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Ezel / Tax Rulings / TX
TX 8710L0840C01 Sales and/or Use Tax (State,Local,MTA) 1987-10-26

When were plant maintenance, plant leasing with maintenance, and landscaping taxable, and could an older written contract delay tax?

Short answer: The services were taxable on the dates stated in the letter, but a qualifying contract signed by July 21, 1987 temporarily delayed tax.

Apply this to your situation

This page answers the general question as of 1987. Ezel answers yours, under current Texas tax law, with citations.

Currency note: this ruling is from 1987
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 a taxpayer-specific October 1987 Texas Comptroller letter about plant maintenance, plant leasing, landscaping, and prior contracts. It says the opinion may change if the facts differ. Every effective date and the temporary contract relief are historical; verify current law and contract status. STAR documents may no longer represent current policy even when not marked superseded. Identities 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

Maintaining plants owned by customers had been taxable since October 2, 1984. Leasing and maintaining the provider's own plants for customers became taxable October 1, 1987, as did landscape maintenance.

Rule 3.319 provided temporary prior-contract relief. If a landscape-maintenance or plant-leasing-and-maintenance contract met the rule's definition and was signed on or before July 21, 1987, the provider did not charge tax until January 1, 1990 or until the contract was renewed or changed, whichever happened first.

What this means for you

The historical letter treated customer-owned plant maintenance, plant leasing with maintenance, and landscape maintenance as taxable services, but their starting dates differed. Qualifying pre-July 22, 1987 contracts delayed tax only until the first specified ending event.

Common questions

When did customer-owned plant maintenance become taxable? October 2, 1984.

When did plant leasing with maintenance and landscape maintenance become taxable? October 1, 1987.

Which contracts received temporary relief? Qualifying prior contracts signed on or before July 21, 1987.

When did the relief end? January 1, 1990, or when the contract was renewed or changed, whichever came first.

Citations and references

  • Texas Comptroller Rule 3.319, prior-contract treatment referenced by the letter

Source

Original ruling text

COMPTROLLER OF PUBLIC ACCOUNTS
STATE OF TEXAS
AUSTIN, 78774

October 26, 1987

Dear ***:

Thank you for your recent letter concerning the taxability of interior
plant maintenance and exterior landscaping.

The charge for maintaining customer-owned plants has been taxable since
October 2, 1984.

The charge for leasing and maintaining ***'s plants to
customers
is a taxable service as of October 1, 1987.

Landscape maintenance became taxable October 1, 1987.

I'm enclosing Rule 3.319 on prior contracts. If your contract to provide
landscape maintenance or plant leasing and maintenance fits the defini-
tion of a prior contract and was signed on or before July 21, 1987, then
you should not charge tax on these services until January 1, 1990, or
until the contract is renewed or changed, whichever comes first.

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 me at
1-800-252-5555 toll free from anywhere in Texas. The regular number is
512/463-4600. You may write me at the Tax Policy Division.

Sincerely,
Adina Whittemore
Tax Policy Division

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