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 a different search term or clear the filters.
Could Michael Lunnon defeat a New Mexico personal income tax assessment based on IRS account transcripts by denying the federal figures without producing contrary evidence?
No. New Mexico could calculate liability using adjusted gross income identified by the IRS. Lunnon filed no state returns for 2011 or 2012 and produced no evidence contradicting the IRS transcripts, w…
Does the manufacturing machinery and equipment sales/use tax exemption cover equipment, like cleanrooms, that starts out in research and development before being used in production?
It depends, and the Department declined to give a firm yes or no here. Machinery and equipment (including the taxpayer's cleanrooms) can qualify for Illinois's manufacturing machinery and equipment ex…
Do I owe Illinois sales tax when I buy an optional extended warranty or maintenance agreement separately from the product it covers?
No. When an optional extended warranty or maintenance agreement is sold separately from the tangible personal property it covers, the sale of that agreement itself is not a taxable transaction under I…
Did a Virginia domiciliary stop being a resident while working abroad when he kept his Virginia home, driver's license, vehicles, and returned to that home?
No. The taxpayer did not prove that he abandoned Virginia and established a new permanent or indefinite domicile abroad. He kept his Virginia home available, retained his driver's license and two vehi…
Could Virginia residents claim a Virginia credit for California tax when their California return did not actually impose alternative minimum tax?
No. California imposed no alternative minimum tax because the couple's tentative minimum tax was below regular tax. California also allowed their credit for Virginia tax to reduce liability below the …
Did buying an existing business create new investment and employment eligible for Nebraska microenterprise tax credits?
Not by itself. The acquisition price was not new investment, and the prior owner's employee compensation and health-insurance costs entered the buyer's base year. The buyer could earn credits only for…
What Virginia tax interest rates applied in the fourth quarter of 2017 to assessments, refunds, disputed assessments, estimated tax, and local taxes?
For October 1 through December 31, 2017, Virginia's ordinary interest rates were 6% on tax underpayments and assessments and 6% on overpayments and refunds. The reduced rate for qualifying disputed as…
Was ConAgra's interest income from payment-in-kind notes received in a completed business divestiture apportionable business income in New Mexico?
No. ConAgra had already apportioned and paid New Mexico tax on the full sale proceeds, including the PIK notes' face value, when it divested its grain-storage business. The later interest did not aris…
Do the materials a company buys to build a natural gas-fired power generation facility qualify for Illinois's Enterprise Zone building materials sales tax exemption?
Yes. The Illinois Department of Revenue ruled that the company's materials -- from turbines and boilers to buildings, piping, and structural steel -- qualify as "building materials to be incorporated …
Are fees for a paid membership add-on (offering delivery perks and item discounts) subject to Illinois Retailers' Occupation Tax, Use Tax, Service Occupation Tax, or Service Use Tax?
No. The Department ruled that because the membership itself does not transfer any tangible personal property to the customer, the fees for the paid add-on membership -- and for its free one-month tria…
What Virginia filing and payment relief was available to taxpayers affected by Hurricane Harvey?
Virginia offered temporary extensions and late-filing and payment penalty waivers to qualifying taxpayers whose records were unavailable because of Hurricane Harvey. Federal-linked income and withhold…
Could an estate transfer unused Virginia Land Preservation Tax Credits that remained when the original credit holder died?
No. The decedent could use the credit on his final return, but any remaining carryover was extinguished at death. Virginia treated tax credits as legislative privileges rather than personal property, …
Could a pass-through LLC file one 2015 Virginia unified return for selected nonresident individual and grantor-trust owners?
Yes. Virginia allowed the LLC to submit a 2015 unified return if it followed the Department's conditions: include only consenting qualified nonresident owners, provide Schedule VK-1, use the highest i…
Which cable, internet, and telephone equipment was exempt or taxable, and how did Virginia allocate mixed-use purchases?
Virginia reached mixed results. It allowed bandwidth allocation for mixed-use equipment through 2015, required percentage-of-time allocation from 2016, exempted signal-leak testing devices used throug…
How were Louisiana telecom companies supposed to collect a 4.5-cent monthly tax that could not be billed in half-cent increments?
