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 fewer or different words, check the spelling, or clear the filters to browse everything.
Were real-property transfers, debt assumptions, substitute notes, and mortgages under a confirmed Chapter 11 plan subject to Florida stamp or intangible taxes?
No. The Department treated the transfers, assumptions, substitute promissory notes, and joint-venture mortgage contemplated by the court-approved settlement and confirmed reorganization plan as…
Did a Florida income beneficiary owe intangible tax on two out-of-state trusts when the beneficiary held only a limited power of appointment?
No. The Florida grantor-beneficiary had a current right to income but only a limited power of appointment that could not benefit the grantor, the grantor's estate, or their creditors. That was not…
Which of five credit-union line-of-credit forms were subject to Florida documentary stamp tax?
Only the signed Line of Credit Advance Request Voucher was taxable because it contained the borrower's promise to pay. The other four reviewed forms were not taxable because they did not contain a…
Which supplies could Kansas auto body and repair shops buy tax-free, and which remained taxable?
Kansas auto dealers and body or repair shops could buy qualifying items tax-free when the items were consumed in providing a taxable repair service or became a component of the repaired vehicle, and…
Which income of a qualified settlement fund established under a California court's continuing jurisdiction was taxable by California, and could the fund deduct a prior net operating loss?
California-source income was taxable under section 24693, including intangible income presumed sourced to California because the fund was supervised by a California court. Interest on U.S.…
Could a restaurant sell dinners tax-free to a federal contractor that treated the meals as allocable contract overhead?
Yes, if the contract had an appropriate title-passage clause and the restaurant timely accepted in good faith a valid resale certificate specifically covering the dinners.
Can a flooring/cabinet manufacturer buy display systems and promotional materials tax-free with a resale certificate when it sells them to its distributors along with its products?
Yes, if the manufacturer is genuinely reselling the displays and promotional materials to distributors (who in turn resell them to retailers), it can issue a resale certificate to its own vendors…
When a rental company rents out a package that mixes exempt film-production equipment with taxable items, how should sales tax be charged on the package?
If the taxable and exempt items are rented together for one bundled price, the whole charge is taxable. If the rental company separately states the charge for equipment used directly in production…
Were two named Texas Medical Center cooperative associations exempt from motor vehicle sales tax on their purchases?
Yes. The approved verbal response accepted that Texas Health and Safety Code §§ 301.013(a) and 301.042(a) exempted the named hospital laundry and heating-and-cooling cooperatives from tax or…
Our hotel financing, structured through an industrial development agency, needs a workout: we're restoring previously-waived loan proceeds (increasing the secured debt back up), adding a brand-new loan the IDA won't be a party to, and then consolidating everything into one lien after the IDA exits the deal entirely. Which of these steps trigger new mortgage recording tax, and which don't?
It depends on which step and whether the IDA remains a party -- a genuinely mixed outcome. Coliseum Hotel Associates financed and built a Marriott hotel at Mitchel Field, Nassau County through the…
Does a tax-exempt nonprofit's sheltered workshop, where disabled clients perform auto detailing for paying customers, have to collect sales tax on those charges?
No -- the nonprofit's auto detailing (washing, window cleaning, vacuuming, waxing) is a sale of a SERVICE, not tangible personal property, and it doesn't fall into any of the specific carve-outs…
Is an airline's purchase of on-line computer systems -- flight control, crew management, reservations, baggage tracing, and similar tools -- exempt from sales tax as personal or individual information when each system is built around the airline's own confidential operating data?
Mostly yes -- the Flight Control, Crew Management, AFTN, Flight Plan, ACTS, Baggage Claims Central File, and Sub-Host Reservations systems are all exempt, because each is based only on the airline's…
Is a self-operated condominium rental pool treated as a taxable property management company, and are repairs to the condo units and common areas taxable as commercial real property?
Yes to both. The Comptroller ruled that a self-operated rental pool serving 72% of a condominium regime's owners is treated as a property management company for sales tax purposes, so the exemption…
Does a plant and equipment used to convert liquid cryogens into compressed gas qualify for the Article 9-A investment tax credit?
Yes, if the other tests are met. A company that buys liquid cryogens, converts them into vapor with pumps, vaporizers, and compressors, and bottles the gas in high-pressure cylinders for sale is…
Price Waterhouse asked New York, on behalf of a Nebraska-domiciled employee called Mr. A, whether Mr. A remains a nonresident of New York for personal income tax purposes when a fixed 4-year employment contract requires him to work in New York City and use a company apartment there for more than 183 days a year.
