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Ezel / Tax Rulings / TX
TX 8601L0692E13 Sales and/or Use Tax (State,Local,MTA) 1986-01-29

Did a physician's prescription for swimming therapy make a planned swimming pool exempt from Texas sales tax?

Short answer: No. The Comptroller said a swimming pool did not qualify as an exempt therapeutic device even though a physician prescribed swimming as therapy.

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This page answers the general question as of 1986. Ezel answers yours, under current Texas tax law, with citations.

Currency note: this ruling is from 1986
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 1986 Texas Comptroller taxpayer-response letter based on one person's plan to build a swimming pool for physician-prescribed therapy. It expressly says different facts could change the opinion. Current therapeutic-device, medical-equipment, construction, prescription, and sales-tax rules may differ, and STAR documents may no longer represent current policy even when not marked superseded. Letters on STAR can support detrimental reliance only for the taxpayer to whom the letter was directly issued under 34 Tex. Admin. Code Rules 3.1 and 3.10. Taxpayer-identifying details are redacted. 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) is the authoritative source for any reliance.

Plain-English summary

The requester planned to have a swimming pool built after a physician prescribed swimming as therapy. The Comptroller nevertheless said a swimming pool did not qualify for a sales-tax exemption as a therapeutic device.

Common questions

Did the physician's prescription make the pool exempt? No.

Did the letter recognize swimming as prescribed therapy? Yes, but it still denied the therapeutic-device exemption for the pool.

Did the letter cite a statute or rule defining therapeutic devices? No.

Citations and references

The reproduced letter cites no numbered statute or rule.

Source

Original ruling text

January 29, 1986

Dear ***:

Thank you for your letter of January 21, 1986 requesting exemption from
sales tax on the swimming pool you plan to have built.

Although your doctor has prescribed swimming as therapy for your
artificial hip and chronic arthritis, a swimming pool does not qualify
for exemption from the tax as a therapeutic device.

This opinion is based on the facts presented. If there are additional or
different facts, the opinion may change.

If you have any questions or need more information, please call us at
1-800-252-5555 toll free from anywhere in Texas. You may write us at the
Tax Administration Division.

Sincerely,

Tax Policy Section
Tax Administration Division

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