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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How did Florida's former intangible tax apply to an out-of-state business trust, its fund, and shares backed by government obligations?
The trust and fund owed no entity-level tax because they had no Florida presence. Fund shares were fully exempt with an all-exempt portfolio; a mixed portfolio left the nonexempt portion taxable.…
Were shares of a Massachusetts investment trust exempt from Florida's former intangible tax when its portfolio held government obligations and cash?
The shares were fully exempt when the trust's entire portfolio consisted of exempt Florida, U.S.-government, agency, territorial, and cash-equivalent assets. If the trust held nonexempt securities…
Did a withholding agent owe interest merely because a withholding-tax deposit was late?
No. The memorandum said a late deposit alone did not trigger interest. Interest applied when an insufficient or missing deposit left additional tax due and the quarterly return was filed late.
Were custom oil, water, and steam control systems permanently bolted at their designed sites construction materials or fixtures?
They were fixtures. The systems remained identifiable accessories after installation, and the exclusion for transmission lines, poles, towers, and conduit did not cover control panels.
How does the October 1, 1993 change to Tax Code Section 151.311 affect sales tax on contracts for construction of public roads and highways?
Effective October 1, 1993, contractors on public road and highway construction contracts go back to being taxed the way they were before October 1, 1991, regardless of whether the contract…
Are transportation or mileage charges billed in connection with repairing a motor vehicle, its components, or accessories subject to Texas sales tax?
It depends on what's being repaired or sold. **Transportation charges tied to repairing a motor vehicle (including its components or accessories) are not taxable, and towing is not taxable,…
Can a monthly 'recurring credit' on a taxable service contract be subtracted from the amount subject to sales tax?
No. A travel agency's contract for American Airlines' SABRE system gave it a fixed monthly 'recurring credit' of $610 tied to hitting a booking target. The Department found this was not a true…
Was a buyer successor to a newspaper that ceased publication when an $8 million agreement transferred its lists, archives, name rights, trucks, and racks?
Yes. California looked to the asset purchase agreement and the seller quitting business, not a later claim that only the subscription list and masthead were bought. The buyer had to withhold the…
Is the membership fee for an auto club roadside assistance plan (towing, out of gas, flat tire, lockout, travel expense reimbursement) subject to Texas sales tax?
No. **The Comptroller responded that the membership fees for this auto club's roadside assistance plan are not taxable.** The letter told the auto club that if it had been collecting tax from…
Does a for-profit art college's photography, film, and computer equipment qualify for the Article 9-A investment tax credit?
No. A for-profit college of visual arts cannot claim the Article 9-A investment tax credit on its photography, film, video, and computer-graphics equipment. The credit under Tax Law section 210.12…
Is a crane or hydraulic excavator mounted on a truck chassis exempt from Connecticut sales tax as a 'commercial truck'?
Only if it mainly hauls freight. A company sold and leased cranes and hydraulic excavators mounted on truck chassis, each rated over 26,000 pounds and highway-capable. DRS held such a vehicle is…
Was the Lemon Law amount attributable to the buyer's use or mileage taxable?
Yes. A use amount paid on replacement was taxable, and restitution refunded sales tax only on the net credit after subtracting the statutory use charge.
If a direct pay permit holder buys items and has them shipped straight through a central receiving point to plants in other cities without storing them, which city's local use tax is due?
City use tax is due to the city where the items are actually used or consumed after transportation, not the city where they passed through a central receiving point. **If items are purchased and…
Are purchases made with WIC benefits or food stamps, including for candy or sodas, subject to Texas sales tax — and how does a manufacturer's coupon used alongside them affect the tax?
No tax is due on the WIC- or food-stamp-paid portion of a purchase. Purchases made through the WIC program or with food stamps are not taxable — this includes candy, sodas, or other…
Are charges by caricature artists for drawings made at parties or events subject to Texas sales tax?
Yes. **Caricature artists create and sell tangible personal property, the same as other artists or photographers, so their charges are taxable** — even if the charge is figured on an hourly rate or…
Is the removal and disposal of drilling mud by a vacuum truck company taxable in Texas?
