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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Did the amendment to Texas Tax Code § 151.3101 make sports league fees or spectator admissions taxable?
No. The letter said neither league fees paid by individuals or teams to participate in games nor admission paid by individual spectators was taxable for the requesting organization.
Were Texas local recording agents' separately authorized client-service fees subject to sales or use tax?
No. Fees authorized by Senate Bill 324 for services outside the agents' insurance-company commissions were not taxable. The agent still had to pay tax on taxable property or services purchased for…
Were lumbar cushions and cervical pillows taxable when sold to health-care providers or prescribed individuals?
They were taxable when sold to hospitals, clinics, nursing homes, physicians, and other health-care providers for their use, but exempt as therapeutic devices when sold to an individual under a…
Was the transfer of about 15,000 leased vehicles and their leases to a new subsidiary taxable when the subsidiary would continue leasing them?
No tax was due at the transfer if the new subsidiary was a registered dealer and gave a proper resale certificate. The title transfer—including vehicles contributed to capital—was a sale, but it was…
Was a nonprofit country club's sale of an equity membership certificate a taxable admission to recreational facilities?
No. The certificate represented equitable ownership in the Chapter 617 nonprofit club, which the rule excluded from taxable admission fees. Because the initial sale was not taxable, the club's…
Did prescribed shoes built from casts of a patient's feet qualify as custom-made foot orthoses in California?
Yes. California exempted the shoes because they were made on individual foot models rather than premade, formed directly on the feet, or fabricated inside existing shoes.
Was a doctor-prescribed home stairway lift exempt as a mobility device in California?
No. California taxed the lift because section 6369.2 exempted specified mobility devices rather than every prescribed device serving the same purpose.
Which Texas utility uses qualified for exemption, and how did a taxpayer support a predominant-use claim?
Residential and specified noncommercial uses were exempt, including qualifying agricultural, manufacturing, processing, mining, and drilling use. Utilities used to provide data processing or other…
Were charges for fitting pictures, paintings, needlework, and similar items into frames nontaxable installation labor?
No. Fitting items into a frame was taxable assembly or fabrication. Installation would instead include labor to mount the completed framed picture on the customer's wall.
Who was the consumer when a California firm shipped skill-or-chance prizes directly to radio or television contestants?
The program sponsor was the consumer even though the seller shipped directly to contestants. The controlling 1992 replacement memorandum says sales tax applied to the California firm's sale of the…
Did two insurers' joint ownership of a hotel extend their gross-premiums-tax protection to the hotel venture?
No. Counsel concluded the participation agreement created a separate joint venture, so the hotel did not receive the insurers' tax protection unless the venture itself qualified as an insurer paying…
How were South Carolina counties ranked for the new jobs tax credit for tax years beginning in 1992?
The notice ranked 16 counties as less developed, 15 as moderately developed, and 15 as developed. The historical credit was $1,000 per new full-time job with 10 new jobs, $600 with 18, or $300 with…
How did California tax magazine subscriptions, free copies, publishing inputs, advertising, and out-of-state purchases?
California taxed in-state subscriptions, exempted qualifying free and interstate copies, and distinguished taxable art from nontaxable services.
Was a voluntary one-dollar charitable donation added to a restaurant guest check part of the taxable meal price?
No. The Comptroller said the donation was not taxable consideration for the meal when the customer voluntarily selected it, the guest check separately stated it as a charitable donation, and the…
Were a country club's initiation fees and monthly dues exempt when its amusement services were provided exclusively in a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark?
Yes. Although amusement services of Section 501(c)(7) organizations had become taxable, the Comptroller said the historic-landmark exclusion still applied when the country club provided those…
Was an air-purifying system sold to an allergy patient exempt from Texas sales tax when prescribed?
Yes. The Comptroller treated the air purifier as a therapeutic device and said its sale was exempt when made to an individual under a written prescription from a licensed healing-arts practitioner.
Could tax collected on supposed lease payments continue offsetting the seller's liability after California told the parties the contracts were sales at inception?
