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.
Did an Illinois municipality owe Gas Revenue Tax when its own gas system supplied municipal buildings without billing them?
The tax measured on that distribution was zero. Gas Revenue Tax was the lower of 2.4 cents per therm or 5% of gross receipts for each customer and billing period. Because the municipality received no …
What corrections did Illinois give another state's survey about vehicle trade-ins, private sales, and long-term leases?
IDOR would not approve another agency's publication, though its chart generally appeared correct. Retail motor-vehicle sales could receive the Section 130.425 trade-in credit, but private-party vehicl…
Did an Illinois seller of gold coins and bars need tax registration, and which precious-metal sales were exempt?
A business making any taxable retail sales had to register with IDOR; one making only wholesale or exempt sales did not have to register to remit tax, though it could obtain a resale number. Sales of …
Could an Illinois nonprofit use an E-number or partial self-assessment for purchases also benefiting an individual or affiliated for-profit company?
Only direct purchases by the organization holding an active E-number were exempt, and only when made in furtherance of its organizational purpose. Individual members could not use the organization's n…
When could Virginia governments, nonprofits, and churches buy meals and catering tax-free under the 2016 policy?
For purchases on or after April 22, 2016, qualifying entities could use their exemption certificates for meals and related catering services. State and local governments and nonprofits had to meet a m…
Could a Virginia resident exclude wages by treating the value of personal labor as an offsetting cost?
No. A worker's labor did not create a tax basis that offset wages, and courts had rejected the argument that wages are not income. Because the taxpayer's Virginia income exceeded the filing threshold,…
Did a foreign service officer become a Virginia domiciliary resident before an overseas assignment?
No. His continuing driver's license and voter registration showed that he had not abandoned his original state's domicile, so Virginia abated the resident assessment. But his Virginia employment wages…
Are nonqualified deferred-compensation distributions paid to a nonresident in installments over 10 years 'retirement income' exempt from New York tax and withholding?
Yes. Distributions from a nonqualified deferred-compensation plan paid as substantially equal periodic payments over at least 10 years are 'retirement income' under the federal Pension Source Law (4 U…
Are nutritional shakes, nutrition bars, and whole-food chewable tablets taxable in Connecticut, or exempt as food products?
Exempt. Powdered nutritional shake mixes and nutrition bars sold as snacks or meal substitutes, and chewable tablets and capsules made from powdered whole fruits, vegetables and grains, are all exempt…
Could Virginia's Department of Taxation review a county's refusal to waive mobile-property-tax penalties and interest?
No. The state administrative appeal process covered disputes over the amount of local mobile property tax, while these owners accepted the tax and challenged only penalties and interest. State law lef…
Are auto repairs done out of state taxable in New York if the repaired car is delivered to the customer in New York?
Yes. Repair and maintenance of tangible personal property is a destination tax: what controls is where the repaired property is delivered to the customer. Here the dealer's body shop is in New Jersey,…
Are sales of warm, freshly baked cookies subject to New York sales tax even for take-out or delivery?
Yes. New York taxes food and drink sold by restaurants and similar establishments. Food sold for off-premises consumption can escape the tax only if it is sold in an unheated state (and is of a type c…
Are a New York City fitness studio's class entry fees and weight-loss-challenge fees subject to sales tax?
Only to New York City local tax, not State tax. The studio's class entry fees and weight-loss-challenge fees are not subject to New York State sales tax: they are not admission charges to a place of a…
Could an auto restorer deduct services sold to dealerships for resale, or rely on dealer-issued NTTCs, when the vehicles were later subject to motor vehicle excise tax?
No. The service-for-resale deduction required the dealership's resale to be subject to gross receipts tax, but vehicle sales were instead exempt and subject to motor vehicle excise tax. Hubbard Lovell…
New York Advisory Opinion TSB-A-16(2)C / (15)S: Must a kiosk operator that lets customers buy prepaid airtime, texts and data collect sales tax, and does it owe the section 186-e telecommunication excise tax?
The kiosk operator must collect sales tax on prepaid mobile calling-service top-ups sold on or after April 13, 2015, but not before, and owes no section 186-e excise tax because it merely facilitates …
Is the purchase of commercial vessels delivered in New York subject to sales tax, and on the full price?
