Is a licensed architect's standalone rendering business -- producing computer renderings and design-concept images for developers, architects, and engineers -- subject to New York sales tax?

Plain-English summary

A licensed architect ran a separate business producing architectural computer modeling, rendering, and animation for clients -- developers, building owners planning renovations, and other architects and engineers -- during the early, conceptual phase of their projects. In the course of producing renderings, he'd also offer some design assistance around building form, color, and material selection. He asked whether his rendering services were subject to New York sales tax.

New York generally taxes sales of tangible personal property, and its own regulations classify sketches, drawings, and similar "artistic items" (including architectural models and renderings) as tangible personal property. Separately, New York's interior-decorating-and-design tax specifically reaches design services performed by architects and engineers -- but carves out an exception for services that actually constitute the practice of architecture as defined by the state's Education Law, when performed by someone properly licensed to do that work.

The key distinction the Department drew: producing a rendering, by itself, doesn't necessarily require the specialized skill and licensed judgment that the Education Law reserves to licensed architects, even though it takes real artistic and technical skill to do well. So when a rendering is sold as its own product -- not bundled with actual licensed design plans or licensed design services -- it's simply a sale of tangible personal property (an artistic item), fully taxable under the general sales tax, regardless of the seller's own architecture license. The result flips only when a licensed architect transfers a rendering together with design plans or design services that genuinely require the architecture license -- in that bundled scenario, the rendering becomes incidental to the exempt licensed architectural work and isn't separately taxed. The Department also flagged a separate, narrower carve-out for renderings that are copyrighted and transferred under a "right to reproduce" arrangement, which its own prior New York Society of Renderers opinion held may not be subject to sales tax at all.

What this means for you

Architectural renderers, 3D modelers, and visualization studios

If you sell standalone renderings, models, or animations as your product -- even to architects and developers, and even if you personally hold an architecture license -- expect those sales to be taxable as sales of tangible personal property, unless you're also providing actual licensed design plans or services alongside the rendering.

Licensed architects who also produce renderings as part of their design work

If you transfer a rendering to a client together with design plans or design services that require your architecture license, the rendering itself is treated as incidental to that exempt licensed work and isn't separately taxed -- the bundling with genuine licensed work is what changes the outcome, not simply holding the license.

Accountants and tax professionals

The core doctrinal point is that holding a professional license doesn't automatically exempt everything the license-holder sells -- the Tax Law § 1105(c)(7) exclusion is tied to whether the specific service constitutes the licensed practice of architecture (or engineering) as defined by Education Law § 7301, not to the seller's credentials alone. Also worth flagging separately: copyrighted renderings transferred under a "right to reproduce" license may avoid sales tax entirely under a different theory (New York Society of Renderers), independent of the architect-license analysis.

Common questions

Q: If I'm a licensed architect, are all the renderings I sell automatically tax-exempt?
A: No. Holding an architecture license doesn't by itself exempt a rendering sale — what matters is whether producing that specific rendering required the licensed practice of architecture, or whether it's bundled with design plans/services that do.

Q: When does a rendering become tax-exempt as incidental to architectural services?
A: When a licensed architect transfers the rendering together with design plans or design services that themselves require an architecture license — in that case, the rendering is treated as incidental to the exempt service rather than a separate taxable sale.

Q: Are architectural models and sketches also treated as tangible personal property?
A: Yes. Under 20 NYCRR § 526.8(a), artistic items like sketches, drawings, and architectural models are tangible personal property and can be subject to sales tax on the same basis as renderings.

Q: Is there any other way a rendering could avoid sales tax?
A: Possibly, if it's copyrighted and transferred to the client under a "right to reproduce" arrangement rather than an outright sale — the Department's prior New York Society of Renderers opinion addressed that separate theory.

Citations and references

Statutes and regulations:

• Tax Law § 1101(b)(4)(i) (definition of "retail sale")
• Tax Law § 1101(b)(5) (definition of "sale, selling or purchase")
• Tax Law § 1101(b)(6) (definition of "tangible personal property")
• Tax Law § 1105(a) (tax on retail sales of tangible personal property)
• Tax Law § 1105(c)(7) (tax on interior decorating/design services; licensed-architect/engineer exclusion)
• Education Law § 7301 (definition of the practice of architecture)
• 20 NYCRR § 526.8(a) (tangible personal property includes artistic items)

Prior rulings referenced:

• Leslie H. Barker, Adv Op Comm T&F, June 23, 1994, TSB-A-94(26)S
• Awad Architectural Models, Adv Op St Tx Comm, Feb. 14, 1986, TSB-A-86(9)S
• New York Society of Renderers, Adv Op Comm T&F, July 1, 1998, TSB-A-98(43)S

Source

• Landing page: https://www.tax.ny.gov/pubs_and_bulls/advisory_opinions/sales_ao_2000.htm
• Opinion: https://www.tax.ny.gov/pdf/advisory_opinions/sales/a00_33s.pdf

