Is admission to a sports card and memorabilia show, the vendor table fees, and autograph sales all subject to New York sales tax?

Plain-English summary

Five Star Promotions runs two-day sports card and memorabilia shows in rented hotel or convention center meeting rooms. It charges vendors a fee to sell their cards and memorabilia at the show (with a table provided, but no separate table fee) and charges patrons an admission fee to attend. Separately, Five Star pays a professional athlete to appear and sign autographs -- both items the company supplies (photos, baseballs, helmets, which Five Star then resells to patrons already autographed) and items patrons bring themselves, for which Five Star charges an autographing fee. It asked how sales tax applies to each of these four revenue streams.

The Department's answers:

• Admission fee: not taxable. A sports card and memorabilia show isn't a "place of amusement" under Tax Law § 1101(d)(10) -- the Department followed its own precedent on a similar show (Antique World) in reaching this conclusion, so the general admission-charge tax under § 1105(f)(1) doesn't apply.
• Vendor table fee: not taxable. A fee for using space to display merchandise for sale is treated as a real-property use charge, not a taxable sale of property or service.
• Sales of pre-autographed items to patrons: taxable. When Five Star sells items it already had autographed (photos, baseballs, etc.) to show patrons, that's an ordinary taxable retail sale of tangible personal property under § 1105(a).
• Autograph-only fee on patron-owned items: not taxable. Charging a fee just to have an athlete sign an item the patron already owns and brought to the show isn't one of the enumerated taxable services under § 1105(c), so it escapes sales tax.

Because it does make taxable sales (the pre-autographed merchandise), Five Star still has to register as a vendor required to collect tax.

What this means for you

Collectibles, memorabilia, and hobby show promoters

Separate your revenue streams carefully: admission and vendor-space fees are generally untaxed, but selling merchandise you've already had autographed is an ordinary taxable retail sale. Charging patrons only to autograph items they bring themselves is a different (untaxed) transaction from selling them an autographed item you already own.

Event promoters generally

Whether your event counts as a taxable "place of amusement" under § 1101(d)(10) matters a lot -- a show centered on buying/selling/displaying collectibles (like this one) is a useful precedent that such shows aren't automatically treated as amusement venues, following the Antique World case.

Accountants and tax professionals

This is a clean four-way split template for any hobby/collectibles show: admission (generally not taxable if not a place of amusement), vendor space rental (real-property use, not taxable), sale of tangible goods (taxable), and a pure personal service performed on a customer's own property that isn't separately enumerated (not taxable).

Common questions

Q: Is admission to a collectibles show always tax-free?
A: Not automatically -- it depends on whether the show counts as a "place of amusement" under the statute; this ruling and the Antique World precedent found a sports card/memorabilia show does not.

Q: Why is selling an autographed item taxable but autographing a patron's own item isn't?
A: Selling a pre-autographed item is an ordinary retail sale of tangible personal property (taxable); autographing something the patron already owns is a personal service not listed among the specifically taxed services.

Q: Can another show promoter rely on this ruling?
A: No. This advisory opinion binds the Department only as to Five Star Promotions and the specific facts about its shows and autograph arrangements.

Citations and references

Statutes and regulations:

• Tax Law § 1101(b)(4) (definition of retail sale)
• Tax Law § 1101(d)(2) (definition of admission charge)
• Tax Law § 1101(d)(10) (definition of place of amusement)
• Tax Law § 1105(a) (tax on retail sales of tangible personal property)
• Tax Law § 1105(c)(2) (producing, fabricating, processing, printing or imprinting)
• Tax Law § 1105(f)(1) (tax on admission charges to places of amusement)
• Tax Law § 1131 (persons required to collect tax)

Prior rulings referenced:

• Antique World, Tax App Trib, February 22, 1996, TSB-D-96(13)S

Source

• Landing page: https://www.tax.ny.gov/pubs_and_bulls/advisory_opinions/sales_ao_1997.htm
• Opinion: https://www.tax.ny.gov/pdf/advisory_opinions/sales/a97_07s.pdf

Original ruling text

New York State Department of Taxation and Finance

Taxpayer Services Division
Technical Services Bureau

TSB-A-97(7)S
Sales Tax

STATE OF NEW YORK
COMMISSIONER OF TAXATION AND FINANCE
ADVISORY OPINION

PETITION NO.S960626B

On June 26, 1996, the Department of Taxation and Finance received a
Petition for Advisory Opinion from Five Star Promotions, PO Box 17187, Rochester,
New York 14617.
The issues raised by Petitioner, Five Star Promotions, are:
1.