Yes, Mr. A remains a New York nonresident throughout the four-year contract. Because his New York City company apartment is kept only for a fixed and limited assignment - not indefinitely - it is…
Did South Carolina's 1993 repeal of 57 sales-and-use-tax regulations make a substantive change to the law or Department interpretation?
No. The Department said most repealed regulations were already covered by statute and a few had been invalidated by later legislation. Their June 25, 1993 repeal did not substantively change the law…
Can a contractor that improves a government facility under an informal but binding agreement buy the incorporated materials free of Connecticut sales tax?
Yes. A limited partnership that operates a Connecticut political subdivision's facility and makes agency-funded improvements to it may purchase, free of sales and use tax, the materials and supplies…
When a records-storage company made incidental box sales, was its sale of substantially all business assets fully taxable?
Not on counsel's assumptions. Separate storage-service assets were exempt, but tax reached every asset used in box sales, not just 400 boxes. The letter gave no section 6596 protection and supplies…
Is the separate, optional amount a racetrack charges for reserved seating at tables/counters taxable, given that general admission is charged separately?
Yes. The Comptroller's Tax Policy Division concluded the separate optional charge for seating at tables/counters is taxable, comparing it to paying extra for a box seat at an amusement event.…
Is vacuuming up industrial waste (including EPA-hazardous flue dust) from a steel manufacturing plant a taxable 'building or grounds cleaning' service, or nontaxable waste 'collection'?
Nontaxable. The Comptroller reversed its earlier position and ruled that vacuum-truck removal of mill scale, flue dust (EPA-hazardous), lime dust, and sludge from a steel manufacturer's plant is…
Is providing and servicing air freshener/deodorizer dispensers installed in a customer's building a taxable service in Texas, and can the dispenser, batteries, and liquid be bought tax-free for resale?
Yes. The Comptroller ruled that Company A's air freshener/deodorizer service — installing a dispenser it owns in a customer's restrooms and servicing it by replacing the battery and refilling the…
When was tax due on computer hardware and software if title, invoicing, and payment occurred before physical delivery and final customer acceptance?
When title transferred. California required the sale on the third-quarter 1990 return even though delivery occurred in 1991 and final acceptance could occur later.
Did paid bold and Spanish-language listings count as advertising when measuring whether a telephone directory was principally promotional?
No. They remained directory listings, but the yellow pages and coupon section still made more than half the directory advertising, so it qualified.
Are limited partnerships, a trust, and the holders of the trust interests subject to Texas franchise tax?
None of them owed the tax. The Comptroller advised that two limited partnerships (ABC and EFG) and a Trust were not subject to the pre-2008 Texas franchise tax because they were not corporations,…
Was an absorbable Interceed Barrier used in pelvic surgery exempt from California sales tax as a medicine?
Yes. California treated the barrier as an exempt medicine because it was implanted during surgery and dissolved in the patient's body, subject to Regulation 1591's sale conditions.
Could a customer buy an inventory photograph for resale when either the customer or its client would copy the image?
Only if the physical photograph was resold before the first customer used it. Copying it before selling the resulting product was taxable use; passing the unused photograph to a client for that…
Was California Redemption Value a nontaxable bottle deposit when a retailer added it to the price of bottled water and soda?
No. CRV was part of the taxable sales price because Regulation 1589 excluded recycling value from its definition of a nontaxable deposit.
If casualty-loss repair labor was performed and finished before October 1, 1993, but most of the payment isn't collected until October 1993, is that labor taxed under the new law that took effect October 1, 1993?
No. The Comptroller ruled that for casualty-loss repairs, the taxability of the labor depends only on the date the labor was performed — not the date of the casualty/disaster and not the date…
Is adding bulk heading to a natural lake, or paving over a worn dirt cart path, new construction or remodeling for Texas tax purposes at an existing golf course?
Both are new construction. The Comptroller ruled that adding concrete bulk heading (gabions) around part of a completely natural lake is new construction, and that paving a naturally worn dirt cart…
Were handwritten concrete-pumping charges taxable when a concrete seller subcontracted the jobsite pumping and its delivered price excluded that work?
No, up to the seller's subcontracted transportation cost. The pumping was separately stated, outside the delivered price, and performed by another company.
Did an aircraft qualify for the common-carrier exemption when records mixed possible Part 135 charters with rentals, instruction, and unexplained flights?
No. Even treating all 45.3 billed charter hours as common carriage, they were less than half of 98.6 operational hours. Incomplete dates and mixed Part 91 use defeated the claim.
