Are tickets to Georgia business-training seminars taxable admission charges when the program is educational but includes brief entertainment?

Plain-English summary

A company sold non-refundable tickets to Georgia seminars for independent business owners. The program offered about 16.5 hours of instruction across eight sessions on leadership, business strategies, products, sales goals, and self-improvement. It sometimes included only 10 to 30 minutes of music to open the event or bridge sessions.

Georgia taxes admissions to amusement, entertainment, exhibition, display, athletic contests, games, and amusement activities. The Department ruled that these seminars were different: attendees came to develop business and sales skills, making the events more like job training or continuing-education conferences than entertainment.

The ticket charges were therefore not subject to Georgia sales tax. The brief incidental entertainment did not change the seminars' primary educational purpose. The ruling also noted that a dealer seeking a refund of tax previously collected must either show it bore the tax itself or refund tax collected from customers.

What this means for you

Seminar and training organizers

An event's primary purpose matters. A substantial instructional program directed at business skills can fall outside taxable admissions even when it includes short entertainment segments. Marketing, agenda content, speaker qualifications, and instructional hours help show what attendees are buying.

Direct-sales and membership businesses

Business-opportunity and sales-goal training is not automatically taxable entertainment. But a program centered on performances, displays, or amusement could be treated differently even if some educational content is included.

Accountants and tax professionals

If tax was previously collected on non-taxable seminar tickets, refund rules matter. The dealer must establish that it paid rather than passed on the tax, or return the collected tax to consumers before claiming the refund described by the ruling.

Common questions

Q: Are tickets to business seminars taxable in Georgia?
A: Not on these facts. The seminars were primarily educational and aimed at improving attendees' business and sales skills.

Q: Does any entertainment make a seminar taxable?
A: No. Brief musical segments of 10 to 30 minutes were incidental to approximately 16.5 hours of instruction and did not change the result.

Q: What kinds of admissions are generally taxable?
A: Georgia's statute enumerates admissions to amusement, entertainment, exhibitions, displays, athletic contests, games, and amusement activities.

Q: Can an organizer recover tax it already collected?
A: Potentially, but the ruling says the dealer must show it bore the tax or that tax collected from consumers has been refunded to them.

Q: Can another seminar organizer rely on this ruling?
A: No. It is limited to the requesting taxpayer and facts, including the agenda, instructional purpose, and minimal entertainment.

Citations and references

Statutes and rules:

• O.C.G.A. §§ 48-8-1 and 48-8-30 (sales and use tax imposition)
• O.C.G.A. § 48-8-2(31), including (C) and (D) (retail sale and taxable admissions)
• O.C.G.A. § 48-8-3(22) (professional, insurance, and personal service transactions)
• O.C.G.A. §§ 48-2-35 and 48-2-35.1; Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. r. 560-12-1-.25 (refunds)

Source

• Landing page: Georgia Sales & Use Tax Letter Rulings
• Original PDF: LR SUT-2018-15

Original ruling text

Georgia Letter Ruling Number: LR SUT-2018-15
Topic: Admission Charges
Date Issued: December 28, 2018
This letter is in response to your request for guidance on the application of Georgia sales and use tax to sales of tickets
for admission to certain events.
Facts Presented by Taxpayer
[Redacted] (“Taxpayer”) coordinates, directs, and oversees the planning, marketing, and execution of business
meetings for [Redacted] (“Owners”). Taxpayer and Owners are unrelated. Taxpayer conducts seminars in Georgia
with the purpose of providing the Owners with a better understanding of the Taxpayers business opportunity and its
history as well as guidance on how Owners can achieve their various sales goals. These events are generally held in
hotels.
Taxpayer provides the seminars for educational and self-improvement purposes. The seminars include approximately
16.5 hours of instruction over eight sessions of content. Taxpayer requires that seminar speakers have a high level of
experience and recognition in the business. The most recent meeting agenda included sessions about leadership,
business strategies, and products. At different points in the seminar, there may be minimal amounts (10-30 minutes)
of entertainment, such as musicians to open the seminar and transition between sessions. These seminars do not market
any outside exhibitions or displays to the participants during the event.
Currently, Taxpayer collects Georgia sales tax on tickets to attend seminars in Georgia. While the some ticket prices
includes sales tax, Taxpayer adds sales tax to other tickets. The tickets are non-refundable.
Issue
Are sales of tickets to Taxpayer’s seminars in Georgia subject to sales and use tax?
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. 1 “Retail sale” means any
sale, lease, or rental for any purpose other than for resale, sublease, or subrent. 2 Sales of tickets, fees, or charges for
admissions to places of amusement, entertainment, exhibition, display, and athletic contests and charges made for
participation in games and amusement activities are specifically enumerated as retail sales and, accordingly, are
subject to sales and use tax. 3
Sales of services are not subject to sales and use tax unless the service is specifically designated as taxable.
Professional, insurance, and personal service transactions are not taxable, even when such transactions involve a nonitemized sale of tangible personal property as an inconsequential element. 4
In this case, Taxpayer coordinates seminars to provide attendees an understanding of the company and guidance on
how to achieve sales goals. The seminar is aimed at helping small business owners improve their sales skills and
business practices. Unlike customers purchasing tickets for an entertainment or exhibition event, Owners attend
Taxpayer’s seminars with the expectation of developing and advancing their business skills. Therefore, the seminars
are akin to job training or continuing education conferences, and Taxpayer’s charges for seminars do not appear to be
the type of charges contemplated as taxable sales.
Ruling
Sales of tickets to Taxpayer’s seminars in Georgia do not fall within the definition of a “retail sale” and, thus, are not
subject to sales and use tax. 5
O.C.G.A. §§ 48-8-1, 48-8-2(31), and 48-8-30.
O.C.G.A. § 48-8-2(31).
3
O.C.G.A. § 48-8-2(31)(C) and (D).
4
O.C.G.A. § 48-8-3(22).
5
As a dealer, Taxpayer may secure a refund if Taxpayer affirmatively shows (a) that the tax illegally or erroneously
collected was paid by Taxpayer and not paid by the consumer, or (b) that such tax was collected from the consumer
1
2

Georgia Letter Ruling Number: LR SUT-2018-15
Topic: Admission Charges
Date Issued: December 28, 2018
Page 2 of 2
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.

as tax (either by including tax in the ticket price or by adding tax to the ticket price) and has since been refunded to
the consumer. O.C.G.A. §§ 48-2-35 and 48-2-35.1; Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. r. 560-12-1-.25.