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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Is a subcontractor's charge to erect tubular scaffolding or pipe framing for a building renovation subject to New York sales tax?
Yes. A subcontractor's charge to erect tubular scaffolding or pipe framing is subject to New York State and local sales tax. Scaffolding is not a tax-exempt 'temporary facility' — and it's taxable…
Are a company's labor and material charges to close its portion of a town-owned landfill subject to New York sales and use tax?
No. Closing the landfill is a capital improvement, so the labor charges aren't taxable; and because the materials become an integral part of the exempt Town of Wilna's land, the materials aren't…
Texas Letter Ruling 9210L1198A13: Jail/Prison — Inmates Staying In Facility In Excess Of 30 Days Do Not Meet Definition Of Tenants — Gas And Electricity Is Not Residential Use
No. The Texas Comptroller ruled that a prison is not a building 'occupied as a home or residence,' so natural gas and electricity purchased for use in a prison do not qualify for the residential-use…
Texas Letter Ruling 9210L1197E07: Walls — New Exterior Wall Built Around Remodeled Building — No Usable Space Created — Is Remodeling
It depends on whether the new wall creates usable space. Following an ALJ hearings decision, the Comptroller revised its earlier guidance: pouring a new footer and adding a brick wall outside an…
Texas Letter Ruling 9210504L: Satellite Dish — Home/Residential Or Commercial Use — Sale And Installation Vs. Improvement To Realty
Generally no. The Comptroller ruled that satellite systems are tangible personal property, not permanent improvements to realty, so the full charge for both labor and materials to sell and install…
Did a new revolving loan under an existing future-advance mortgage trigger tax beyond the documentary and nonrecurring intangible taxes the borrower planned to pay?
No, provided the company remained the only obligor and mortgagor. Beyond documentary stamp tax paid when the future-advance agreement was recorded and nonrecurring intangible tax paid on each draw,…
Was loose ice made and sold through a coin-operated vending machine at a motel subject to Florida sales tax?
Yes. The Department treated ice as taxable tangible personal property rather than food or beverage for sales-tax purposes. It applied the vending-machine rules to the machine's total receipts and…
Were equipment lessors compliant when they applied the 1992 restated lease-classification criteria to leases entered into after January 2, 1989?
Yes. Rule 12A-1.071(1)(e) deemed taxpayers compliant when they calculated and paid tax on leases entered after January 2, 1989 under later-adopted amendments. The Department confirmed that correct…
Texas Letter Ruling 9210L1200G11: Medical Air Services — Membership/Initiation Fee For Emergency Medical Flights, Organ Delivery, Mortal Remains Return
No. The Texas Comptroller ruled that annual dues and a one-time initiation fee paid to a medical emergency association are not taxable, because membership in a medical emergency association is not…
Texas Letter Ruling 9210L1197G12: Fair Exhibitors — Parking Passes Provided Together With Admission Fee
No, not automatically. If an exhibitor's admission pass includes complimentary parking with no separately identifiable parking charge, none of the admission price is taxable as motor vehicle…
How did Florida's historical intangible tax apply to shares of a business trust holding exempt and nonexempt portfolio assets?
Shares were fully exempt if the portfolio consisted solely of exempt assets. If nonexempt securities were held at year-end, tax applied to the portion represented by taxable assets, while the…
Which charges connected with leases of cranes and hoists were taxable: labor services, delivery, fuel, damage waivers, and maintenance agreements?
Mixed. Erection, dismantling, jumping, service, repair, and maintenance agreements were taxable. F.O.B.-origin delivery under the short-form crane lease was excluded, but hoist delivery was taxable.…
Does Salt Lake County's 1% restaurant tax apply to banquet extras like flowers, equipment rental, music, bartender labor, ice carvings, corkage, and gratuities -- or only to the food and beverages themselves?
It depends on the item. Salt Lake County's 1% restaurant tax applies to charges directly incidental to serving food and beverages -- like a drink setup/corkage fee -- and to required gratuities…
Texas Letter Ruling 9210L1204F12: Lock Or Locking Cylinder Exchange Service For Storage Facilities — Fee Charged
Yes. The Texas Comptroller ruled that a flat fee charged for organizing and coordinating the exchange of locking cylinders between storage facilities is the taxable sales price of the different…
Was a custom-machine developer a California seller and retailer after making only one retail sale during a twelve-month period?
Yes, because the contract and contemplated follow-on machines showed entry into the selling business. One sale alone was insufficient, but a seller became a retailer upon making that retail sale.