It depends on why the drilling mud was generated. If the drilling mud is a waste product resulting from the exploration, development, or production of oil, gas, or geothermal resources, the vacuum…
Does a temporary staffing agency that places lawyers, paralegals, legal secretaries, file clerks, and data processors with law firms need a sales tax permit?
It depends on what the temporary workers do. The letter explains that charges for lawyers and paralegals are not taxable, and legal secretaries and file clerks performing general clerical or…
Which charges by a moving company for relocating household goods (transportation, packing, boxes, storage, disassembly/reassembly) are taxable in Texas, and which are not?
It depends on the specific charge. Interstate transportation charges are exempt, and intrastate transportation charges are nontaxable. Carrier-supplied boxes/containers are taxable tangible personal…
Are business management services a Connecticut company sells to out-of-state clients taxable when the clients do no business in Connecticut?
No. A Connecticut-headquartered parent corporation's only business was providing 'business analysis, management, management consulting and public relations services' (Conn. Gen. Stat. §…
How did Utah tax water softeners sold with or without installation, rented before purchase, repaired, or sold under contracts allowing later removal?
An uninstalled unit sold to an end user was taxable tangible personal property. For an installed unit becoming realty, the company owed tax on material cost and did not separately charge customer…
Did a county's revised direct-purchase procedure exempt construction materials for a public facility from Florida sales tax?
Yes. The county issued its own purchase orders and exemption number, paid vendors directly, took title on delivery, reduced contractor prices by the purchases and tax savings, paid bond and…
Did a California video-rental store include daily late fees and an identification-substitute processing fee in taxable rental receipts?
Yes. The late fee paid for continued use, and the processing fee was part of what certain customers paid to obtain video rentals.
Did an out-of-state seller's California software license create a taxable lease and use-tax collection duty when the software had to be returned?
Yes under counsel's added return assumption. Copied software was a rent-taxed lease whose California presence required lessor collection.
How did California tax two free advertising publications, their inserts, and a separate free local-interest periodical distributed with them?
The advertising publications failed newspaper or periodical tests and consumed taxable ink and newsprint, but qualifying mailed inserts and the separate Discover the Delta periodical were exempt.
Did goods qualify for export when the purchaser controlled its trucks for two days before forwarding-agent delivery, despite later Mexico export?
No. Purchaser possession and control before the forwarding agent meant no irrevocable export commitment; actual later Mexico delivery was insufficient.
Is a marketing/information service that gathers leads from public sources and sells them to a specific client exempt as proprietary information?
No, it is taxable. **Marketing leads or research prepared for and sold to a specific client are a taxable information service, even if the provider agrees to sell only to that one client.** The…
When a kit or package combines taxable and exempt medical items, how is sales tax figured on the kit as a whole?
It depends on which items cost more. **When a kit or package of medical items is sold, the composite cost of the kit's items determines the taxability of the whole kit: if the cost of the taxable…
What did South Carolina announce about public access to Tax Commission decisions through June 1993?
Sanitized Commission Decisions and an index covering 1987 through June 30, 1993 were available for public review at the University of South Carolina School of Law Library and Department taxpayer…
Could a Kansas county use home-rule power to accept credit cards for vehicle registration and add a service fee?
No. The Department's memorandum said Attorney General Opinion 93-80 concluded that counties could not use home-rule powers to accept credit cards for vehicle registrations or annual motor-vehicle…
Is a dockside grain processing terminal project exempt from Texas sales and use tax?
Partly. The Comptroller ruled that materials used to build the dock extension and warehouse are exempt under Sec. 151.311, Tex. Tax Code (once the property becomes the ports' property, after October…
Does South Carolina's June 1993 policy index PDF contain the promised document entries?
No. The notice says a policy-document index is attached, but the current official two-page PDF stops after listing five major categories and contains no document-by-document entries.
Does South Carolina's June 1993 policy citator PDF contain the promised status entries and exhibits?
No. The notice says a policy-document citator is attached, but the official three-page PDF ends after its definitions and cumulative-topic explanation. It contains no document-level status entries…
Is rigorous two-month testing of printers a nontaxable demonstration when the tester later sells usable units and destroys unsalable ones?