No. Once the parties knew the correct treatment, future overcollections could not offset another party's liability and had to be returned or paid to the state.
Did a donor owe California use tax when it handed donated goods to a carrier here for shipment to charities outside the state?
Yes. The donor consumed the goods when title passed upon California delivery to the carrier. Later out-of-state receipt did not turn the completed California gift into an exempt interstate sale.
Did a California donor owe use tax when it handed donated property to a carrier in California for delivery to out-of-state charities?
Yes. The donor consumed the property when title passed at the California carrier handoff; interstate-sale rules did not exempt a completed California gift, and later out-of-state delivery did not…
Did a seller owe Texas sales tax when a Texas buyer accepted an aircraft and took title in South Carolina before bringing it to Texas?
No Texas sales tax applied to the South Carolina sale, but the buyer owed Texas state and applicable local use tax when the aircraft entered Texas for use. The buyer could claim credit for legally…
Which animal-feed purchases qualified for Texas's agricultural sales-tax exemption for a horse-and-llama ranch?
Feed was exempt for horses and mules, animals ordinarily used as human food, qualifying work or assistance animals, breeding animals whose offspring were held for sale, animals held for sale, and…
How did Texas tax property-management maintenance, employee reimbursements, management fees, construction supervision, and passed-through project costs?
Qualifying scheduled maintenance, unrelated management fees, and supervision-only services were not taxable. Employee reimbursements depended on permanent assignment and documentation. A manager…
Could a cable-television company buy electricity tax-free for resale because electricity helped produce the signal delivered to subscribers?
No. Electricity used to perform the cable service was not resold because subscribers did not receive care, custody, and control of it. The cable company therefore could not give its electricity…
How did Florida tax ordinary circus tickets, free admissions, charitable pledges that earned discount coupons, and tickets bought by redeeming those coupons?
Ordinary paid admissions were taxable, while genuinely free tickets and charitable pledges that did not themselves admit anyone were not. When a contributor redeemed a coupon for a discounted…
Was uncarbonated utility water dispensed by coin-operated machines into customers' containers in gallon quantities subject to Florida sales tax?
No. The dealer's machines dispensed utility water without added carbonation or minerals, and Florida specifically exempted water. The Department also concluded that the vending-machine statute's…
How much Florida sales tax applied when a lessee bought a vehicle without a written purchase option after paying tax on the lease payments?
Tax applied to the buyout purchase price to the extent lease tax had not already been paid on that amount. But without a prior written option or pricing formula, the Department could not determine…
How were boating-course texts, drafting tools, examination materials, banquets, member merchandise, and predecessor tax liabilities treated?
Unpriced instructional items made the school their use-tax-paying consumer, separate item charges were taxable, and test fees were nontaxable services; other activities had distinct rules.
Were later software-license fees taxable when new passwords, but no new tapes, expanded access to software already delivered?
Yes. Because customers already possessed software on tangible media, fees for more users, another module, or a renewed annual license were taxable.
Were purchases and transactions connected with a private contractor's operation of a federally funded Job Corps Center exempt from Texas sales and use tax?
Yes. The letter said private for-profit and nonprofit contractors were not required to collect or pay state or local sales and use tax on property, services, or other items connected with operating…
Is a toll-free 'call before you dig' service that takes callers' messages and relays them to member utilities a taxable telephone answering service in New York?
Yes. One Call Systems runs a toll-free 800 'call before you dig' center where contractors, utilities, and the public report an intent to disturb the earth, and it transmits those messages to the…
Does South Carolina's 1991 year-end 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.
How did Texas tax excavation and disposal when an underground storage tank was removed or replaced?
Excavating the tank for disposal or replacement was nontaxable demolition, but hauling and disposing of it was taxable waste removal. A lump-sum mixed charge was presumed fully taxable when taxable…
Was a metal building used seasonally for kidding and shearing Angora goats exempt as agricultural equipment?
