Is aerial photogrammetry performed by licensed surveyors and engineers a taxable sale, an exempt professional service, or an exempt information service?

Plain-English summary

This is a Modified Advisory Opinion that reconsiders TSB-A-87(26)S (issued to Lockwood Support Services on August 31, 1987). After that opinion, Lockwood asked for reconsideration and supplied fuller facts: it is engaged in aerial photogrammetry — obtaining reliable measurements and information about physical objects from aerial photographic images — and its staff includes licensed land surveyors and licensed professional engineers. Clients usually receive a precise, to-scale mylar survey (or digital survey data on tape/disc), not the underlying photographs. The question: is this work taxable?

The Department modified its earlier result, distinguishing three categories.

• 1. Licensed surveying/engineering = professional service, not taxable. Article 28 does not tax professional services; unless a service is specifically enumerated, it is outside the scope of the tax. A survey furnished by a licensed professional surveyor is not a sale of tangible personal property or an enumerated service, even though a paper or mylar embodiment is handed over as an incident of the service. So when Lockwood acts as a licensed land surveyor (Education Law § 7203) or licensed professional engineer (§ 7201), its services are not subject to sales or use tax — whether performed for its own client or as a subcontractor to a licensed engineer or surveyor.
• 2. Reports and survey data = exempt information service (if personal/individual). When Lockwood provides reports (such as coal-pile inventory) or survey data on magnetic tape or floppy disc, it is furnishing an information service that is exempt under § 1105(c)(1) so long as the information is personal or individual in nature and is not, or may not be, substantially incorporated in reports furnished to others.
• 3. Everything else = taxable. To the extent a sale is neither an exempt professional survey (category 1) nor an exempt information service (category 2), it is taxable — the Department gives aerial photographs or maps as examples.
• Exemption documents. If a customer furnishes an appropriate exemption document — an exempt-organization certificate or a U.S. or New York State government purchase order — Lockwood need not collect tax.

What this means for you

Licensed professional work stands outside the sales tax — even when paper or mylar changes hands. If you are a licensed surveyor or engineer, the survey or engineering service you sell is a professional service, not a taxable product, and the tangible copy you deliver is just an incident of that service. That holds whether you bill the client directly or work as a subcontractor to another licensed professional.

The delivered form still matters for non-professional output. Data furnished as an individualized report or on tape/disc can qualify as an exempt information service; raw aerial photographs or plain maps sold on their own are taxable tangible personal property. Know which category each deliverable falls into.

Facts drive the answer — and they can change it. This opinion reversed much of the earlier one once the Department understood the licensed-professional nature of the work. If a ruling turned out on incomplete facts, a reconsideration request with complete facts can change the result.

Common questions

Q: I'm a licensed surveyor delivering a mylar survey. Do I charge sales tax?
A: No. Your survey is a professional service outside the scope of the sales tax, and the mylar you hand over is an incident of that service.

Q: I sell survey data on disc or a custom inventory report. Taxable?
A: It can be an exempt information service if the information is personal or individual and won't be substantially incorporated into reports for others.

Q: What's still taxable?
A: Sales that are neither an exempt professional survey nor an exempt information service — the Department points to raw aerial photographs and maps.

Citations and references

Statutes:

• Tax Law § 1105(a) — taxes retail sales of tangible personal property
• Tax Law § 1105(c)(1) — taxes furnishing information, excluding information that is personal or individual and not substantially incorporated in reports to others
• Education Law § 7203 — licensed land surveyor
• Education Law § 7201 — licensed professional engineer

Source

• Landing page: https://www.tax.ny.gov/pubs_and_bulls/advisory_opinions/sales_ao_1987.htm
• Opinion: https://www.tax.ny.gov/pdf/advisory_opinions/sales/a87_26_1s.pdf

