Are travel trailers and fifth wheels motor vehicles for Georgia's $5,000 TSPLOST tax-base limit?

Plain-English summary

The taxpayer sold travel trailers and fifth wheels to Georgia residents in counties imposing the one-percent special district transportation sales and use tax under O.C.G.A. § 48-8-241. The trailers were designed to be towed on public roads but were not self-propelled. The question was whether they counted as motor vehicles for the rule limiting this TSPLOST to the first $5,000 of a motor-vehicle sale or lease.

The Department ruled yes. It used the public-road-focused motor-vehicle meaning found in Georgia's drive-out exemption. Because the towable trailers were designed primarily for use on public roads, they were motor vehicles for this TSPLOST limitation. When that tax applies, only the first $5,000 of the trailer transaction is in its tax base.

The ruling addresses only the TSPLOST imposed by O.C.G.A. § 48-8-241. It does not decide any other local tax.

What this means for you

Travel-trailer and fifth-wheel dealers

For the specific TSPLOST addressed here, lack of an engine does not disqualify a trailer from motor-vehicle treatment. The relevant characteristic is that the trailer is designed primarily for use on public roads.

Accountants and point-of-sale teams

The $5,000 limitation applies only to this particular one-percent transportation tax. The underlying trailer sale remains a retail sale subject to state and other applicable local sales taxes unless another exemption applies.

Common questions

Q: Are towable trailers motor vehicles even though they are not self-propelled?

A: Yes, for the O.C.G.A. § 48-8-241(d) TSPLOST limitation, because they are designed primarily for use on public roads.

Q: Does TSPLOST apply to the trailer's entire selling price?

A: No. When this TSPLOST applies to the sale or lease, its tax base is limited to the first $5,000 of the transaction.

Q: Does the $5,000 cap limit Georgia state sales tax too?

A: The ruling describes the cap as a special rule for the specified TSPLOST, unlike the state sales and use tax. It does not extend the cap to state tax.

Q: Does the ruling cover every Georgia local sales tax?

A: No. Footnote 10 expressly says the ruling does not address local taxes other than the TSPLOST imposed by § 48-8-241.

Q: Can another dealer rely on this ruling?

A: No. The conclusion is limited to the requesting taxpayer's trailers and facts, and later legal or factual changes may alter the result.

Citations and references

Authorities:

• O.C.G.A. § 48-8-241(d) -- special district transportation tax and motor-vehicle transaction limitation
• O.C.G.A. § 48-8-3(44) and § 48-5-440 -- public-road vehicle provisions used by the Department
• O.C.G.A. § 48-8-30 -- state and local sales and use tax collection
• Georgia Department of Revenue Informational Bulletin 2011-12-12 -- watercraft and trailer authority cited in the analysis

Source

• Landing page: Georgia Sales & Use Tax Letter Rulings
• Original PDF: LR SUT-2017-17

Original ruling text

Georgia Letter Ruling Number: LR SUT-2017-17
Topic: Motor Vehicle
Date Issued: December 1, 2017
This letter is in response to your request for guidance on the application of Georgia sales and use tax to travel trailers
and fifth wheels sold by [Redacted] (collectively referred to as “Taxpayer”) to customers in Georgia.
Facts Presented by Taxpayer1
Taxpayer sells travel trailers and fifth wheels (collectively, “towable trailers”). These towable trailers are designed to
be towed behind or pulled by self-propelled motor vehicles on public roads. The towable trailers are not self-propelled.
Taxpayer sells towable trailers to Georgia residents in counties that have imposed the special district transportation
sales and use tax (“TSPLOST”) pursuant to O.C.G.A. § 48-8-241.
Issue
Are towable trailers considered motor vehicles as used in O.C.G.A. § 48-8-241(d), which provides a limit on the tax
base to which TSPLOST is applied?
Analysis
Georgia levies and imposes a tax (subject to certain specific exemptions) on the retail purchase, retail sale, storage,
use, or consumption of tangible personal property, certain enumerated services, and utilities. 2 Georgia sales and use
tax is imposed at the rate of four percent of the sales price together with applicable local tax at a rate that varies by
jurisdiction.3 One local tax is the 1% TSPLOST,4 which was approved by voters in certain counties effective January
1, 2013.5 For sales sourced to those counties, sellers must collect the TSPLOST in addition to all other applicable sales
and use taxes, and remit the tax to the Georgia Department of Revenue. 6
Georgia law provides that, except as to rate, the TSPLOST generally corresponds to the state sales and use tax and
that the TSPLOST is subject to any sales and use tax exemption which is otherwise imposed by law. Unlike state sales
and use tax, the TSPLOST is only imposed on the first $5,000 of any transaction involving the sale or lease of a motor
vehicle.7 For that reason, the meaning of the term “motor vehicle” must be determined so that the imposition of the
TSPLOST can be limited as provided by law.
The sales and use tax chapter of the Georgia Code does not provide a definition for “motor vehicle.”8 However, the
Department is guided by how the term is used in sales and use tax exemptions. Specifically, the sales and use tax
exemption for certain motor vehicles purchased in Georgia by nonresidents and immediately removed to another state
(i.e., the “drive-out” exemption) defines “motor vehicle” as a vehicle which is designed primarily for use upon the
public roads.9 Just as that exemption applies to trailers designed for use upon public roads, so too are such trailers
considered to be “motor vehicles” for the application of the subject provision of the TSPLOST.
1