It is taxable, but only on the first $230,000 of each vessel. Vessels are tangible personal property, and a sale is taxable where the property is delivered. Here the three sightseeing ships were bough…
I bought two adjacent properties across the road from each other -- one a $2 million house, the other a $450,000 lot I consider vacant land bought as a separate investment -- using two separate deeds and separate contracts on the same day. Do I owe New York's additional 1% 'mansion tax' only on the $2 million house, or do the two purchase prices get combined?
The two purchase prices must be aggregated, pushing the transaction over the $1 million threshold for New York's additional Real Estate Transfer Tax (the 1% 'mansion tax' under Tax Law § 1402-a). The …
How did Illinois classify and tax towers, pylons, wall and interior signs, menu boards, neon tubing, and related installation fees?
IDOR did not classify the listed signs or decide the company's transactions. It declined the requested Private Letter Ruling and said a sign vendor could owe Retailers' Occupation Tax, Service Occupat…
Does a Colorado nutritional-products seller have to charge state sales tax on aloe drinks, fiber powders, a protein bar, and soy nuts that carry a 'Nutrition Facts' label?
No. The six nutritional products here — aloe drinks, a fiber powder, a protein bar, and roasted soy nuts — are all exempt from Colorado state sales tax as food, because each carries a 'Nutrition Facts…
Could Pete's Landscaping deduct firewood sold to restaurants that used it for cooking or heat when Department employees approved Type 2 NTTCs?
Yes, for the restaurant sales backed by timely, properly executed Type 2 NTTCs. Pete's Landscaping knew the restaurants used rather than resold the firewood, but it accepted the certificates only afte…
Must a nonresident include in New York source income a lump-sum distribution from an excess-benefit nonqualified deferred-compensation plan earned while working in New York?
No. The lump-sum distribution from the excess-benefit plan to a nonresident is not subject to New York income tax under the federal Pension Source Law (4 USC § 114). The plan is a nonqualified deferre…
When must a scaffolding company collect New York sales tax on charges to contractors?
It depends on whether services come with the scaffolding and what the job is. Since January 1, 2015, scaffolding provided together with erection and/or dismantling is treated as a service (even if the…
When could a Virginia restaurant accept government, nonprofit, school, or church exemption certificates for meals and catering?
Meals and catering were sales of tangible property, so a restaurant could accept a valid exemption certificate when the qualifying entity used the food for an official purpose, paid directly, and cont…
When one company collects a fee from subscribers on behalf of another company under a written agency agreement, who is responsible for charging, collecting, and remitting the Texas sales tax on that fee?
Once a written agency agreement is executed, the agent stands in the principal's shoes: the agent (not the principal) must charge and collect sales tax on the taxable fee it collects from subscribers,…
Was an October 2015 refund claim timely for Virginia income-tax assessments issued in 2005?
No. The submitted 2001 and 2003 returns did not show changes and arrived more than two years after assessment payments. The assessments were also not paid and the protective claim was not filed within…
Did exercising a testamentary power of appointment create a new Virginia resident trust?
Yes. The Virginia decedent's will exercised a power of appointment and supplied the terms for holding the assets in further trust, creating a new testamentary trust. It was therefore a Virginia reside…
Could a taxpayer limit Virginia's 2012 assessment by saying he moved to Virginia in October without supplying residency records?
Not yet. The taxpayer conceded tax on a post-move IRA distribution but did not provide the other-state return or domicile records Virginia requested. The assessment remained presumptively correct, wit…
Was a researcher a Virginia domiciliary despite claiming fewer than 90 Virginia days and residence elsewhere?
Yes. The researcher kept a Virginia apartment and vehicle, held a Virginia driver's license, and used a Virginia address on his 2011 federal return. Later out-of-state records and an unsigned lease di…
Were handling charges taxable when a truck-repair dispatcher's invoices included repair parts?
Yes. The repair invoices predominantly included tangible repair parts, so the dispatcher's handling charge was a taxable service, markup, and profit connected with those sales. A handling charge could…
Did a contractor's purchase of another company's division qualify for Virginia's occasional-sale exemption?