Whether the admission fee charged by Petitioner for
admission
to a sports card and memorabilia show is
subject to sales tax.

2.

Whether the fee charged to vendors for table space to
display their sports cards and memorabilia is subject to
sales and compensating use taxes.

3.

Whether sales of autographed products to show patrons
attending
the sports card and memorabilia shows are
subject to sales and compensating use taxes.

4.

Whether sales of autographs only at the sports card and
memorabilia shows are subject to compensating sales and
use taxes.

Petitioner submits the following facts as the basis for this Advisory
Opinion.
Petitioner is a sports card and memorabilia show promoter.
Each show
generally runs two days. Petitioner rents meeting rooms at a local hotel or
convention center to hold the sports card and memorabilia show. Petitioner will
then charge a fee to show vendors which allows them to sell sports cards and
memorabilia during the show. Petitioner supplies a table for the show vendor to
display items, but no fee is charged specifically for the table. The vendor may
bring his or her own tables or displays.
Petitioner also pays a fee to a professional athlete which requires him or
her to attend the show for a specific time period and sign a specific number of
autographs.
The athlete will sign items provided by Petitioner, such as
photographs, baseballs, helmets, etc. Petitioner then sells these autographed
items to the show patrons. In addition, the athlete will sign items brought to
the show and owned by the show patrons, such as blank paper, photos, baseballs,
etc. Petitioner charges a fee to patrons for the autographs.
Section 1101(b)(4) of the Tax Law defines the term "retail sale", in part,
to mean "(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 . . ."

-2­
TSB-A-97(7)S
Sales Tax

Section 1101(d)(2) of the Tax Law defines "admission charge" as "[t]he
amount paid for admission, including any service charge and any charge for
entertainment or amusement or for the use of facilities therefor."
Section 1101(d)(10) of the Tax Law defines "place of amusement" as "[a]ny
place where any facilities for entertainment, amusement, or sports are provided."
Section 1105 of the Tax Law imposes sales tax upon:
(a) The receipts from every retail sale of tangible
property, except as otherwise provided in this article.
*
(c) The receipts from
following services:
*

*
every

sale,

personal

*
except

*

for

resale,

of

the

*

(2) Producing, fabricating, processing, 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.
Section 1105(f)(1) of the Tax Law imposes sales tax, in part, on:
Any admission charge where such admission charge is in excess of ten
cents to or for the use of any place of amusement in the state,
except charges for admission to race tracks, boxing, sparring or
wrestling matches or exhibitions which charges are taxed under any
other law of this state, or dramatic or musical arts performances,
or motion picture theatres, and except charges to a patron for
admission to, or use of, facilities for sporting activities in which
such patron is to be a participant, such as bowling alleys and
swimming pools . . .
Section 1131 of the Tax Law provides, in part:
(1)"Person required to collect tax" or "person required to collect
any tax imposed by this article" shall include: every vendor of
tangible personal property or services; every recipient of amusement
charges; and every operator of a hotel . . .
*

*

*

(4)"Property and services the use of which is subject to tax" shall
include: (a) all property sold to a person within the state, whether
or not the sale is made within the state, the use of which property
is subject to tax under section eleven hundred ten or will become
subject to tax when such property is received by or comes into the
possession or control of such person within the state; . . .

-3­
TSB-A-97(7)S
Sales Tax

With respect to issue "1", Petitioner's sports card and memorabilia shows
are not places of amusement for purposes of Section 1105(f)(1) of the Tax Law.
(See Antique World, Tax App Trib, February 22, 1996, TSB-D-96(13)S). Therefore,
the admission fee charged by Petitioner is not subject to sales tax under Section
1105(f)(1).
Concerning issue "2", a fee charged to a vendor to use space to display
tangible personal property for sale is a fee for the use of real property and
is, therefore, not subject to sales and use taxes.
As for issue "3", Section 1105(a) of the Tax Law imposes sales tax on the
receipts from every retail sale of tangible personal property. Accordingly,
Petitioner would be required to collect sales tax on any autographed products it
sells to show patrons.
With respect to issue "4", the fee charged for autographing items like
blank paper, photos, baseballs, etc. which are owned and brought to the show by
the show patrons is not a fee for an enumerated service under Section 1105(c) of
the Tax Law and therefore is not subject to sales tax.
It is noted that since Petitioner is making taxable sales of tangible
personal property, Petitioner must register as a person required to collect tax
under Section 1134 of the Tax Law.

DATED: February 6, 1997

NOTE:

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

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