No. The Board treated the purchaser's rigorous standards testing as a use beyond demonstration or display while holding the printers for sale. It separately clarified that testing an item for system…
Does a Texas restaurant owe sales tax on a one-dollar fee charged to customers who bring in their own food?
No. **A restaurant does not owe Texas sales tax on a flat fee charged to customers who bring their own food, because no sale of tangible personal property occurs with regard to that fee.** The…
Must a manufacturer collect sales tax on orthopedic braces and splints that normally qualify as exempt medical equipment?
Sometimes yes. Orthopedic devices such as braces, splints, cervical collars, and supports qualify as exempt medical equipment under Tax Law section 1115(a)(3). But that exemption does not apply to…
We're a nonprofit local development corporation that makes business loans secured by mortgages, and we record those mortgages ourselves. Is that exempt from New York's mortgage recording tax, whether we're the one giving the mortgage or the one receiving it?
Exempt, both directions -- mortgages given TO the corporation and mortgages given BY it. This is a foundational, general-purpose ruling establishing that Not-For-Profit Local Development…
Is a charge to inspect used oil-well casing pipe (checking threads and drift) taxable if it isn't tied to a sale of the pipe?
No, it's not taxable. **A charge for inspecting tangible personal property — like used casing pipe for a new oil well — is not taxable as long as the inspection is not related to the sale of that…
Is the labor to cut and bevel the production casing on a newly completed oil well taxable under Texas sales and use tax?
No. Cutting off the extra casing and later beveling it while completing a new oil well is treated as new construction, so the welder's labor is not taxable. Because the welder billed a single…
Did Kansas bingo licensees collect sales tax or bingo enforcement tax on instant bingo tickets?
Kansas bingo licensees selling instant bingo tickets, or pull tabs, had to collect Kansas state and local retailers' sales tax on those sales. The instant tickets were not subject to the separate 3%…
Does a 'Material Reimbursement Charge' (also called a 'Texas Price Adjustment' charge) that a well-services provider adds to its invoices to recover sales tax it paid on materials used in a nontaxable service violate Rule 3.324(b)(3)(4)?
No. The Comptroller confirmed that the taxpayer's 'Material Reimbursement Charge' — a separate line-item charge used to recover additional product costs incurred because the taxpayer paid sales tax…
When a sign company designs, manufactures, and installs signs, when is the job treated as an improvement to realty versus a sale of tangible personal property, and how does that affect sales tax?
It depends on the type of sign and how it is attached. Most signs (since May 1988) are treated as real property, so if the sign company acts as a lump-sum contractor it pays tax on materials and…
We're modifying a mortgage so that accrued-but-unpaid interest gets deferred and paid as a fixed lump sum at maturity, without bearing its own interest and without being added to the principal balance. Does that modification trigger additional mortgage recording tax?
No additional tax -- but the details of HOW interest is deferred matter enormously, and this ruling draws a precise line. Ticor Title Guarantee Company asked whether modifying a mortgage to defer…
Did Florida require a stock transfer agent to file the customer position statements required from registered securities broker-dealers?
No. Section 199.062(3) required registered securities broker-dealers holding customer securities to file position statements. A transfer agent acted only as the recordkeeper rather than the seller…
Were a surgical hemostat, a blood-analysis stain, and medicated pre-surgery scrubbrushes exempt from Florida sales tax?
The hemostat was exempt because a licensed practitioner incorporated it into the patient, and the B-R-I blood stain was an exempt diagnostic chemical compound. The medicated scrubbrushes were…
If a contractor performs lead-paint abatement (a taxable repair to real property) and also does air monitoring for the same job, is the air monitoring taxable too, and what about the disposal of contaminated materials?
The repair/remodeling work (paint removal, repainting, and related repairs) is a taxable service, but air monitoring is not taxable when it is a stand-alone service involving direct scientific…
Did South Carolina PLR 93-4 exempt a commercial fisherman's retail oyster sales as farm products?
Yes, but only for oysters the fisherman cultivated and harvested in his own shellfish-culture permit area and sold in their original state of production or preparation. Oysters harvested from…
If a motor vehicle repair shop separately states a charge for shop supplies on a customer's bill, is the shop the 'seller' of those supplies and required to collect sales tax on them?