Original ruling text

New York State Department of Taxation and Finance

Taxpayer Services Division
Technical Services Bureau

TSB-A-87(26.1) S
Sales Tax
July 29, 1988

STATE OF NEW YORK
COMMISSIONER OF TAXATION AND FINANCE
MODIFIED ADVISORY OPINION

PETITION NO. S870519A

On August 31, 1987, an Advisory Opinion was issued to Lockwood Support Services, Inc.,
36 Karlan Drive, Rochester, New York 14617. On January 25, 1988, Lockwood Support Services,
Inc. requested reconsideration of the Advisory Opinion issued on August 31, 1987.
Petitioner's basis for reconsideration are:
1.
The initial Petition for Advisory Opinion did not adequately explain the services that
the Petitioner renders.
2.
Additional information for submission for support of a position that the Petitioner is
exempt from sales tax not only under the informational service exception of the law as indicated in
the first request for Advisory Opinion, but also as a profession.
The Advisory Opinion dated August 31, 1987 states that Petitioner is in the business of
making aerial maps, surveys and charts. This conclusion was based upon the information contained
in the Petitioner's original petition. However, Petitioner has submitted additional information
regarding the nature of its business. Accordingly, this Modified Advisory Opinion is based upon the
revised facts and circumstances described below.
Petitioner is engaged in the business of aerial photogrammetry, which is the art, science and
technology of obtaining reliable information about physical objects and the environment through
processes of recording, measuring and interpreting aerial photographic images and patterns of
electromagnetic radiant energy and other phenomena. Petitioner states that its services are the same
as those of a surveyor, only Petitioner uses aerial photographic information, not groundwork, for its
services.
Petitioner has on its staff licensed land surveyors and licensed professional engineers.
The following is a description of some of Petitioner's services:
1.

Photo interpretation of soils, in engineering, forestry, wildlife management, range
management, hydrology and watershed management, agriculture, urban area analysis,
archaeology and geography.

2.

Extension of vertical and horizontal geodetic control systems by analytical
aerotriangulation. Through processes of mensuration, determination of plate
coordinates, point transfer techniques and electronic data processing, ground control
surveys are extended to photo-identifiable ground points for subsequent use in
orientation of stereo-projections. This technique is particularly applicable to large

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

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

-2­
TSB-A-87(26.1) S
Sales Tax
July 29, 1988

areas of rugged terrain with substantial relief, or to large urban areas where
establishment of control on the ground is difficult and costly.
3.

Stereo-photogrammetric compilation of aerial topographic surveys for:
(a)

preparation of site plans and site grading plans, landscape architect plans for
industrial development usage or for single or multi-family land development
usage.

(b)

determination of preliminary and final alignments for both primary and
secondary roadways. Including readings of profiles and cross-sections.
Surveys are also used for right-of-way acquisition, calculation of earthwork
quantities and rendering of construction plans.

(c)

inventory of various types of stockpiles, for example coal. Cross-sections are
read photogrammetrically at prescribed intervals along a base line, the data
is transferred to magnetic tape, introduced to data processing procedures and
the volumetric data is therewith calculated, listed and graphically plotted.
Petitioner is a retained on a periodic basis by three local power-generating
companies to furnish volumetric data regarding their existing coal piles.

(d)

engineering of transmission lines and pipelines for power, gas, and products.
The aerial topographic survey is used for route selection, determination of PI
locations, easement and right-of-way acquisition and legal description
writing. Centerline profiles enable design engineers to determine structure
heights, span lengths and clearance tolerances for final construction plans.

(e)

engineering of sanitary sewer systems. Aerial topographic surveys, in strip
map form, provide complete data for the design engineer to locate centerline,
determine gradients, number of customers to hookup and serve, determine
size of mains and laterals, location of lift stations, etc. These
photogrammetric surveys are incorporated into plan/profile sheet sets of
finished construction costs for bidding. The same surveys are used for
preparation of "as-built" plans.