Original ruling text

New York State Department of Taxation and Finance

Office of Tax Policy Analysis
Technical Services Division

TSB-A-00(33)S
Sales Tax
September 7, 2000

STATE OF NEW YORK
COMMISSIONER OF TAXATION AND FINANCE
ADVISORY OPINION

PETITION NO. S000407A

On April 7, 2000, the Department of Taxation and Finance received a Petition for Advisory
Opinion from Herbert K. Guenther, 54 Grandview Avenue, Buffalo, New York 14223.
The issue raised by Petitioner, Herbert K. Guenther, is whether a rendering service provided
by a licensed professional architect is subject to State and local sales and use taxes.
Petitioner submits the following facts as the basis for this Advisory Opinion.
Petitioner is a licensed architect and owns and operates an architectural computer modeling,
rendering and animation business. Petitioner’s clients consist of developers, owners of buildings that
need renovation, architects and engineers. Petitioner’s clients come to him during preliminary
phases of project development. Petitioner produces renderings for their concepts regarding
renovation or building design. During this rendering process Petitioner offers design assistance
regarding building form, color and material selection.
Applicable Law & Regulations
Section 1101(b) of the Tax Law provides, in part:
When used in this article for the purposes of the taxes imposed by
subdivisions (a), (b), (c) and (d) of section eleven hundred five and by section eleven
hundred ten, the following terms shall mean:
*

*

*

(4) Retail sale. (i) A sale of tangible personal property to any person for any
purpose, other than (A) for resale as such or as a physical component part of tangible
personal property, or (B) for use by that person in performing the services subject to
tax under paragraphs (1), (2), (3), (5), (7) and (8) of subdivision (c) of section eleven
hundred five where the property so sold becomes a physical component part of the
property upon which the services are performed or where the property so sold is later
actually transferred to the purchaser of the service in conjunction with the
performance of the service subject to tax. . . .
(5) Sale, selling or purchase. Any transfer of title or possession or both,
exchange or barter, rental, lease or license to use or consume (including, with respect
to computer software, merely the right to reproduce), conditional or otherwise, in any

-2­
TSB-A-00(33)S
Sales Tax
September 7, 2000

manner or by any means whatsoever for a consideration, or any agreement therefor,
including the rendering of any service, taxable under this article, for a consideration
or any agreement therefor.
(6) Tangible personal property.
nature. . . .

Corporeal personal property of any

Section 1105 of the Tax Law states, in part:
Imposition of sales tax.- - . . . there is hereby imposed and there shall be paid
a tax of four percent upon:
(a) The receipts from every retail sale of tangible personal property, except
as otherwise provided in this article.
*

*

*

(c) The receipts from every sale, except for resale, of the following services:
*

*

*

(7) Interior decorating and designing services, (whether or not in conjunction
with the sale of tangible personal property), by whomsoever performed, including
interior decorators and designers, architects or engineers; notwithstanding the
forgoing, such services shall not include services which consist of the practice of
architecture, as defined in section seventy-three hundred one of the education law,
or the practice of engineering, as defined in section seventy-two hundred one of the
education law, if the services are performed by an architect or engineer having a
license or permit under the education law.
Section 7301 of the Education Law defines the practice of architecture as follows:
The practice of the profession of architecture is defined as rendering or
offering to render services which require the application of the art, science, and
aesthetics of design and construction of buildings, groups of buildings, including
their components and appurtenances and the spaces around them wherein the
safeguarding of life, health, property, and public welfare is concerned. Such services
include, but are not limited to consultation, evaluation, planning, the provision of
preliminary studies, designs, construction documents, construction management, and
the administration of construction contracts.

-3­
TSB-A-00(33)S
Sales Tax
September 7, 2000

Section 526.8(a) of the Sales and Use Tax Regulations provides, in part:
. . . The term tangible personal property means corporeal personal property
of any nature having a material existence and perceptibility to the human senses.
Tangible personal property includes, without limitation:
*

*

*

(3) artistic items, such as sketches, paintings, photographs, moving picture
films and recordings. . . .
Opinion
Petitioner produces renderings of its clients’ concepts regarding renovation or new building
design. Petitioner may also provide design assistance regarding building form, color and material
selection.
Sketches and drawings, as well as architectural models, are tangible personal property and
may, therefore, be subject to sales tax. See Leslie H. Barker, Adv Op Comm T&F, June 23, 1994,
TSB-A-94(26)S; Awad Architectural Models, Adv Op St Tx Comm., February 14, 1986,
TSB-A-86(9)S. Renderings that are copyrighted and transferred by the renderer to its client pursuant
to a “right to reproduce,” may not be subject to sales tax. See New York Society of Renderers, Adv
Op Comm T&F, July 1, 1998, TSB-A-98(43)S.
If a licensed architect transfers a rendering along with design plans or design services for
which a license to practice architecture under the State Education Law is required, the rendering is
considered incidental to the architectural service and is not subject to sales tax. Although the
production of a rendering may require a great deal of skill, it does not necessarily constitute a service
for which a license to practice architecture is required. Thus, the production and sale of a rendering
for which a license under the State Education Law is not required is the sale of tangible personal
property which is subject to tax under Section 1105(a) of the Tax Law.

DATED: September 7, 2000

NOTE:

/s/
John W. Bartlett
Deputy Director
Technical Services Division

The opinions expressed in Advisory Opinions are
limited to the facts set forth therein.