Companies could charge four cents per month in the fourth and first quarters and five cents per month in the second and third quarters. That alternating schedule collected 54 cents annually for each c…
Were a handyman and personal assistant's client reimbursements excluded from New Mexico gross receipts tax as amounts received in a disclosed agency capacity?
No. State Construction separately stated its out-of-pocket costs, but it did not prove that it could bind its clients to vendor contracts or that vendors could enforce those obligations against the cl…
Which sales, rentals, repair, training, and rigging receipts of Texas-based Permian Machinery Movers were subject to New Mexico gross receipts tax?
New Mexico could not tax Texas-only training, rigging, repairs, customer-pickup sales, or rentals not shown used here, so $325,221.47 of assessed receipts was removed. Tax remained on interstate riggi…
When an out-of-state holding company with no Texas nexus sells the stock of its Texas subsidiary, does the gain from that stock sale get counted in the combined group's Texas-apportioned receipts?
No, not fully. When an out-of-state holding company that has no Texas nexus of its own sells the stock of its Texas subsidiary, the combined group must still include the net gain from that sale in its…
Did an affiliate's Virginia government-affairs employee create corporate income-tax nexus for a seller making tangible-property sales into Virginia?
No. The seller had Virginia-source income through destination-sourced sales, and the affiliate's government-affairs employee was treated as its representative. But the employee's Virginia lobbying had…
When did dealer warranty work, technician visits, and a Virginia home-based events employee create corporate nexus or Virginia payroll?
The outcomes differed. Independent dealers' warranty repairs would not be attributed to the manufacturer, rare technician visits required a fuller de minimis review, and a home-based employee's annual…
Did a North Carolina beneficiary owe Virginia tax on trust income derived from rental property located in Virginia?
Yes. The trust reported that the distribution came from rental income on Virginia real property, making it Virginia-source income to the North Carolina beneficiary. He filed a Virginia nonresident ret…
Could a laboratory provider using payroll apportionment also deduct receipts for testing performed by out-of-state laboratories?
No. Payroll apportionment had already separated the receipts attributable to testing performed by out-of-state laboratories. The provider also failed to show that employees at its county facilities pa…
Could a cigarette wholesaler reduce a Virginia sales-tax assessment by supplying resale certificates and invoices after the audit?
Potentially. Virginia returned the audit to remove cigarette sales supported by valid Form ST-10 resale certificates and invoices, but late certificates received extra scrutiny because none were avail…
Did a retail printing-services business qualify for Virginia's industrial manufacturing exemption on print-production equipment?
Generally no. Virginia treated the business as a copy and reproduction service rather than an industrial custom printer, so its ordinary production equipment remained taxable. Audit staff had to revie…
Do six separate 25-year build-to-suit leases with six different landlords, financing six new charter-school campuses at once, all qualify as exempt improvement-to-realty contracts?
Yes, all six. The Comptroller ruled that all six of a charter school's separate 25-year build-to-suit leases -- covering six new campuses financed by six different landlords -- qualify as exempt contr…
Are 'Cross-Connect' fees that a data center charges customers for access to permanently installed fiber optic cable subject to Texas sales tax as a telecommunications service?
Not taxable. The Comptroller ruled that a data center's separately-stated 'Cross-Connect' fees for customer access to fiber optic cable are NOT subject to Texas sales tax, because the cable is permane…
How did Virginia's 2017 Tax Amnesty Program work, including eligibility, waived amounts, deadlines, and the post-amnesty penalty?
From September 13 through November 14, 2017, eligible taxpayers could pay all qualifying tax plus half the accrued interest and receive a waiver of all penalties and the other half of interest. Partic…
Are the receiver, sensor, and transmitter in a prescription continuous glucose monitoring system exempt from Georgia sales tax?
Yes, but under two rules. The handheld receiver is durable medical equipment and is exempt when permanently transferred to the natural person for whom it was prescribed; third parties may buy it tax-f…
Could New Mexico assess Eastern Sunbelt Real Estate for gross receipts tax on transactions Roy Rackler conducted individually and mistakenly reported on Schedule C?
No. The Department assessed Eastern Sunbelt because its CRS number was linked to owner Roy Rackler's name, but the transactions were Rackler's individual transactions and did not involve the business.…
Was a kitchen and bath remodeler a retail seller or a lump-sum real-property improvement contractor for Florida sales tax?