Was permanently anchored playground equipment treated as construction materials or fixtures under lump-sum building and repair contracts?
Large site-built playgrounds appeared to be materials, making the contractor their consumer. Prefabricated ready-to-install equipment instead required the regulation's 90% fixture test.
Did one partner's personal bankruptcy stay California's collection from partnership property or nonfiling partners?
No, for a true partnership. Staff said California could levy partnership property and nonfiling partners, file a claim in the debtor partner's case, and continue partnership permit action.
Texas Letter Ruling 9210L1209F06: Right — Of — Way/Other Infrastructure — Installation Or Repairs Of Tpp Or Improvements To Realty Must Be Dedicated And Accepted To Get Exemption
Yes. The Comptroller confirmed that the same rules used for developers donating streets to exempt entities also apply to donations of other types of real property improvements to exempt entities.
Did an out-of-state seafood processor create Florida corporate-income or intangible-tax nexus by regularly delivering orders in its own trucks?
No, on the stated facts. Orders were taken and filled outside Florida, company-owned trucks delivered without a separate charge, and occasional driver unloading was incidental. The activities stayed…
Did use tax apply when a new packaging machine made California field-trial samples before its planned move to an Illinois production plant?
Yes. Making the sample packages was California use under section 6201, despite the plan to move the machine later for Illinois production.
When nonresident shareholders liquidate a New York S corporation whose only asset is a partnership interest in New York rental real estate, what are the New York personal income tax consequences under Article 22 of the Tax Law - and can a loss on the deemed sale of their S-corporation stock offset the gain on the deemed sale of the corporation's underlying asset?
No, the loss cannot offset the gain for New York purposes, and the result is asymmetric. Because the New York S corporation allocated 100% of its income to New York for franchise tax purposes, the…
Are municipal put bonds investment capital, and how does the put date affect their classification under Article 9-A?
A municipal put bond's put date counts as a 'date of maturity' under 20 NYCRR 3-4.2. So the bond is generally classified as investment capital, except that it must be classified as cash (not…
Is a dissolved corporation that merely holds record title to New York real property as nominee for others, while otherwise inactive, subject to Article 9-A franchise tax?
It depends on whether the corporation was still incorporated. Midstate Research was a New York corporation that owned four acres of vacant land but stopped all activity in 1971 and was dissolved by…
Did charter flights remain common carriage when the aircraft owner's president served as pilot but the certified carrier controlled and billed the flights?
Yes. The pilot's employment by the owner did not control. The carrier contracted with unrelated customers, set the flights, billed standard rates, and controlled the pilot.
Did manufacturing have to fall within SIC codes 2000 through 3999 for Utah's fuel-and-electricity exemption, and did producing prepackaged software qualify?
Manufacturing did not have to fall within SIC codes 2000 through 3999 under Rule R865-19-35S, although an activity within those codes could qualify if it met the predominant-use test. Producing…
Texas Letter Ruling 9210L1199F14: Local Tax — City Ordinance — Enacting Tax On Telecommunications/Gas And Electricity — Whether Will Expire If City Changes Providers
No. The Comptroller's Tax Administration division concluded that a city's ordinances taxing telecommunications, gas, and electric services do not expire or stop applying if the city later switches…
Were personalized scholarship-search and SAT-preparation reports taxable when each student received one unique report plus some standardized material?
No, under the opinion's assumptions. The unique research, scoring, and analysis greatly outweighed identical material, so the lump-sum program was a service.
Who was the buyer and consumer when supermarkets sponsored merchandise that a program operator drop-shipped to schools redeeming cash-register receipts?
The supermarkets bought and consumed the merchandise by donating it to the schools. Under the assumed out-of-state title transfer, neither California sales tax nor use tax applied.
Under the pre-1994 rule, was a bankruptcy trustee's sale of an asphalt plant exempt as an occasional or isolated sale?
Historically, yes, unless the plant was sold by an auctioneer, agent, broker, or factor. The official document flags that Rule 12A-1.037 was amended effective August 15, 1994 and directs readers to…
Under a rule already scheduled for deletion, when did a trust and corporate tenant qualify for related-party debt-payment treatment on rent?
Historically, treatment began June 4, 1991, when the trust's stock ownership rose above the ruling's 80% threshold; the contemporaneous unconditional guaranty created equal liability, and rent…
Could prescribed creams and washes for incontinence patients be sold tax-free by a nonpharmacy Medi-Cal provider?