Yes. This internal Comptroller memo confirms that, effective October 1, 1991, a motor vehicle repair person who separately states a charge for shop supplies (tangible personal property) is a seller…
If I provide nontaxable mailing/packaging services (boxing, padding, and shipping items for customers) and pay tax on my own packaging supplies, do I have to charge my customers sales tax on the box, packing materials, labor, and shipping charges?
No. Because mailing services are a nontaxable service, the provider (not the customer) owes sales tax on packaging supplies purchased from suppliers under Rule 3.314(c). In both examples given --…
A partnership owes $30 million on a nonrecourse mortgage loan, secured by real property worth $10 million plus a $50,000 cash account the bank also has a security interest in. The partners personally guaranteed part of the debt. If the partnership transfers everything to the bank in lieu of foreclosure -- or the bank forecloses and is the winning bidder -- in exchange for cancelling the debt and the guarantees, what's the 'consideration' for New York's Real Property Transfer Gains Tax, and does it matter whether the loan was recourse or nonrecourse?
For a transfer occurring before April 15, 1993, the consideration was the amount of debt cancelled, apportioned to reflect only the real property's share of value -- and the answer was the same…
Which costs entered the Florida use-tax base when a road contractor excavated its own fill dirt from owned or leased borrow pits?
The base included land acquisition and costs attributable to clearing, site access, excavation, inbound mobilization, mining, and loading labor, fuel, and repairs. Loader equipment itself and…
Did liquidated damages deducted for late completion reduce the taxable sales price of a fabricated and installed transformer?
No. The deduction represented civil damages for breach, not a lower initial sales price; qualifying installation could still be allocated out of the lump sum.
Were charges taxable for refacing and refurbishing existing cabinets affixed to real property?
No, on that assumption. The refinisher's customer charge was not taxable, but the refinisher consumed the paint, varnish, knobs, and other materials and owed tax on them.
Were separately billed design charges enough to prove nontaxable preliminary art when a graphic artist relied on verbal agreements and kept no job records?
No. The artist needed purchase orders, work orders, or other records proving preliminary art was ordered before the finished-art contract or approval.
Is beaver trapping and dam removal on timberland taxable as a structural pest control service?
No. The Comptroller ruled that beaver trapping and removal services performed to stop beaver dams from flooding East Texas timberland are not taxable as structural pest control services. Structural…
Is a glamour photography studio's session fee (covering wardrobe, makeover, and a private photo session) taxable, even if the customer receives no tangible personal property at the session and only orders photographs — if ever — at a later date?
Yes, the session fee is taxable. The Comptroller ruled that the session-fee services (wardrobe, makeover, private photo session) are part of the sale of any photographs, image copies, negatives, or…
Are massage services by a New York State licensed massage therapist subject to New York City and New York State sales tax?
They are taxable for New York City but not for New York State. New York City taxes massage services under Tax Law section 1212-A(a)(2) and NYC Administrative Code section 11-2002(h). Those laws…
Is a power lift recliner exempt from sales tax as medical equipment?
No. A power lift recliner sold by a retail furniture store does not qualify as exempt medical equipment under Tax Law section 1115(a)(3). To be exempt, equipment must be primarily and customarily…
Are chocolate-covered cookie bars like PB Max and Twix taxed as candy or exempt as food?
It depends on how they are packaged, marketed, and sold. PB Max and Twix are chocolate-coated wafer cookie bars. When sold in family packs and advertised, marketed, and sold as packaged cookies or…
Does an orthotist owe sales tax on braces, canes, crutches, and walkers it buys, and is fitting a brace a taxable medical service?
No, the purchases are exempt, because the orthotist is not performing a medical service. Braces (with component parts), canes, crutches, and walkers are exempt medical equipment under Tax Law…
Could recipients continue relying on existing ABC Commission internal policies and legal-counsel opinions after the July 1993 agency consolidation?
Yes. During the transition, the Commission said it would continue following existing ABC Commission internal policies and legal-counsel opinions. If review later required changes, those changes…
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