The remodeler was a lump-sum real-property improvement contractor, not a retail seller of the installed materials. It owed tax on its purchases of stone, tile, mosaics, and other materials; suppliers …
Were paid and free-trial memberships for grocery access, delivery benefits, and product discounts subject to Florida sales tax?
No. The membership's grocery access, same- or next-day delivery, qualifying free delivery, and changing product discounts were not taxable services or admissions. Florida therefore did not tax either …
A corporate group makes a consolidated net worth election for Tennessee franchise tax, and some affiliates are exempt from the tax. Are the exempt affiliates still included in the group, and do their assets count?
Include them in the group, but leave their numbers out. The taxpayer heads a corporate group making a consolidated net worth election for Tennessee franchise tax (§ 67-4-2103(d)), and some lower-tier …
Do server power and data cables or computer racking systems qualify as computer equipment under Georgia's high-technology sales-tax exemption?
No. Power cables and data-transmission cables did not qualify because the applicable regulation expressly lists cable as nonqualifying. The server racking systems also failed because, although they or…
Is a lessee's payment to a rental company for lost or damaged rental equipment subject to Colorado sales or use tax?
No. When a customer pays a rental company for equipment that is lost or damaged beyond repair, that payment is not subject to Colorado sales or use tax. It's compensation for the lost value of the com…
Are sales and leases of timber-harvesting (silviculture) equipment exempt from Colorado sales tax as farm equipment?
Likely yes. Timber-harvesting equipment (fellers, skidders, etc.) bought after 2013 and valued by the county assessor as silvicultural personal property likely qualifies for Colorado's farm-equipment …
What deed-recording-fee framework and transaction guidance did South Carolina Revenue Ruling 17-5 provide before RR 24-1 superseded it?
This historical ruling imposed a $1.85 fee for each $500 or fraction of $500 of realty value, generally made the grantor primarily liable, defined value broadly, allowed specified deductions and exemp…
When does South Carolina's residential-electricity exemption apply to assisted living, nursing homes, healthcare facilities, dormitories, and prisons?
Qualifying residential areas of an assisted-living facility can be exempt, much like apartments, while healthcare or supervised-care areas remain taxable. Electricity for nursing homes, healthcare fac…
What affidavit must be filed with a South Carolina deed, and which sample affidavits does the Department provide (per SC IL #17-13)?
SC Information Letter #17-13 provides two updated sample affidavits for South Carolina's deed recording fee and supersedes SC Information Letter #15-20. Under S.C. Code § 12-24-70, an affidavit showin…
Did a new IRS bill justify reconsidering Virginia's 2010 income-tax determination when the federal transcript showed no new adjustment?
No. The updated 2010 federal transcript still showed no new IRS adjustment affecting Virginia taxable income, and the later IRS bill likely concerned another year. The taxpayer identified no factual e…
How did Florida tax a cooperative utility's fixed community-solar block charge and related solar kilowatt-hour credits?
The fixed solar-block charge was a charge for electrical power or energy, subject to the 4.35% electricity sales-tax rate used in the ruling and to utility gross receipts tax. Solar kilowatt-hour cred…
Could Virginia assess 2013 income tax from final IRS audit information when the taxpayer failed to file an amended Virginia return?
Yes. Virginia required the taxpayer to report the final federal change within one year. Because he did not file an amended Virginia return, the Department could assess from the IRS information and wou…
Was a promotional distributor's DVD sale exempt when the customer supplied a Virginia ST-10A certificate accepted in good faith?
Yes. The DVDs contained information used in the purchaser's advertising campaign and qualified under the ST-10A certificate. Because the distributor accepted the certificate in good faith and supplied…
Could a restaurant reduce an estimated Virginia sales-tax assessment without records supporting its claim that projected sales were too high?
The estimated tax stayed because the restaurant supplied no records and did not rebut the $50,000 annual sales projection from its business-license application. Virginia waived the first-audit complia…
Were a service member and spouse both exempt from Virginia resident tax merely because they claimed the same out-of-state military domicile?
No. Virginia accepted that the husband remained domiciled in State A, though his Virginia farm could require a nonresident return. The wife did not prove she had ever been physically present or domici…
Could Virginia residents subtract an entire IRA distribution because contributions may have been taxed by another state?