No. California required a registered pharmacist to fill those prescriptions; the special rule allowing a medical supplier applied to ostomy supplies, not incontinence products.
What does the current official PDF of South Carolina's policy-document index through September 30, 1992 contain?
The letter announces an index of Commission policy documents issued from 1987 through September 30, 1992. The current official two-page PDF identifies five document types and five major tax…
Texas Letter Ruling 9210L1204F03: Stock/Commodity Quotation Service — 'Real Time' Quotes And Bids
The company's real-time stock and commodity quote/bid service is a taxable information service under 34 TAC 3.342, so Texas sales tax applies. But its separate securities order-execution and…
Texas Letter Ruling 9210L1200F06: Representation/Nexus In Texas — Displaying Products And Providing Order Forms At University Bookstore By Oos Seller
Yes. The Comptroller advised that an out-of-state seller displaying its products and providing order forms at a Texas university bookstore is engaged in business in Texas because that display counts…
Is plastic media blasting to strip paint before repainting real property taxable in Texas?
Yes, in most cases. The Comptroller treated plastic media blasting done to prepare real property for repainting as a taxable restoration or remodeling service under Rule 3.357. The provider must…
Can Florida TAA 92A-071 still be relied on for related-party rent paid by corporations guaranteeing their owner's mortgage debt?
No. Florida marks the ruling obsolete and superseded. Historically, it treated unconditional payment guarantees executed with the notes as creating equal liability under Rule 12A-1.070(19)(c), but…
Was a sale to an out-of-state customer exempt when the seller first delivered the goods to a California fabricator for added backing?
Only if the fabricator was solely the seller’s representative and later shipped the goods out. Delivery to the customer’s California contractor counted as delivery to the customer and was taxable.
Texas Letter Ruling 9210L1201A05: Therabite Mobilizer For Jaw Motion Rehabilitation — Orthopedic Device
Yes. The Comptroller ruled that the Therabite Mobilizer, a device that stretches or moves the jaw joint for rehabilitation, qualifies as a tax-exempt orthopedic device under Rule 3.284(a)(9), based…
Texas Letter Ruling 9210L1200A01: Exempt/Nonprofit Entity And For — Profit Organization Holding Event — Guidelines
Yes, admission tickets can stay exempt from Texas amusement tax even when a nonprofit hires a for-profit sports marketing firm to run the event, as long as the nonprofit is the one that holds itself…
Does a Texas restaurant have to charge sales tax on meals it gives employees free or for a fee around their shift?
No. The Comptroller ruled that meals a food service operator furnishes to employees immediately before, during, or immediately after a shift, provided for the operator's convenience, are not subject…
Texas Letter Ruling 9210483L: Delivery/Courier/Messenger Service Only
No. Texas ruled that a company's document delivery and filing services (fax, mail, courier, or hand delivery to recipients as instructed by clients) are not subject to Texas sales or use tax, no…
Our company owns numerous New York real estate interests, many of which we built ourselves, generating huge volumes of vendor invoices, purchase orders, and accounting records supporting the 'original purchase price' we'd need to prove for the Real Property Transfer Gains Tax. Can we keep those supporting records solely on microfilm or similar media, instead of retaining the original paper documents?
Yes -- microfilm (or similar media) recordkeeping is acceptable for substantiating original purchase price, as long as the taxpayer follows the Department's established recordkeeping procedures for…
Were Yellow Pages layouts nontaxable preliminary art when a different advertising agency recreated the finished ads?
No. The artist's layouts were taxable because Regulation 1540 required the same seller of preliminary art to furnish the finished art, and this artist never produced the final Yellow Pages ads.
Is a manufacturer's rebate that a car lessee assigns to the dealer as a 'capitalized cost reduction' still part of the taxable receipt on the lease?
Yes. A rebate the car manufacturer pays you and that you sign over to the dealer as a 'capitalized cost reduction' does not shrink what you owe the dealer, so it stays part of the taxable lease…
Is the IRC section 847 special deduction for an insurance company's discounted unpaid loss reserves allowed in computing entire net income under Article 33 of the New York Tax Law?
No -- the section 847 deduction is effectively reversed for New York. IRC section 847 lets a property/casualty insurer take an extra deduction for discounting its unpaid loss reserves, but only if…
When did a tax-exempt public corporation have to pay or collect sales tax on repossessed property, receiver sales, and auctioneer sales?
