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Ezel / Tax Rulings / TX
TX 8712L0854F09 Sales and/or Use Tax (State,Local,MTA) 1987-12-31

Were property-tax certificates prepared for title companies taxable information services, and could government-copy costs be excluded?

Short answer: Yes. Gathering the taxes due or paid on a specific property for a title company was a taxable information service. The cost of copies obtained from a government agency could be excluded from the tax base if passed through and separately stated.

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 December 1987 Texas Comptroller letter based on a company gathering property-tax payment information for specific properties and issuing tax certificates to title companies. It says the opinion may change if the facts differ. Although the STAR caption lists title searches, abstracts, title runs, take-off services, and plant information, the operative letter decides only the described property-tax certificates and government-copy costs. It also grants the requester a historical prospective enforcement date because of the agency's delayed response. Information-service, tax-base, and pass-through-cost rules may have changed substantially; verify current law. STAR documents may no longer represent current policy even when not marked superseded.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

The company gathered the amount of property tax due or paid on a specific property and issued the information to title companies. The Comptroller classified that work as a taxable information service.

If the company had to buy copies of the information from a government agency, it could exclude that passed-through cost from the tax base when the amount was separately stated on the customer invoice.

Because the agency delayed its response about the company's responsibilities, the letter said the requester would be held responsible only from the date it received the correspondence.

What this means for you

The historical holding concerns property-tax certificates for specific real estate. It does not support the caption's broader list of title-plant and title-search services.

Common questions

Were the property-tax certificates taxable? Yes, as information services.

Could government-record costs be excluded? Yes, when passed through and separately stated.

When did this requester become responsible? The letter granted responsibility only from receipt because of the delayed agency response.

Did the letter decide abstracts or general title searches? No. Those appear only in the STAR caption.

Citations and references

  • The letter says a rule was enclosed but does not identify the rule number in the body.

Source

Original ruling text

COMPTROLLER OF PUBLIC ACCOUNTS
STATE OF TEXAS
AUSTIN, 78774

BOB BULLOCK
Comptroller December 31, 1987

Dear ***:

Thank you for your letter regarding the taxability of tax certificates
issued
to title companies.

You indicated that your company will gather information on a specific
property concerning the amount of property tax that is either due or has
been
paid on that property. This is taxable as an information service. If
you
are required to obtain copies of this information from a governmental
agency
and you pass on this cost to your customer you may exclude that cost from
this tax base if it is separately stated on the invoice.

Due to the delay on our response to you concerning your tax
responsibilities
you will only be held responsible effective the date you receive this
correspondence. Also, I have included a copy of our rule for your
reference.

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 our
toll-free
number 1-800-531-5441. The regular number is 512/463-4600. You may write
me
at the Tax Policy Division.

Sincerely,
F. Wayne McDonald
Tax Policy Division

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