If I provide answering services (human or automated) to Texas customers from a location in Arkansas, do I owe Texas tax, and do I have to collect it from my customers?
Either human or automated answering service would be subject to Texas tax if the provider were located in Texas. Because the provider is in Arkansas, it must collect Texas Use Tax from its Texas…
As trustee of an estate, I'm selling a farmhouse where two disabled beneficiaries lived, plus two adjacent vacant farm parcels, to the same buyer. Is the house sale exempt from New York's Real Property Transfer Gains Tax as a residence, and do I have to add its sale price to the two land parcels' prices to test the $1 million threshold?
Split answer: the house sale was exempt on its own terms, but still had to be combined with the land sales to test the $1 million threshold. Mary and Seely Ward's ~100-acre Orange County farm, with…
Could a custodial parent who signed federal Form 8332 releasing the child's federal exemption still treat that child as a dependent for California income-tax purposes?
No. Under the law addressed in the ruling, signing Form 8332 made the child the noncustodial parent's dependent under I.R.C. section 152. Because California used that federal definition, the…
Did federal title clauses make insulated panels sold for an Air Force base real-property project nontaxable resale purchases, and were the quoted prices tax included?
No on both points. Construction contractors consumed the materials despite the title clauses, and the proposal expressly excluded taxes from the price.
Did a 48-page golf-course brochure qualify as a printed sales message when exactly half its pages were advertising?
No. California required more than 50 percent advertising or promotion; 24 advertising pages and 24 informational pages did not meet that threshold.
Did a landlord become the retailer of a tenant's later office-equipment sales merely by invoicing buyers, collecting proceeds, and applying them to the tenant's secured debt?
No. The recommendation found the landlord was protecting a secured interest, not acting as consignee: the tenant controlled the equipment, found buyers, and negotiated sales. The landlord's one sale…
Did the October 1, 1993 tax law change move mobile office trailers and rental bunkhouses from motor vehicle tax to sales tax?
Only office trailers changed. House trailers designed as an office, sales outlet, or other workplace moved from Motor Vehicle Tax Code Chapter 152 to Limited Sales Tax Code Chapter 151 as of October…
Does a company that performs pre-employment psychological testing, drug testing, and background-check services still have to collect Texas sales tax on those services?
It depends on the specific service. As of August 30, 1993, pre-employment psychological/attitude/honesty testing no longer requires a Private Investigators and Private Security Agencies Board…
Is a shopping mall's lease-based charge to tenants for redistributed electricity (plus an administrative fee) a taxable resale of a utility service, or is it untaxed rent?
It's untaxed rent, not a taxable utility resale -- because the electricity and administrative-fee charges are billed under the terms of the mall's leases as 'additional rent,' following the Court of…
I own a nine-acre beachfront parcel that I've treated as my principal residence, with a main house, a separate beach house, and an old barn, none of which I've ever rented out or depreciated. If I subdivide and sell just the beach house and barn (on six of the nine acres) to a buyer, does New York's Real Property Transfer Gains Tax apply?
No gains tax, because the beach house and barn were part of the owner's tax-exempt residence, not separate business or investment property. Burton Brous bought a nine-acre Long Island beachfront…
Was Rhode Island's water quality protection charge included in the taxable sales price of water?
Yes. The charge became part of the water's sale price when the supplier added it to the bill, so the retailer had to include it in gross receipts subject to sales tax. The 1993 order applied the…
Are hollow point needles used with a hypodermic syringe exempt from Texas sales tax?
Yes. The Comptroller ruled that hollow point needles adapted for use with a hypodermic syringe — including anesthesiology, thin wall tuohy, arterial, biopsy, and blood collection needles that are…
If a business catches up on years of unfiled sales tax reports, does not having had a valid sales tax permit increase its liability, and is there a limit on how far back the state can go?
Not having a valid sales tax permit does not itself increase the tax liability, but filing more than 30 days late triggers a 10% penalty (or a 50% penalty if the state finds intent to evade tax or…
When did South Carolina allow a use-tax credit for sales or use tax paid to another state under the 1993 guidance?
A credit was allowed for state and local sales or use tax due and paid to another state if that state allowed a substantially similar credit for South Carolina purchases. If the other-state tax was…
How did South Carolina calculate 1993 sales tax on a vehicle or trailer sold to a nonresident for registration in the buyer's home state?
The tax was the lesser of the sales tax imposed by the buyer's home state or the South Carolina tax. No South Carolina tax was due if the home state would not credit South Carolina tax paid. The…
Which American Red Cross sales were exempt, and when did California require use-tax collection or a seller's permit?