Not without documentation. The subtraction covered only the prorated portion tied to federally deductible contributions that another state actually taxed. The couple did not prove the prior taxation o…
Could a Virginia resident receive credits for tax paid through composite nonresident returns, and was Virginia's assessment timely?
Yes, with state-by-state documentation. Virginia found the taxpayer entitled to credits for tax paid through composite returns in Hawaii, Mississippi, and Montana. The April 21, 2017 assessment was st…
Did keeping a Virginia driver's license and using a Virginia tax-return address prevent a worker from changing domicile to another state?
No. The worker leased a home near his State A job, moved his belongings, had State A withholding, and did not vote or renew his license in Virginia while away. Considering all the evidence, Virginia f…
Would Virginia reconsider an IRS audit adjustment or waive interest while the taxpayer disputed the federal result?
No. Virginia does not look behind the IRS's final adjustment and upheld the 2013 assessment after the taxpayer failed to file an amended Virginia return. Interest was mandatory and could not be waived…
Could a taxpayer obtain review of a late refund claim after fully paying a Virginia assessment?
Yes. Although the ordinary refund period for the late 2010 return had expired, the taxpayer had fully paid the March 19, 2014 assessment and pursued the claim within three years. Virginia treated the …
Could federal income tax withheld from an IRA distribution reduce the Virginia tax due after an IRS audit adjustment?
No. The IRA distribution was included in federal adjusted gross income and no Virginia tax had been withheld. Virginia provides no deduction for federal income tax withheld from retirement income, so …
Could taxpayers dispute IRS changes to federal adjusted gross income through a Virginia tax appeal, and was the resulting assessment timely?
No. Virginia matched the taxpayers' federal adjusted gross income to the IRS record and would not reconsider the federal audit. The January 2017 assessment was timely before the May 1, 2017 general de…
Must a seller collect Colorado sales tax on erosion-control logs and silt fencing sold to contractors who present a contractor's exemption certificate?
Yes — the seller must collect tax. Excelsior (wood-fiber) erosion-control logs and silt fencing sold to construction contractors are NOT 'construction and building materials,' so the public-works cont…
Is a separately stated 'core charge' on a recyclable automotive part subject to Colorado sales tax?
Yes. A 'core charge' — the separately stated, refundable amount on a recyclable/remanufacturable auto part — is part of the part's purchase price, so sales tax applies even though it's separately stat…
What certificate and application rules did Virginia's 2017 guidelines establish for tax-exempt purchases of stamped cigarettes for resale?
Starting January 1, 2018, dealers purchasing Virginia-stamped cigarettes for resale had to use Department-issued Form ST-10C rather than Form ST-10. The guidelines created fast-track, expedited, and f…
Does the manufacturing-machinery exemption apply to a contract manufacturer that doesn't own or sell the finished product?
Likely yes. Colorado's exemption for manufacturing machinery and machine tools applies even when the manufacturer doesn't sell the finished product — including contract manufacturers who process a thi…
When a state-contracted data center operator procures software licenses on behalf of tax-exempt government agencies, does the operator owe sales tax on those purchases?
No — when a company operating a state data center under contract procures business application software at a governmental customer's request, and the software vendor licenses the software directly in …
Could a community development district buy fill tax-free for a public storm-water management system?
Yes, if the district strictly followed Florida's public-works direct-purchase rules. It had to use public funds, order and pay directly, receive direct invoices, take title, bear risk of loss until in…
Does butane-blending equipment that a pipeline/tank-storage company installs just before its truck loading rack qualify for Illinois's manufacturing machinery and equipment sales tax exemption?
It depends on where each piece of equipment sits relative to the production cycle. The Illinois Department of Revenue ruled that equipment used to sample, test, measure, and inject butane into the gas…
Could a port tenant allocate rent between taxable areas and areas used exclusively to load or unload vessel cargo?
Yes. Florida approved the tenant's square-footage allocation between taxable property and port property used exclusively for loading or unloading vessel cargo. The ruling's summary states that 53.03% …
Does a nonprofit have to charge Illinois sales tax on admission tickets, food, merchandise, and hospitality sales at a fundraising event?
It depends on what is being sold: admission tickets alone are an exempt intangible, but food and beverages sold separately, clothing/programs/souvenirs, and catering to corporate hospitality tents are…
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.