Possibly, but Virginia could not decide from the record. Selling one division was not automatically a sale of substantially all company assets, a liquidation, or a reorganization. The buyer did not pr…
Do donations to a fund that grants money to licensed child care centers—rather than to a child care facility directly—qualify for Colorado's child care contribution credit?
Yes, in part. Donations to an intermediary fund qualify for the § 39-22-121 child care contribution credit when the fund ultimately uses them 'for the establishment or operation of a child care facili…
Is a digital copier's 'per-click' maintenance charge — which bundles labor with toner and staples and is priced by pages printed — subject to Colorado sales tax when the customer uses the copier to make printed items it then resells?
Not on these facts. A copier 'per-click' fee that bundles maintenance labor with consumables (toner and staples) is not subject to Colorado sales tax when the customer uses the copier to make printed …
Does Georgia tax a custom closet system and the separately stated charge to install it?
Georgia treated the removable closet system as tangible personal property, not a real-property fixture. The retailer could buy it for resale and had to collect tax on the product price, but a separate…
Are licensed digital movies and the hard drives they arrive on taxable tangible personal property, and who owes the tax?
Yes. Both the digital movies/content and the computer hard drives a theater receives from film distributors are taxable tangible personal property — digital goods have a physical existence, and Colora…
Is a permanent transprostatic implant sold to hospitals exempt from Colorado sales tax as a prosthetic device or as material furnished by a provider?
Yes, it's exempt — on two independent grounds. The permanent transprostatic implant (which corrects BPH by reopening the urethra) qualifies as an exempt prosthetic device because it replaces the block…
Are e-books, self-study online courses, and instructor-critiqued virtual lessons subject to Colorado sales tax?
It splits three ways. E-books are taxable digital goods (tangible personal property you can download and print). Self-study online courses — written material and videos with no instructor interaction …
When a Colorado resident sells an interest in a multistate pass-through and another state taxes the gain, how is Colorado's credit for taxes paid to another state figured?
The resident gets a credit, but Colorado uses its own sourcing rules, not the other state's. To find the gain 'derived from sources' in the other state, the seller applies a three-year average of the …
Did a Maryland nonprofit owe Virginia withholding even without a Virginia office or property?
Potentially yes, because a Virginia resident's wages remain subject to Virginia withholding even when the work is performed in Maryland. The nonprofit had filed two returns for the quarter, so Virgini…
Did an out-of-state consultant owe Virginia income tax when he worked 105 days at a Virginia client's headquarters?
Yes, to the extent his pay came from services performed in Virginia. Working from an out-of-state home office did not erase the 105 days spent at the Virginia client's headquarters. Virginia required …
Was a military spouse protected from Virginia tax when he claimed the service member's domicile but had never been physically present in that state?
No for the husband. The service member remained domiciled in the other state, but her husband had never lived there and therefore could not have acquired that domicile. His Virginia home, employment, …
Could manufacturing equipment be real property rather than taxable machinery and tools merely because it was used directly in production?
Possibly. Direct use in manufacturing did not end the inquiry. Virginia remanded because the county had to apply the Danville Holding fixture test—annexation, adaptation, and especially the owner's in…
Which medical, charitable, home-office, travel, meal, and LLC deductions survived Virginia's review of a 2014 return?
Documented medical costs could count if they cleared the 2014 federal floor, and the church contribution was substantiated. Pre-tax health premiums, life insurance, and the husband's personal claim of…
Was a Virginia resident entitled to larger credits for New York income tax on his 2012 and 2014 Virginia returns?
No for 2014, and Virginia could not decide 2012. The 2014 credit was properly limited using Virginia's established New York nonresident-income calculation, so the refund was denied. For 2012, there wa…
Could a corporate partner include overseas intellectual-property royalties in its Virginia sales-factor denominator while treating them as foreign-source income?
No, if the corporation claimed the foreign-source-income subtraction. The joint-venture royalties kept their royalty character and qualified as foreign-source income, so the related sales were exclude…
Did individually prepackaged ice cream sold from a truck qualify for Virginia's reduced food tax rate?
