the institution doesn't yet have access to or possession of, all o…
Is a vehicle-leasing company's separately-stated, optional fleet-management service (cost analysis, registration/inspection/maintenance oversight, vehicle-acquisition consulting) subject to New York sales tax?
No. Fleet management isn't one of the specific services the Tax Law taxes, so as long as it's purchased independently of vehicle leasing and billed as a separate line item, the charge escapes sales an…
If an out-of-state law firm partner signs a fixed 4-year agreement to serve as managing partner of the firm's New York office, keeps offices in both locations, spends over 183 days a year in New York, and uses a firm-paid New York City apartment, is he a New York resident for tax purposes during those four years?
No. Mr. A. remains domiciled in State X throughout the assignment, and because his four-year New York managing-partner role has a fixed and limited term after which he returns to State X to practice l…
Can an individual paying with personal funds still buy items tax-exempt for a school district, and can a school district use an identification card instead of an exemption certificate for its purchasers?
An identification card can help identify authorized purchasers, but it cannot replace a written purchase order or exemption certificate — the school district must still give the vendor one of those. I…
If someone domiciled and living in Florida for 15 years buys a New York City co-op that they personally use only from June through September and leave vacant the rest of the year, will they become subject to New York State personal income tax?
It depends on the year, and the opinion doesn't decide it either way. Once purchased, the co-op will count as a 'permanent place of abode' in New York under 20 NYCRR § 105.20(e) even though it sits va…
Is a waste collection service that picks up used oil and oil filters taxable, and can the service provider buy the collection containers tax-free?
The waste collection service is taxable until the customer gives the provider certification or other documentation that the waste (such as used oil and oil filters) is excluded from the definition of …
Did Florida sales or use tax apply to equipment manufactured and sold outside Florida that was never delivered to or imported into the state?
No. Because the equipment was sold and delivered outside Florida and never entered or became commingled with property in the state, it never came within Florida's sales- or use-tax jurisdiction. After…
Were household goods in a South Carolina timeshare or vacation home exempt from property tax under RR 95-1?
Generally yes for personal use. RR 95-1 treated household goods and furniture in a second home or ownership-timeshare unit as exempt when the dwelling was never rented or was only occasionally rented …
Can a stadium skybox landlord separately state charges for parking passes, TV/phone use, electricity, and janitorial services in a suite license agreement so that only those specific items are taxed?
No. The full charge for the skybox license is taxable as an amusement admission charge with no deduction allowed, even if items like parking passes, electricity, and janitorial services are separately…
Is Texas sales or use tax due on a microbial enhanced oil recovery (MEOR) process, in which bacteria are injected into a crude oil reservoir to produce organic by-products that improve oil mobility?
No. The Comptroller ruled that the MEOR process is not a taxable service under Rule 3.324 because it does not involve repairing, remodeling, maintaining, or restoring tangible personal property, and i…
Are dues paid to a homeowners association subject to New York sales tax as a social or athletic club when the association has no pool, tennis courts, or other recreational facilities?
No. Without any recreational facilities like a pool or tennis courts, the association isn't a taxable social or athletic club, so none of its dues -- even the portion funding a clubhouse used only for…
Are the annual dues paid to a lakeside property owners association subject to New York sales tax as social or athletic club dues, when the association has no pool, clubhouse, tennis courts, or docking/swimming facilities and spends its dues on common-area upkeep?
No. Without a pool, clubhouse, tennis courts, or docking facilities, and with dues spent entirely on non-recreational common-area upkeep like snow removal and road paving, the association isn't a taxa…
When the buyer controls the shipment and picks the goods up at the seller's New York factory, are those sales New York receipts, and can factory roof, window, and shipping-dock repairs qualify for the investment tax credit?
Yes to New York receipts. Flexovit's customer contracts its own common carrier, controls it, arranges pickup at Flexovit's New York factory, sets the out-of-state destination, and pays the freight -- …
What documentary stamp tax applied when a developer assigned an unencumbered lease to a condominium association for no consideration?
Only the minimum $0.70 documentary stamp tax applied because the association paid no consideration and no leasehold mortgage encumbered the transferred leasehold interest.
Did a deed to a land trust, an out-of-state collateral assignment, or a Florida UCC-1 filing trigger documentary stamp tax?
No tax was due on the described instruments. The deed did not transfer beneficial ownership, the collateral assignment occurred outside Florida and was not recorded, and filing the UCC-1 alone was not…
Is a trucking company's fee for hauling recyclable raw material from a supplier's site to a recycler's facility taxable as trash/garbage removal (a real-property maintenance service), or exempt as transportation?
It's exempt transportation, not taxable trash removal -- because the recycler or its broker (not the supplier whose property the materials are picked up from) hires and pays the trucking company, and …
Is a federally chartered Farm Credit System leasing corporation, an instrumentality of the United States, exempt from New York franchise tax under Articles 9-A and 32?
Yes. Farm Credit Leasing Services Corporation is a federally chartered body corporate and instrumentality of the United States, organized by Farm Credit System banks under 12 USC 2211 to provide leasi…
Did a Florida data-entry service center give foreign affiliates' accounts receivable a Florida taxable situs for intangible tax?