Program-connected health and safety materials and qualifying emblem items were exempt. Donated fundraising goods and items not normally bearing the emblem were taxable; chapters selling them needed…
How did California treat proprietary software and other assets transferred to create a payment-processing business alliance?
The planned remote software transfer and specified contract, collateral, record, and evaluation-copy items were not taxable. The broader alliance transfer remained a retail asset sale, and counsel…
How does Texas distinguish nontaxable employee/temporary-help labor from taxable 'contract labor'?
There is no separate definition of 'contract labor' in the Tax Code or Rules. Instead, labor is nontaxable if it qualifies either as an employee's service under Tax Code Section 151.057 (or the…
We're the fee owner of an office building. To help a prospective tenant (Newsweek) get NYC Industrial Development Agency economic-development benefits and a real estate tax abatement, we're converting our building to a condominium and conveying title to the tenant's units to the IDA for nominal consideration, then leasing those units back from the IDA at nominal net rent under an 'Overlease' lasting about 15 years and 8 months. We'll keep all the economic benefits and burdens (condemnation/insurance proceeds, income-tax ownership treatment, the right to sell/mortgage/transfer), and the IDA's title will end automatically on a set date or earlier if certain events happen (like the Prime Lease terminating), with title reverting to us. Are the conveyance to the IDA, the eventual title reversion, the Overlease, the Prime Lease with our tenant, and the related financing all exempt from New York's Real Estate Transfer Tax, Real Property Transfer Gains Tax, and Mortgage Recording Tax?
Exempt at every step -- Midtown Realty Company kept all the real economic benefits and burdens of ownership throughout. Midtown Realty, the fee owner of the office building at 1775 Broadway in…
Was an irrigation contractor treated as the retailer of materials when invoices separately stated their selling price and sales tax, despite claimed lump-sum agreements?
Yes. The separate material price and sales-tax line triggered the retailer presumption; software limits and subsidy billing requirements did not change it.
Can each school-sponsored student organization within a school district hold its own two one-day tax-free sales or auctions each year?
Yes. The Comptroller confirmed that the school district, each school in the district, and each school-sponsored student organization within each school (examples given: FFA, Spanish Club, Drama…
Is a country club's 'Non-Resident' membership class — for members who live more than 100 miles from the club, some of them out of state — subject to Texas sales tax on dues and fees?
Yes. The Comptroller ruled that because the country club itself is located in Texas, sales tax applies to all membership dues, initiation fees, and other assessments charged for the Non-Resident…
When a customer returns merchandise, gives a late resale/exemption certificate, or was billed tax in error, how does a seller get back the sales tax it already remitted to Texas?
The seller can get a refund or credit from the Comptroller two ways: file amended sales/use tax returns for the periods the tax was remitted, or take a credit on its next return. Either way, the…
What policy-document and ruling-request system did SC Revenue Procedure #93-6 establish?
The procedure defined Revenue Rulings, Revenue Procedures, Private Letter Rulings, Technical Advice Memorandums, and Information Letters, then prescribed written-request, review, proposed-ruling,…
Is a company that supplies law-library staff and looseleaf filing to law firms providing taxable personnel services in Connecticut?
It splits. When the company supplies temporary LIBRARY PERSONNEL (librarians, paraprofessionals, clerks) to law firms, that IS a taxable personnel service under Conn. Gen. Stat. § 12-407(2)(i)(C):…
Did the retroactive 1993 federal luxury-tax repeal generally create California sales- or use-tax refunds?
No. California had excluded the luxury tax from its measure; only limited short-term-lease repayments could create a price adjustment and related use-tax refund.
Does Texas sales tax apply to municipal franchise fees passed through on cable TV and garbage collection bills, and to tickets for an amusement event?
**Yes — all three items described in the letter are subject to Texas sales tax.** The Comptroller's letter explains that under Texas Tax Code Sec. 151.007(a)(2), 'sales price' includes the total…
Can a Medicare-related printing/forms contractor buy printed forms, booklets, and publications tax-free with a resale certificate because they're ultimately used for the federal Medicare program?
**Only if the contract with the federal government specifically provides that title to the items passes to the federal government upon receipt, and the items are not used before title passes.** The…
Is labor to repair residential property damaged by a fire, flood, or other casualty taxable in Texas?
**No — labor to repair residential improvements to realty is not taxed in Texas, regardless of the cause of the damage.** The Comptroller's letter clarifies that a 1993 legislative update on the…
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.