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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For a Texas tire retreader, how is sales tax applied differently to 'stock retreads' (tires/casings the retreader owns and holds for sale) versus 'customer property retreads' (casings the customer already owns), and when do machinery, electricity, and natural gas used in retreading qualify for a manufacturing exemption?
It depends on who owns the casing. Retreading a 'stock casing' that the retreader owns and sells as a retread is a sale of tangible personal property — taxable on the full charge, but the retreader…
When were sales or leases of specialty hospital beds exempt from Florida sales tax?
A hospital's own purchase or lease was taxable unless it supplied a Florida consumer exemption certificate. A prescribed specialty bed could qualify for resale treatment when released to a…
Was a vehicle sale-leaseback subject to Texas motor vehicle sales tax when it was really a financing arrangement?
No, if the sale-leaseback was genuinely a financing arrangement and the lessee retained the listed ownership characteristics before and after the transaction. Those facts included possession,…
Was a prescription, non-invasive electromagnetic bone-growth stimulator exempt from Tennessee sales tax as a prosthetic device?
Yes. The bone-growth stimulator was exempt as a prosthetic device because it replaced or augmented the reduced natural healing function of a non-union fracture by stimulating bone cells to resume…
How did California tax a restaurant's $1 coupon booklet and later discounted meal sales?
Selling the booklet was nontaxable because it transferred discount rights, but each redeemed coupon added a reasonable pro-rata share of the $1 booklet price to taxable meal receipts.
When did Texas require a seller-financing dealer to pay all remaining motor vehicle tax after transferring payment rights?
When the investor obtained the right to receive the retail purchaser's payments. The internal memo said that funding 60% of the financed amount and acquiring payment rights met § 152.047(g), even…
Is an ultra pure water system and its associated piping, used to produce and distribute ultra pure water needed in semiconductor fabrication, exempt from Texas sales and use tax?
Yes. The Comptroller confirmed that the ultra pure water system and its associated equipment/piping — used to produce and distribute the ultra pure water required in the semiconductor fabrication…
Under Florida's 1996 intangible tax, were receivables sold before January 1 to an out-of-state subsidiary taxable?
No. Receivables owned on January 1 by an out-of-state subsidiary with no Florida commercial domicile or business situs were not subject to Florida intangible tax. A later sale back did not change…
Which hospital cleansers and body-care products qualified as medicines when used by medical personnel or patients?
Appeals staff recommended exempting seven products based on antimicrobial or patient use, while denying exemption for staff use of lotions and nonantimicrobial cleansers.
Were three-part packing-slip forms exempt labels when one copy was folded into a clear envelope on the shipping container?
No. Two copies were used for records or customs, and the attached copy showed shipping information, so the printer's sale was taxable.
Did paying the inventory purchase price directly to the seller's secured lender avoid California successor liability?
No. The promise to pay the lender was purchase consideration. California said the buyer had to structure the transaction so enough value remained available for the seller's unpaid tax, even though…
Which chemicals, injection services, and electricity purchased by an oil and gas producer are exempt from Utah sales tax, and which are taxable?
It depends on the item. Glycol, methanol, CO2/nitrogen, and oil-soluble chemicals used in oil and gas production are generally taxable purchases because the producer consumes them in the process…
Does Utah sales tax apply to charges hotels and motels bill guests for in-room pay-per-view movies and video games?
It depends on delivery method. If a hotel or motel rents videos and a hotel employee plays them on a machine it controls, broadcasting to the guest's room, the charge is taxable as a rental of…
Can Indian tribes and tribal members buy goods tax-exempt in Utah, and do vendors need to use form TC-721G to document those exempt sales?
Sales to a tribe on Indian lands (or delivered there by common carrier) are exempt from Utah sales tax without needing form TC-721G — proof of delivery is enough. Sales to individual tribal members…
Does a direct-sales company need to collect Utah sales tax on sales to Utah customers, and how does the tax work when independent contractors resell the company's products to their own customers?
Two different rules for two different sales channels. When the company sells directly to Utah customers for their own use, those are ordinary retail sales, and the company -- which has Utah nexus…
Did destroying excess billing-insert flyers at a mailing house make part of an otherwise exempt printed-sales-message order taxable?
No. Assuming the flyers and delivery qualified, the print broker's full sale was exempt and disposal of reasonable overprinting waste did not create tax liability.