No. The service center performed only ministerial data-entry and paperwork functions, while the affiliates conducted no Florida business and retained ownership, control, collection, and management of …
Could a corporate purchasing-card statement replace vendor invoices for Florida sales-and-use-tax records?
Yes, if the statement captured all normal invoice information, including the full ship-to address needed to identify the taxing jurisdiction. A zip code alone was insufficient for local tax, and recei…
Did PLR 94-12 require a Class II or Class III license for the Countertop Champion video-game machine?
The machine required a Class II license. Although certain games could continue for extra hands or time based on points, the machine never awarded a complete additional game without another coin, so it…
Could William Midkiff reduce mandatory interest on 1990-1991 personal income tax deficiencies because the 15% statutory rate exceeded market rates, his children had overpaid tax on the shifted income, or the Department assessed him years later?
No. Section 7-1-67 required interest at 15% per year from the original tax due dates until payment. The hearing officer had no authority to substitute a market rate, one taxpayer's payments could not …
Is Texas sales tax due on mud logging services performed at oil and gas wells?
No. Mud logging services — recording information from analyzing formation cuttings and mud circulated out of the well bore, as defined in A Primer of Oil Well Service and Workover — are not taxable un…
How did Florida apply intangible tax to an out-of-state fund investing through a portfolio of government obligations?
The out-of-state fund and portfolio had no Florida taxable situs. Fund shares were exempt while the portfolio held only exempt obligations; if it held any taxable asset, the non-government-obligation …
Did a Florida-law trust owe intangible tax when its assets and records were managed by nonresident trustees outside Florida?
No. Because the nonresident trustees held management and control of the trust assets and records outside Florida, the trust was not subject to the tax, and neither the trustees nor the Florida residen…
Were shopping-center common-area and liability-insurance payments taxable rent when the merchants owned their buildings?
No. The merchants were property owners rather than tenants, and their payments were consideration for reciprocal common-area easements, not rent or license fees under section 212.031.
When were tree seedlings sold for reforestation exempt from Florida sales tax?
Seedlings sold directly by a producer were exempt when the buyer planted them primarily to grow timber or Christmas trees as a crop for sale. Reclamation, habitat, windbreak, boundary, or barrier uses…
Does a nonprofit that's incorporated under New York law but operates entirely out of Massachusetts have enough nexus with New York to be required to collect New York sales tax on mail-order merchandise shipped to New York customers?
Yes. Because it's a domestic New York corporation -- even though its offices, staff, and operations are entirely in Massachusetts -- and its bylaws require a volunteer secretary who is a New York resi…
Can a brewery buy kegs and pallets tax-free for resale, even when customers outside its normal delivery territory keep them instead of returning them because return shipping costs too much?
Yes. As long as the kegs and pallets are actually transferred to the customer to keep or dispose of as they wish -- with the deposit price raised to reflect their real cost -- they qualify as exempt p…
When a cellular phone retailer sells or gives away phones at a reduced price (or free) bundled with a carrier service contract, is its original purchase of those phones still tax-exempt as a purchase for resale -- and what about the retailer's commissions, installation fees, and activation fees?
The retailer's phone purchases stay exempt as purchases for resale even when bundled free or discounted with a service contract; its carrier commissions aren't taxed either, but it must collect sales …
Does a voluntarily dissolved corporation that, by oversight, still held record title to real property but was completely inactive owe Article 9-A franchise tax for the years after dissolution?
No. Holver Realty Corporation was voluntarily dissolved on January 25, 1980, with the Tax Department's consent, and has been completely inactive since -- conducting no business. By oversight, a deed t…
How were Florida stamp and intangible taxes apportioned when a $95 million master note was secured by property inside and outside Florida?
The initial mortgage's stamp-tax base was the Florida property's $11.85 million value, while its intangible-tax base was the $9.48 million allocated Florida share of the master note. Later Florida mor…
Is Texas sales tax due on labor to demolish, repair, and rebuild a shopping center that was partially destroyed by fire?
Yes, in most cases. Charges to rebuild, repair, or remodel the existing structure — including demolition labor — are taxable, whether billed separately or lump-sum, even if the existing slab turns out…
Can a Texas retailer switch from accrual to cash-basis reporting of sales tax, and how does that affect installment/credit sales where interest is charged on the tax portion of the balance?
Yes. A retailer may switch from accrual to cash-basis sales tax reporting (remitting tax as payments are received), but the change cannot be made retroactively, and the retailer must set up a proper t…
Does a direct sales (multi-level marketing) organization have to collect and remit Texas sales and use tax on the sales its independent distributors make in Texas?
Yes. The Comptroller advised the company that, as a direct sales organization, it is responsible for collecting and remitting Texas sales and use tax on taxable sales its independent distributors make…
Can U.S. citizens claim the same Texas sales and use tax export exemption that Mexican citizens use when exporting purchased goods?
Yes. The Texas export exemption under Tax Code Section 151.307 applies to exported goods regardless of the purchaser's nationality — it is not a special exemption reserved for Mexican citizens, and U.…
Did notarized acknowledgments and delivery affidavits prove that a Florida lender's promissory notes were executed and delivered outside Florida?
Yes. The forms were sufficient evidence, so the unsecured notes were not subject to Florida documentary stamp tax even though they later returned to Florida. This ruling was superseded by revised TAA …
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