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Ezel / Tax Rulings / KS
KS Notice 74-1125 Kansas Retailers' Sales Tax 1974-12-18

Did Kansas withdraw its earlier guidance about charging sales tax on debt-service-retirement charges on rural water district bills?

Short answer: Yes. In this notice dated December 18, 1974, the Kansas Department of Revenue told Kansas rural water districts to disregard the Department's earlier notice of November 25, 1974, which had addressed applying sales tax to the charges made for debt-service retirement on customers' monthly billings. The Department withdrew that earlier guidance; this document does not itself state a new rule on the underlying question.

Apply this to your situation

This page answers the general question as of 1974. Ezel answers yours, under current Kansas tax law, with citations.

Currency note: this ruling is from 1974
Subsequent statutory amendments, regulation changes, court decisions, or later rulings may have changed the analysis. Treat this page as historical context, not current tax advice. Verify current law before relying on any specific rule, rate, or position mentioned here.
Disclaimer: This is an official Kansas Department of Revenue Notice providing general public guidance, not a private ruling issued to one taxpayer. It is indexed as Notice 74-1125 (the November 25, 1974 date of the notice being revoked), but the document itself is a revocation dated December 18, 1974. It withdraws the earlier notice without stating the earlier notice's full content or a replacement rule, so it does not resolve how sales tax applies to rural water district debt-service-retirement charges; the archived copy is flagged with the Department's own 'Does this document represent current KDOR policy?' expiration marker. It does not have the force of law; confirm current law before relying on it. This summary is informational only and is not legal or tax advice.
About this page: The plain-English summary, reader guidance, and Q&A below were written by Ezel based on the official state tax ruling. The original ruling (linked on this page as a PDF) is the authoritative source for any reliance.
View original ruling (PDF)

Plain-English summary

This is a short revocation notice. Dated December 18, 1974, it told Kansas rural water districts to disregard the Department's earlier notice of November 25, 1974.

That earlier (November) notice had dealt with applying sales tax to the charges made for debt-service retirement on the water districts' monthly billings to their customers. This December document withdrew that guidance.

Because the notice only says to disregard the prior notice, it does not restate the earlier notice's full reasoning or announce a replacement rule. In other words, it tells the districts the November position no longer stands, but it does not itself decide how sales tax applies to those debt-service-retirement charges going forward.

What this means for you

If you administered a Kansas rural water district in late 1974, the takeaway was simply that the Department's November 25 notice about sales tax on debt-service-retirement charges was no longer to be followed. For the actual current treatment of such charges, you would have needed to look to later Department guidance or the statutes, since this notice does not supply a new rule.

Common questions

Q: What did this notice do?
A: It instructed Kansas rural water districts to disregard the Department's November 25, 1974 notice about applying sales tax to debt-service-retirement charges on monthly customer bills.

Q: When is it dated?
A: The document is dated December 18, 1974, even though it is indexed under the November 25, 1974 date of the revoked notice.

Q: Does it say how those charges should be taxed instead?
A: No. It withdraws the earlier notice but does not state a replacement rule.

Citations and references

  • The notice revokes the Department's prior notice of November 25, 1974; it cites no statute section.

Subject

Revocation of Rural Water District Notice

Source

Original ruling text

Notice
Notice Number: Notice Revocation Regarding Kansas Rural Water Districts
Tax Type: Kansas Retailers' Sales Tax
Brief Description: Revocation of an earlier notice
Keywords:
Effective Date: 11/25/1974
Does this document
represent current
KDOR policy?
Expiration Date: 11/25/1974

Body:
December 18, 1974

TO: Kansas Rural Water Districts

                                                         NOTICE

Please disregard the Department's notice of November 25, 1974 relative to the application of sales tax to the charges made for debt
service retirement on monthly billings to your customers.

HAROLD A. ARNOLD
Director of Taxation

JAMES T. McDONALD
Secretary of Revenue

Date Composed: 10/07/1997 Date Modified: 10/10/2001

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