Under Florida's 1996 intangible tax, were Florida-customer loans sold before January 1 to a non-Florida affiliate taxable?
No. Florida-customer loans sold before January 1 to a non-Florida affiliate lacked Florida taxable situs on the assessment date. Routine servicing by the sellers and a later repurchase did not…
Under Florida's 1996 intangible tax, were receivables sold before January 1 to a non-Florida sister company taxable?
No. Receivables sold before January 1 to a non-Florida sister company were not taxable when the buyer had no Florida business and the seller performed only ministerial collection work. The…
Were fundraising items selected according to contribution size taxable sales by a Section 501(c)(3) charity?
Yes. When contributors received tangible property, the donation was primary, and contribution value greatly exceeded the item's retail value, the property was sold but tax was measured by the…
If a private corporation buys an airplane to lease it to a charter operator, is the purchase tax-free, and is the lease and the charter revenue taxable in Utah?
Two separate transactions, two separate answers. The buyer's purchase of the airplane is tax-free under the resale exemption, but only if the buyer intends to lease it out (not use it themselves)…
Which of the specific services a paralegal/legal-assistance company provides (research, word processing, witness location, trial preparation, document organization) are taxable, and how should billing work if only some services are taxable?
Most of the services are taxable: research/record review in the public domain is a taxable information service (Rule 3.342); word processing of medical-record/deposition summaries, trial-preparation…
Does a monitor a photographer uses to let customers preview and crop a photographic image before it's printed qualify for the Texas manufacturing sales-tax exemption?
No. The Comptroller ruled the monitors don't qualify for the manufacturing exemption because they're used primarily as a marketing tool to show customers the image before the final print — Tax Code…
Were vegetable seeds and plants, grapevines, herbs, fruit trees, and fertilizer exempt from Tennessee sales tax, and was an exemption certificate required?
Qualifying food- or fiber-producing seeds, seedlings, plants, grapevines, herbs, and fruit trees were exempt. Fertilizer was exempt only when used to grow qualifying food or fiber, so lawn seed and…
Were charges for moving affiliates' documents taxable, and were separately stated pharmacy delivery charges treated the same way?
Standalone courier charges were not taxable because the company sold only transportation, but its own-vehicle pharmacy deliveries were taxable absent an earlier written title agreement.
Did a Chapter 11 plan's 45-day administrative-claim deadline bar California from auditing post-petition sales and use tax?
No. Staff said the plan excluded California sales and use taxes from its administrative-expense definition, so the Board had no duty to file by that deadline.
Are the risk management, claims administration, and safety/loss control services a third-party administrator provides to Texas employers subject to sales tax?
It depends on who the client is. These services count as taxable "insurance services" under Rule 3.355 when performed for an employer that carries a regular insurance policy (including one with a…
Did a nonprofit religious organization have to collect Florida sales tax on its sales of tangible personal property?
No. Because the organization held a valid Florida consumer exemption certificate and regularly conducted public worship services at an established facility, it qualified as a church and did not…
Were separately stated charges for optional advertising, marketing, financial, technology, training, store-development, and franchise programs taxable when offered by a grocery wholesaler?
No. The separately stated optional retail-support charges were not taxable on the stated facts. If they were part of the price of products sold for resale, the resale treatment applied; if they were…
Which Internet-access, web-service, software, equipment, training, and consulting charges were taxable in Tennessee, and did the provider owe franchise and excise taxes?
Tennessee-sourced Internet-access monthly, installation, and hourly charges were taxable telecommunications, and software, modems, and textbooks delivered in Tennessee were taxable. The described…
Did a vessel owner receive a refund of use tax paid on lease receipts after the purchase-period assessment became time-barred?
No. Appeals recommended granting the petition against the out-of-period determination but said California could retain payments that did not exceed the tax that had accrued on the vessel purchase.
Does a studio's equipment used to transfer raw film footage onto a video master tape qualify for the manufacturing exemption, and is the studio's transfer service or the sale of the resulting video master/duplicates subject to Texas sales tax?
Yes, the studio's computer equipment used to convert processed negative film into a video master tape qualifies for the manufacturing exemption under Texas Tax Code Sec. 151.318. The sale of the…
A company that wants to sell a concentrated garlic-juice product to cotton farmers as an insect repellent/pesticide asked whether those sales are exempt from Texas sales tax and what it needs to do to comply.