No. The building remained a taxable general-purpose structure because it could economically serve other uses. Exemption required a design so specialized that the structure essentially became…
What 1991 base-period T-bill rate applied to South Carolina deferred tax liability for DISCs and foreign trade receipts?
The September 30, 1991 base-period T-bill rate was 6.42%. For a normal 365-day taxable year, the notice gave a daily-compounded annual factor of .06630; a different factor was needed for short…
Which counties were adding South Carolina's 1% local option tax in May 1992, and did the state credit local tax paid elsewhere?
Abbeville, Allendale, Bamberg, Edgefield, Lancaster, Marlboro, and Saluda were scheduled to add the 1% tax on May 1, 1992. The notice also said South Carolina had credited both state and local tax…
Did a post-production company collect Texas sales tax for adding sound effects to a television-program master?
No, when the company added sound effects to a motion-picture master under a producer's direction. The provider was treated as a production or post-production company, but it owed sales or use tax on…
Were contract measuring services and certification of the results subject to Texas sales tax?
A stand-alone measuring service was not taxable. If the measuring was performed in connection with selling a taxable item, the service was taxable even when separately stated. The letter defined a…
Was mesquite wood purchased by a restaurant for cooking food for sale exempt from Texas sales tax?
Yes. Wood used to cook food for sale qualified for exemption, provided the seller obtained a properly completed exemption certificate from the purchaser instead of collecting tax.
When a cabinet maker installs its own cabinets in custom-kitchen jobs, are those cabinets 'items of the same kind' it sells, so use tax is based on its selling price?
They are items of the same kind. Triangle Pacific manufactures kitchen-cabinet boxes and sells them to stores and contractors, and also installs them in custom kitchens. The Department held the…
My elderly client holds a 40% interest in a partnership that owns New York real estate and wants to transfer her entire interest into her own revocable living trust for estate planning. Separately, and completely unrelated to her, the estate of another 40%-owning partner may soon sell or distribute its interest. Will my client's trust transfer be aggregated with that unrelated transfer to trigger the 50%-or-more 'controlling interest' threshold under New York's Real Property Transfer Gains Tax?
No aggregation -- the client's transfer of her 40% partnership interest into her own revocable trust will NOT be combined with the unrelated estate's separate, independent transfer of its own 40%…
Could a nonprofit hospital buy construction materials and lease equipment tax-free for a children's health center when it—not the contractor—issued purchase orders, took title, bore risk, received invoices, and paid vendors?
Yes. The hospital's direct purchases and equipment leases were exempt when used in its customary charitable activities because the hospital executed the purchase orders, took title at delivery, bore…
Were freelance proofreading, typesetting, computer page-layout, and advertising paste-up services subject to Florida sales tax?
It depended on what the freelancer delivered. Work on Company A's own manuscripts, photocopies, and disks was an exempt personal service because the same customer-furnished property was returned and…
Were materials for a city storage-building project exempt when the municipality issued purchase orders, approved the purchases, paid vendors directly, and bore the risk of loss even though the contractor handled requisitions and invoices?
Yes, if the described procedures were followed and the utilities authority was part of the city government. The municipality was the purchaser in both form and substance because it approved and…
Were two crawler tractors sold at a Florida auction taxable when the auctioneer's agents loaded them on a common carrier for documented delivery to a buyer in a foreign country?
No. Although an auctioneer ordinarily had to collect Florida sales tax, the documents showed that the tractors were irrevocably committed to export: the seller was required to deliver them to a…
Were membership charges for a personalized dating and matchmaking service subject to Texas sales tax?
No. The Comptroller said the described matchmaking service was not subject to sales tax. The service interviewed and profiled members, introduced compatible members by letter, and used their…
If a tax-exempt 'lower tier' mutual fund pays exempt-interest dividends up to other 'upper tier' mutual funds that hold its shares, and those upper tier funds then pay their own exempt-interest dividends down to individual shareholders, does the New York and U.S. territory tax-exempt character of the underlying municipal bond interest survive that two-tier fund-of-funds structure, or does it become ordinary taxable dividend income by the time it reaches the shareholder?