No. Virginia treated ice-cream trucks as vendors of food for immediate consumption. The Department's policy did not distinguish prepackaged single servings from soft-serve cones or cups, so both were …
Were a provider's equipment and service charges for hospital and nursing-home patient-monitoring systems subject to Virginia sales tax?
Yes, unless the hospital or nursing home documented an exemption. Virginia found that the customer's true object was the cameras, boxes, monitors, and related equipment used to monitor patients—not th…
Was diesel used by ready-mix trucks exempt from Virginia sales tax after a motor-fuel-tax refund?
Yes, for the manufacturing portion. Virginia used the statutory 35% motor-fuel-tax refund ratio to measure diesel powering the mixing unit and treated that share as fuel used directly in manufacturing…
Must a self-directing participant who employs personal care workers withhold Kansas income tax?
Kansas Notice 16-03 (April 11, 2016) addresses Kansas income tax withholding on payments to personal care service (PCS) providers. Under the Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services policy,…
Were payments for a sponsor's name or advertising on agency-controlled highway signs taxable as a license to use real property?
No. The transportation agency retained control over the signs, their locations, fabrication, installation, and advertisement placement, so the sponsor received no taxable license to use real property.
Which interest did South Carolina Revenue Ruling 16-2 treat as exempt from state income tax?
The ruling exempted qualifying interest on South Carolina and its political subdivisions, obligations protected from state tax by federal law, and qualifying direct obligations of the United States. T…
How can taxpayers check whether an older South Carolina advisory opinion was modified or superseded (per SC IL #16-5)?
Use the citator attached to SC Information Letter #16-5. It helps you determine what effect newer South Carolina advisory opinions have on previously published ones — whether an opinion was modified, …
Did filing a federal return, with no IRS adjustment, satisfy a Virginia resident's separate duty to file a 2012 Virginia return?
No. Virginia filing duties arise under Virginia law, regardless of whether the IRS adjusts the federal return. Because the resident filed no Virginia return and offered no proof that the estimate was …
Could a city impose BPOL tax on a fuel wholesaler that owned and operated pumps and tanks at a local retailer?
Potentially, but only on properly sited receipts. Continuous ownership and operation of pumps, tanks, and signage appeared to create a definite city place of business, and sales to the retailer were w…
Did an unsupported claim of moving away overcome Virginia's estimated 2008 resident income-tax assessment?
No. The taxpayer provided no objective proof that he abandoned Virginia and acquired another domicile, while a Virginia driver's license was reissued during 2008. Virginia left the estimated assessmen…
Could Virginia estimate a restaurant's six-year sales-tax liability from one month of ABC records when the restaurant supplied no reliable sales records?
Yes. Because the restaurant did not provide reliable records and the other reported figures were doubtful, Virginia accepted January 2012 ABC data as the best information available. The restaurant rec…
Is a hotel's mandatory amenity fee taxable, and who collects the tax when a middleman arranges the amenities?
Yes, the guest's amenity fee is taxable — but only at the hotel level. Because the fee is mandatory and built into the room price (the true object is the room), the whole lodging charge is taxable, an…
Were Video Factory's recorded and edited presentations delivered on DVDs to the State Bar tangible personal property covered by its nonprofit NTTC?
Yes. The State Bar paid only when Video Factory delivered completed movies on DVDs, and the recording and minimal editing had no independent value without that physical product. The AHO treated the fi…
Are parchment sheets exempt packaging materials when a food business first uses them during baking and later uses them to package the food?
No. The seller had to charge Georgia sales tax because purchasers first used the parchment sheets in the baking process. Their later use to package the finished food did not qualify for the packaging-…
A company sells eleven different edible products. Which ones are taxed at Tennessee's lower 'food and food ingredients' rate, and which count as 'candy' (or dietary supplements) and are taxed at the higher general sales-tax rate?
It depends on each product. Of the eleven edible products, nine qualify as 'food and food ingredients' and are taxed at Tennessee's reduced food rate (5% state at the time of the ruling), plus local o…
Could Virginia review a city's boat valuation and overturn tax on another boat kept in the city for more than six months?
No on both issues. The Department is barred from reviewing valuation or valuation methods for local mobile property tax. It also upheld the second boat's 2015 assessment because the boat had remained …
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.