Yes — selling the garlic-juice product to cotton farmers as a pesticide is exempt from Texas sales tax under the agricultural exemption (Rule 3.296), but the seller still needs its own sales and use…
Under Florida's 1996 intangible tax, were staffing receivables sold before January 1 to a Massachusetts subsidiary taxable?
No. Receivables owned on January 1 by a Massachusetts subsidiary without Florida situs were not taxable. Routine servicing and a later sale back did not change the result, intercompany notes were…
Under Florida's 1996 intangible tax, did a seller's later Florida domicile make receivables previously sold to an out-of-state subsidiary taxable?
No. Receivables owned on January 1 by an out-of-state subsidiary without Florida situs were not taxable, even if the seller later became commercially domiciled in Florida. Ministerial servicing and…
Under Florida's 1996 intangible tax, were receivables sold before January 1 to an out-of-state subsidiary taxable?
No. The Florida parent did not own, manage, or control the receivables on January 1, and its out-of-state subsidiary had no Florida business presence. The parent's routine servicing was ministerial,…
Under Florida's 1996 intangible tax, what happened when Florida corporations assigned receivables to a foreign limited partnership?
The foreign partnership did not owe Florida intangible tax, and the Florida corporations did not report receivables that the partnership owned and controlled on January 1. Their limited-partnership…
Under Florida's 1996 intangible tax, were discounted receivables sold before January 1 to an out-of-state affiliate taxable?
No, if the discounted sale reflected arm's-length terms. The out-of-state buyer's January 1 receivables lacked Florida situs, the seller's listed servicing was ministerial, later limited-recourse…
Are a temporary help service's charges for supplying skilled workers (e.g., plumbers) to help a construction business complete jobs taxable as sales tax, or exempt as 'services by employees' under Sec. 151.057?
Exempt from sales tax, but only if all four conditions in Sec. 151.057 are met: (1) the temporary workers supplement the client's existing workforce on a temporary basis, (2) the work they do is…
New York Advisory Opinion TSB-A-96(11)S: When the Javits Convention Center becomes the sole employer of display and freight-handling workers and sells their labor to contractors at trade shows, is that a taxable sale of a service, and does it matter that the contractors resell the labor's output to exhibitors?
Yes, generally taxable -- the Javits Center is acting as a "temporary service contractor," and its labor sales are taxable unless the purchasing contractor provides a timely exemption certificate.…
Under Florida's 1996 intangible tax, did a beneficiary's limited appointment power create a taxable trust interest?
No. The beneficiary could not revoke the trust, invade its corpus, or appoint assets for personal benefit and therefore had no taxable beneficial interest. The trustees also lacked Florida situs, so…
Under Florida's 1996 intangible tax, did an irrevocable trust or its income beneficiaries owe tax when the trustee stayed outside Florida?
No. The trustee lived outside Florida and held all management and control, while the income beneficiaries could not revoke, amend, terminate, or invade the trust and held only a limited power of…
Under Florida's 1996 intangible tax, was a trust taxable when all management and control stayed with an out-of-state trustee?
No. The trust was not subject to Florida intangible tax because its trustee had no Florida residence or business and the trust vested all management and control in out-of-state trustees. The grantor…
How is sales tax computed and who must collect and remit it on photographs sold from coin-operated photographic booths installed in shopping malls and amusement centers?
The total charge for the pictures is taxable, and if the price already includes tax, a 'price includes sales tax' notice should be posted on the booth (tax can then be backed out of the total by…
When a contractor installs a polyurethane pipe liner in a brand-new pipeline being laid alongside an existing one, does it charge sales tax on materials only, or on materials and labor both?
It depends on timing: if the liner is applied to the new pipe after the pipe is attached to realty, the contractor is doing new construction of real property — labor is not taxable, but sales tax…
Does a piece of exercise/fitness equipment sold by a manufacturer qualify for a Texas sales tax exemption as a therapeutic or orthopedic device?
Partly. The product qualifies for exemption as a therapeutic device, but only when it is sold to an individual under a doctor's prescription (Rule 3.284(a)(11) and (c)(8)). It does NOT qualify as an…
When a grocery store customer redeems a discount coupon (either a store coupon or a manufacturer's coupon), how is sales tax calculated on the purchase?
Either way — store coupon or manufacturer's coupon — the coupon reduces the taxable sales price of the item, so sales tax is due only on the discounted price, not the original price. If the register…
Did a government entity need an exempt license plate for its vehicle purchase or lease to qualify for Texas motor vehicle tax exemption?