Facts were presented by Taxpayer in a letter dated November 16, 2016 and by phone on November 28, 2016.
O.C.G.A. §§ 48-8-1, 48-8-2(31)(A), and 48-8-30.
3
O.C.G.A. §§ 32-9-13, 48-8-1, 48-8-30(c)(1), 48-8-80, 48-8-100, 48-8-109.1, 48-8-110, 48-8-140, 48-8-200, 48-8240, 48-8-260, 48-8-269.7, and 48-8-269.22; MARTA Act of 1965.
4
O.C.G.A. § 48-8-241.
5
The counties in which the TSPLOST was approved are Appling; Bleckley; Burke; Candler; Chattahoochee; Clay;
Columbia; Crisp; Dodge; Dooly; Emanuel; Evans; Glascock; Hancock; Harris; Jeff Davis; Jefferson; Jenkins;
Johnson; Laurens; Lincoln; Macon; Marion; McDuffie; Montgomery; Muscogee; Quitman; Randolph; Richmond;
Schley; Stewart; Sumter; Talbot; Taliaferro; Tattnall; Taylor; Telfair; Toombs; Treutlen; Warren; Washington;
Wayne; Webster; Wheeler; Wilcox; and Wilkes.
6
O.C.G.A. § 48-8-30.
7
O.C.G.A. § 48-8-241(d).
8
See O.C.G.A. § 48-8-2 (no definition is included in the general definitions statute); but see O.C.G.A. § 48-8-241(d)
(the statute authorizing TSPLOST includes a definition for motor vehicle that only applies to a specific paragraph and,
thus, does not apply to the remainder of the subsection).
9
O.C.G.A. §§ 48-8-3(44) and 48-5-440; Georgia Department of Revenue Informational Bulletin 2011-12-12
(Application of Sales Tax to Watercraft and Trailers Sold by a Georgia Dealer).
2

Georgia Letter Ruling Number: LR SUT-2017-17
Topic: Motor Vehicle
Date Issued: December 1, 2017
Page 2 of 2

In this case, when Taxpayer sells towable trailers to Georgia customers, that transaction is a retail sale subject to state
and local sales and use tax unless an exemption applies to the transaction. In counties where TSPLOST is imposed,
the tax is only imposed on the first $5,000 of any transaction involving the sale or lease of a motor vehicle. As
explained above, this limitation applies to any vehicle which is designed primarily for use upon the public roads. Since
the subject towable trailers are intended for such use, the TSPLOST is imposed only on the first $5,000 of any
transaction involving the sale or lease of these towable trailers.
Ruling
As described by Taxpayer, towable trailers are vehicles designed primarily for use upon the public roads. Thus, the
towable trailers are considered “motor vehicles” for the application of the limitation of the imposition of the TSPLOST
to any transaction involving the sale or lease of a motor vehicle. Accordingly, if the TSPLOST is imposed on any
transaction involving the sale or lease of the subject towable trailers, the TSPLOST is only imposed on the first $5,000
of the transaction.10
The opinions expressed in this ruling are based upon the information contained in your request and limited to the
specific transactions, facts, circumstances and taxpayer in question. The facts herein are those presented by the
taxpayer and the Department accepts them as true for this ruling. If the facts presented herein change, are not true, are
different, or material facts have been omitted, the conclusions reached in this ruling may change. In addition,
subsequent statutory or administrative rule changes or judicial interpretations of the statutes or rules upon which this
advice is based may subject similar future transactions to a different tax treatment than that expressed in this ruling.

10

This ruling does not address any local taxes other than the TSPLOST imposed by O.C.G.A. § 48-8-241.