The corporation paid no tax on property it acquired, but it had to collect tax when selling property for its own account because the purchaser bore the tax. It did not collect on court-approved…
Texas Letter Ruling 9210L1197D11: Vessel — Component Parts — Fishing Net/Long — Line Fishing Gear — Component Of Fishing/Shrimp Boat
Long-line fishing gear, fishing nets and repair twine, stored life preservers, and rigging attached to the vessel are exempt as component parts when sold with a proper exemption certificate for a…
How did optional engineers, programming, delivery, setup, pickup, and resale certificates affect short-term audio-visual equipment leases?
Optional engineer was nontaxable only with customer control; other services turned on timing/choice, and resale on sublessee control/good faith.
We're building a cogeneration plant at JFK Airport under Port Authority agreements, financed by up to $250 million in Port Authority bonds. The Port Authority will assign its lease rents to the bond trustee (exempt, since it's a government instrumentality), and we'll separately grant the trustee a leasehold mortgage on our own leasehold interest as additional security. Is our leasehold mortgage exempt too, or only the Port Authority's assignment?
Exempt too, but ONLY if recorded after the Port Authority's own exempt Assignment of Rents -- and this is the origin ruling establishing that sequencing rule, later applied and reaffirmed on a…
May a new business get a refund of its unused Article 9-A investment tax credit under section 210.12(j), and for which year must the refund claim be filed?
Yes -- a qualifying new business can have its unused investment tax credit refunded, with conditions. NEWCO, a manufacturer incorporated in 1984 that met the section 210.12(j) new-business tests,…
Under South Carolina Revenue Ruling 92-14, who owed deed documentary tax, and how were master-in-equity deeds and transfers to or from governments, GNMA, FNMA, Freddie Mac, and Farm Credit entities treated?
The purchaser or grantee was primarily liable; the seller or grantor could be assessed only when collection from the grantee was impractical. Master-in-equity foreclosure deeds to private buyers…
How did South Carolina Revenue Ruling 92-11 tax contractors that fabricated standard finished products or one-project-only unique products for use in real-property construction?
The historical ruling split the result by product type and business activity. A taxpayer regularly selling standard finished products was a manufacturer; when it used those products in its own South…
The Transit Supervisors Organization, a union representing employees of the Manhattan and Bronx Surface Transit Operating Authority (MABSTOA), asked whether pensions paid to MABSTOA employees are taxable under New York's personal income tax - especially after the MABSTOA pension plan was revamped to more closely resemble the New York City Transit Authority's pension fund.
MABSTOA pensions remain fully taxable - even after the plan's revamp, it still is not exempt as a 'New York State or municipal retirement system' under Tax Law § 612(c)(3), because it remains…
Does an off-campus pizzeria owe sales tax on food it delivers to college students under a campus meal-plan voucher system?
Yes. The student meal-plan exclusion only covers food sold at a restaurant located on the college's premises. An off-campus pizzeria delivering to students — even under the campus voucher plan —…
Did a taxpayer effectively refuse audit access by offering books and records only if the auditor allowed every work discussion to be videotaped?
Yes. The 1992 memorandum found no legal right to impose that condition, treated continued insistence as noncooperation, and said the Executive Director had statutory subpoena authority even without…
Were Medifast nutritional products exempt when sold through the described physician-controlled weight program?
Yes. California treated the products as exempt prescription medicines when prescribed within the described program of examination, lab work, and weekly physician monitoring.
Texas Letter Ruling 9209L1239D03: Tax Refund Check/Warrant — Is A Decision Of The Comptroller And Is Not Equivalent To 'Notice Of Determination'
No. The Texas Comptroller ruled that a refund check or warrant is simply a decision of the Comptroller, not a 'notice of determination' under Tax Code Section 111.104(c)(3). If no notice of…
Could a vendor treat a documented sale to the United States government as exempt when the purchaser refused to provide a Florida exemption certificate?
Yes. An exemption certificate was an easy method of proof, not the exclusive method for a sale actually made to the United States or its instrumentality. The vendor's government letterhead…
Texas Letter Ruling 9209L1195D07: Self — Insured Or Self — Funded Plans
No. The Texas Comptroller ruled that a self-funded employee benefit plan owes no sales tax on utilization review (cost-containment) services or on a third-party administrator's fund handling and…
Texas Letter Ruling 9209L1195D01: Financing Lease Vs. Operating Lease — Nominal Purchase Option And Fair Market Value
It depends on the purchase option. Texas doesn't require the end-of-lease purchase price to equal fair market value, but if a 10% deposit clearly exceeds the equipment's fair market value at…
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