Is a nonlawyer service that fills out and files uncontested-divorce forms for clients subject to sales tax?

Plain-English summary

Bonnie Herde, doing business as Divorce Yourself, helps individuals obtain uncontested divorces. She obtains and fills out the necessary legal forms from information her clients supply, files them with the court, and gets the calendar and docket numbers. She states she does not provide legal advice and does not sell forms, instructions, or any other tangible personal property to her clients. She asked whether her service is subject to sales tax.

The Department said no — the service is not taxable. It checked each tax that might apply:

• Not a retail sale of property (§ 1105(a)). Any transfer of the forms to clients is merely incidental to the service she performs, so it is not a retail sale of tangible personal property.
• Not an information service (§ 1105(c)(1)). That tax reaches collecting, compiling or analyzing information and furnishing reports. Herde merely writes down the information her clients give her, without collecting, compiling or analyzing it, so she is not furnishing a taxable information service.
• Not taxable printing (§ 1105(c)(2)). That tax applies to printing or imprinting property that the customer directly or indirectly furnishes. Herde's clients do not furnish the forms she fills in, so the work is not taxable printing.
• Result: Because the service falls outside § 1105(a), (c)(1) and (c)(2), and no other provision applies, it is not subject to New York State sales or use tax.

What this means for you

A pure service isn't taxed just because paper changes hands. When the documents a service produces are incidental to the real work — here, preparing and filing forms — New York does not treat the transaction as a taxable sale of tangible personal property.

"Information service" has a specific meaning. Simply transcribing what a client tells you is not the taxable service of collecting, compiling or analyzing information and furnishing a report. The tax targets the analytic or compilation work, not clerical recording.

Taxable printing requires customer-furnished materials. The § 1105(c)(2) printing tax applies only when the customer supplies the property being printed or imprinted. If you supply the forms yourself as part of a service, that tax does not attach.

Facts drive the result. This opinion rests on Herde giving no legal advice and selling no forms or instructions as separate goods. A business that sold do-it-yourself kits or forms as products could reach a different answer.

Common questions

Q: I hand my clients completed legal forms. Doesn't that make it a taxable sale?
A: No, where the forms are incidental to the service. The Department held that transferring the forms is merely incidental to the divorce-filing service, so it is not a retail sale of tangible personal property.

Q: Is filling out and filing forms an "information service"?
A: Not as described here. Because you only write down what the client supplies and do not collect, compile or analyze information and furnish a report, it is not a taxable information service under § 1105(c)(1).

Q: Could the printing tax apply to the forms?
A: No, because the printing tax applies only when the customer furnishes the property being printed or imprinted. Your clients do not furnish the forms, so § 1105(c)(2) does not apply.

Q: Would selling divorce kits or forms change the answer?
A: It could. This opinion depends on your selling no forms or instructions as goods and giving no legal advice. Selling forms as products would raise a different, potentially taxable, transaction.

Citations and references

Statute:

• Tax Law § 1105(a) — taxes receipts from every retail sale of tangible personal property; incidental transfers are not retail sales
• Tax Law § 1105(c)(1) — taxes information services (collecting, compiling or analyzing information and furnishing reports)
• Tax Law § 1105(c)(2) — taxes printing or imprinting property that the customer furnishes

Source

• Landing page: https://www.tax.ny.gov/pubs_and_bulls/advisory_opinions/sales_ao_1985.htm
• Opinion: https://www.tax.ny.gov/pdf/advisory_opinions/sales/a85_61s.pdf

Original ruling text

New York State Department of Taxation and Finance

Taxpayer Services Division
Technical Services Bureau

TSB-A-85(61)S
Sales Tax
December 4, 1985

STATE OF NEW YORK
STATE TAX COMMISSION
ADVISORY OPINION

PETITION NO. S850314A

On March 14th, 1985 a Petition for Advisory Opinion was received from Bonnie Herde,
DBA Divorce Yourself, 76 Mamaroneck Avenue, White Plains, New York 10601.
The issue raised is whether the service provided by Petitioner is subject to sales tax.
Petitioner is engaged in the business of assisting individuals to obtain uncontested divorces.
Petitioner obtains and fills out the necessary legal forms based upon information supplied to
Petitioner by her clients. She then files these forms with the court and obtains the necessary court
calendar and docket numbers. Petitioner states that she does not provide legal advice to her clients
and does not sell forms and instructions or any other tangible personal property to her client.
Section 1105(a) of the Tax Law imposes a tax upon "the receipts from every retail sale of
tangible personal property". The transfer of tangible personal property by Petitioner to her clients is
merely incidental to the service performed by her and is not a retail sale within the meaning of
section 1105(a) of the Tax Law.
Section 1105(c)(1) of the Tax Law imposes a tax upon "the furnishing of information by
printed, mimeographed or multigraphed matter or by duplicating written or printed matter in any
other manner, including the services of collecting, compiling or analyzing information of any kind
or nature and furnishing reports thereof to other persons...." Inasmuch as Petitioner merely writes
down information supplied by her clients without collecting, compiling or analyzing it, Petitioner
is not furnishing an information service within the meaning of section 1105(c)(1) of the Tax Law.
Section 1105(c)(2) of the Tax Law imposes a tax upon "...printing or imprinting tangible
personal property, performed for a person who directly or indirectly furnishes the tangible personal
property, not purchased by him for resale, upon which such services are performed." Inasmuch as
Petitioner's client does not directly or indirectly furnish the tangible personal property upon which
the imprinting is performed, the imprinting of legal forms by Petitioner does not come within the
provision of section 1105(c)(2) of the Tax Law.

RODERICK G. W. CHU, COMMISSIONER
TP-8 (3/83)

GABRIEL B. DiCERBO, DEPUTY COMMISSIONER
FRANK J. PUCCIA, DIRECTOR

-2­
TSB-A-85(61)S
Sales Tax
December 4, 1985

Accordingly, since the services performed by Petitioner do not come within the provisions
of section 1105(a), 1105(c)(1) or 1105(c)(2) of the Tax Law and since no other provision of the Tax
Law applies to the services provided by Petitioner, the service provided by Petitioner, as described
above, are not subject to New York State sales or use tax.

DATED: November 4, 1985

s/FRANK J. PUCCIA
Director
Technical Services Bureau

NOTE: The opinions expressed in Advisory Opinions
are limited to the facts set forth herein.