Yes - the tax exemption survives even through a two-tier fund-of-funds structure, as long as each fund independently qualifies as a regulated investment company (RIC) paying exempt-interest…
For FAR 52.245-2 title passage, did vendor delivery occur when the seller handed goods to a carrier or when the construction contractor received physical possession?
At contractor receipt. Title passed outside California only if the contractor physically received the property there before bringing it into the state.
Could a FAR clause required by law be treated as part of a fixed-price federal construction contract even if the executed papers did not expressly incorporate it?
Yes, if it was actually required and no more specific rule replaced it; the auditor could not assume every clause listed in an index was mandatory.
Were West German fighter-aircraft transponders exempt when its dependent California office held them for up to a week before transshipment?
No. The office was the purchaser's representative, not a separate export business, and title passed while goods rested before foreign movement. Refund denial was recommended.
How did Texas tax cable installed in new construction, existing nonresidential property, and federal or exempt-entity projects?
New-construction installation labor was not taxable; materials treatment depended on lump-sum versus separated pricing. Existing nonresidential installation was taxable remodeling. Federal-project…
How did Texas tax equipment-and-operator charges for laying, burying, delivering, and removing sold or rented polyethylene pipe?
For rented pipe, laying, installation, trenching, and equipment-with-operator charges were taxable; separately stated later removal was not. For sold pipe, laying was taxable, but separately stated…
How did Texas tax moving, storage, packing, crating, repair, packaging-material sales, and export-packing services?
Moving, storage, transit preparation, and customer packing were nontaxable, but the provider generally owed tax on materials. Repairs and retail packaging sales were taxable. Manufacturer crates…
Are a stock-footage library's charges to customers taxable when it grants the right to reproduce movie footage and delivers workprints and master copies?
It splits. Sherman Grinberg Film Libraries catalogues and licenses studio-owned 'stock' footage. Its arrangements with the studios are not taxable: it only takes temporary possession of the original…
Mae LaBue, a longtime New Jersey resident and homeowner, was admitted to a nursing home in the Bronx, New York on her physician's advice due to a stroke, severe paralysis, and hypertension, and is expected to remain there for the rest of her life. Does this involuntary, medically-necessitated placement make her a New York resident for 1991 or any future tax year?
No. The Department ruled that LaBue remains a New Jersey domiciliary and a New York nonresident for as long as she stays in the nursing home. Because her presence in New York resulted from physical…
How did Texas tax underground-tank demolition, tank and contaminated-soil removal, backfilling, surface restoration, repairs, replacement construction, and soil testing?
Tank excavation and backfilling were nontaxable; tank hauling and disposal were taxable. Qualifying contaminated-soil removal was exempt with a certificate. Surface repair and tank repair were…
Which local recording agent fees were taxable under Texas sales-tax rules after Senate Bill 324?
The authorized service fees and a new-client setup fee were not taxable. A property-picture fee was taxable tangible property, and a motor-vehicle-record fee was a taxable information service above…
Does California's printed-sales-message exemption apply when the printer gives the pieces to the purchaser, who immediately takes them to a mailing house?
No. Delivery to the purchaser made the sale taxable; the purchaser's immediate transfer to a mailing house did not satisfy the rule requiring seller delivery to the mailing house.
Did the May 1991 Apartment Owners Review qualify as a printed sales message, and how could later editorial content change its California tax treatment?
Yes for the submitted May 1991 issue, which was promotional and mailed free without purchaser delivery. Later issues with substantive articles might instead be periodicals.
Did the May 1991 Apartment Owners Review qualify as a periodical or as a printed sales message?
It was a printed sales message, not a periodical; later editorial issues could change classification and historical tax treatment.
Were charges for masks and models used in filmed special effects nontaxable qualified production services?
No. In-state possession transfer or creator operation under customer control was taxable lease, not qualified production service.
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