(f)

engineering of reservoirs, dam sites, flood control programs. Aerial
topographic surveys, most generally specified in a large-scale, small contour
interval format for this particular application, provide the civil and hydraulic
engineer adequate survey data to make a site selection for dam and spillways,
design said dam and spillways, determine total acreage and water volume in
the reservoir, calculate probable watershed runoff and determine flood stage

-3­
TSB-A-87(26.1) S
Sales Tax
July 29, 1988

and normal reservoir pool. The topographic survey is also utilized in
development of adjoining properties, including the engineering of sewage,
water and road improvements.
Petitioner's clients do not normally receive the actual photographs used in this process.
Instead, they receive a mylar survey. The survey is produced by a photogrammetrist using a stereo
plotting machine. Film positive plates made from the original photographer's negatives are placed
in the plate holders of the instrument. These plates are viewed stereoscopically by the
photogrammetrist through zoom optics at up to ten times magnification. Through a series of
adjustments, the plates in the instrument are recovered to precisely the same position and attitude
in space as the position at the moment of exposure in the camera of the aircraft. This stereographic
image of the earth's surface is then further adjusted to accurately conform to ground coordinate and
elevation points that are supplied by a professional land surveyor. The result is a stereographic image
that is precisely to scale in three dimensions and measurable.
Through a system of handwheel drives the photogrammetrist activates a floating measuring
reference mark that conveys digital (coordinated) information to a computer.
In viewing the stereo model, the photogrammetrist selects and identifies the ground features
to be shown at the various scales and also interprets elevation through contour lines on spot
elevation.
The computer enhances this digital information using computer designed software and drives
a plotting table, or drum-type plotter, to produce a line map or plan. Alternatively, the digital
information is often recovered on magnetic tape or floppy disks, and such tapes or discs are finally
delivered to engineers with CAD (Computer Aided Design) Systems.
Section 1105(a) of the Tax Law imposes a sales tax upon "It]he receipts from every retail sale
of tangible personal property, except as otherwise provided in this article."
Section 1105(c)(1) of the Tax Law imposes a tax upon the receipts from "The furnishing of
information by printed, mimeographed or multigaphed matter...but excluding the furnishing of
information which is personal or individual in nature and which is not or may not be substantially
incorporated in reports furnished to other persons..."
Article 28 (Sales Tax) does not specifically exempt or tax professional services. The
construction of §1105(c) is such that unless a service is specifically subjected to tax, it is outside the
scope of the tax and thus not subject to sales tax. The furnishing of a survey by a licensed
professional surveyor is not deemed to be the sale of tangible personal property or the sale of an
enumerated service even though tangible property (viz. the physical embodiment of the survey on
paper or mylar) is furnished as an incident to the surveying service being performed.

-4­
TSB-A-87(26.1) S
Sales Tax
July 29, 1988

Such a professional service is outside the scope of the sales tax.
In light of the additional information supplied by Petitioner, the advisory opinion issued on
August 31, 1987 is modified as follows:
1.
It is concluded that when Petitioner acts in the capacity of a licensed land surveyor
pursuant to Education Law § 7203 or in the capacity of a licensed professional engineer pursuant to
Education Law § 7201, such services are not subject to sales or use tax because such services are
outside of the scope of the sales tax. This principle will apply whether Petitioner renders such a
service for a client of Petitioner or as a subcontractor to a licensed professional engineer or licensed
land surveyor.
2.
It is concluded that when Petitioner provides reports (e.g. reports regarding inventory
of coal) or survey data recorded on magnetic tape or floppy discs, Petitioner is providing an
information service which is exempt from sales tax as long as the information furnished is personal
or individual in nature and is not or may not be substantially incorporated in reports furnished by
Petitioner to others.
3.
It is concluded that to the extent that Petitioner makes sales of tangible personal
property or information services which are not exempt surveys as described in conclusion number
1 above or are not an exempt information service as described in conclusion number 2 above, such
sales are subject to sales and use tax. Examples of this would be aerial photographs or maps.
It is noted, however, that to the extent that any of Petitioner's customers furnish Petitioner
with an appropriate exemption document (e.g. an exempt organization certificate or a United States
or New York State government purchase order), Petitioner need not collect sales and use tax on such
sale.

DATED: July 29, 1988

s/FRANK J. PUCCIA
Director
Technical Services Bureau

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