Yes. The letter said a public agency's vehicle purchase or lease was exempt only when the vehicle carried the required exempt license plate. A government-owned or government-leased vehicle without…
Does a little league baseball association have to collect sales tax on concession stand sales of food, candy, and soft drinks?
No. Associations that support athletics for children under 19 are exempt from paying and collecting sales tax on food, candy, and soft drink sales, as long as all the proceeds are used for the…
Are a transmission company's microwave/satellite signal-delivery services, sold to cable TV operators and public TV stations, excluded from the section 186-e telecommunications excise tax as 'cable television service' or as a 'sale for resale'?
No -- the services are taxable. EMI uses microwave and satellite facilities to deliver TV signals to cable operators and public TV stations, which is a 'telecommunication service' and makes EMI a…
May an Article 32 banking corporation subject to IRC section 475 mark-to-market exclude from entire net income the later-year 'gains' that simply reverse prior-year unrealized losses which (because Article 32 has no NOL deduction) never reduced its bank tax?
No. Article 32 entire net income starts from federal taxable income, and section 1453(b)(3) bars any net operating loss deduction. There is no Article 32 modification for the IRC section 475…
New York Advisory Opinion TSB-A-96(16)S: Is a monthly $25 administrative fee that an information-services company charges customers who choose to pay for their information units as-used (rather than a lump annual prepayment) subject to New York sales tax?
Taxable. Dun & Bradstreet sells credit and market information services subject to sales tax under Tax Law § 1105(c)(1), and is registered to collect and remit that tax. Historically customers paid a…
New York Advisory Opinion TSB-A-96(15)S: Is the fee charged for membership in a discount club -- which entitles members to discounts at participating boating and waterfront businesses -- subject to New York sales tax?
Not taxable -- the membership fee is the sale of an intangible. Nautical Miles, Ltd. sells memberships, to people inside and outside New York, that entitle members to discounts at a list of…
New York Advisory Opinion TSB-A-96(14)S: Is a telephone answering service's markup for long-distance calls it makes to forward messages to out-of-area clients taxable as a resale of telephone service, or as part of the taxable answering-service charge -- and does it matter where the client is located?
Taxable as part of Petitioner's telephone answering service -- not a resale of long-distance service -- but only if the customer's business or residence is located in New York. Total Recall Message…
New York Advisory Opinion TSB-A-96(13)S: Is a licensed process server's income from serving legal papers, filing court documents, and locating defendants through public records subject to New York's sales tax on detective services?
Not taxable. Thomas J. Brennan is a New York City-licensed process server (not a licensed private investigator) who receives summonses to serve on defendants in court actions, and files an…
New York Advisory Opinion TSB-A-96(12)S: Are receipts from massage services performed by a licensed massage therapist -- whether as a sole practitioner, employee, or officer/stockholder of a corporation -- subject to New York State or New York City sales tax?
Not subject to New York State (or non-NYC local) sales tax, but IS subject to New York City's own local tax -- regardless of whether the practitioner is a sole practitioner or an…
Were county charges for copies of public records taxable when the fee was authorized by law but set through guidelines and board resolution rather than a fixed ordinance?
No. Required public-record copies were a government service when the price was set in accordance with and under authority of law; a fixed-fee ordinance was sufficient but not necessary.
When could an advertising agency give a printer its client's printed-sales-message exemption certificate, and was mailing-house separation taxable?
Only as a disclosed, documented agent meeting pass-through billing and no-use rules; the mailing house's cutting of a combined letter and order form was taxable fabrication.
Was a Board of Realtors membership fee taxable because members could buy separately priced MLS publications?
No. The association was primarily a service organization, and access to separately sold MLS books was only a nominal membership benefit unrelated to anticipated retail transactions.
Is the bill-paying portion of a freight-bill auditing company's services taxable as a data processing service if that bill-paying feature is offered to all customers at no extra charge?
No — under the revised contract, the bill-payment portion of the company's freight-bill auditing service is not taxable as a data processing service, as long as customers who don't use the…
Can a corporate purchasing-card program's system-generated Sales Tax Report substitute for individual vendor invoices to prove Utah sales/use tax compliance?
Yes, with conditions. A taxpayer must maintain documentation showing: the transaction date, the vendor, the purchaser, the total sale and tax amounts, enough item detail to separate taxable from…
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