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Ezel / Tax Rulings / TX
TX 8802L0897D11 Sales and/or Use Tax (State,Local,MTA) 1988-02-01

Did Texas's 1988 internal policy require an out-of-state taxpayer with no Texas place of business to pay the sales-tax permit fee?

Short answer: No. The internal memo said an out-of-state taxpayer without a place of business in Texas did not have to pay the permit fee, but staff had to process an individual waiver to issue the permit.

Apply this to your situation

This page answers the general question as of 1988. Ezel answers yours, under current Texas tax law, with citations.

Currency note: this ruling is from 1988
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 NOT a taxpayer-specific letter ruling. It is a February 1988 internal Texas Comptroller memorandum announcing staff policy for out-of-state permit holders. It does not carry letter-ruling reliance protection under 34 Tex. Admin. Code Rules 3.1 and 3.10. Sales-tax permit and fee law has changed since 1988; verify current requirements. STAR documents may no longer represent current policy even when not marked superseded. 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

Texas staff agreed that an out-of-state taxpayer without a “place of business” in Texas would not be required to pay the sales-tax permit fee.

An outlet recorded with an out-of-state address could have the fee waived at the taxpayer's request. If the taxpayer did not send the fee, staff still had to process a fee waiver before issuing the permit because there was no system-wide automatic waiver.

What this means for you

This memo recorded internal permit-processing policy in 1988. It is evidence of historical administrative practice, not a current permit-fee instruction or taxpayer-specific ruling.

Common questions

Who qualified under the memo? An out-of-state taxpayer without a Texas place of business.

Was the fee waived automatically? No. A waiver had to be processed for the particular outlet.

Did Texas plan a system-wide waiver? No, not when the memo was issued.

Citations and references

The memo cites no numbered statute or rule.

Source

Original ruling text

INTEROFFICE BOB BULLOCK
MEMORANDUM COMPTROLLER OF
PUBLIC ACCOUNTS

Date: February 1, 1988

To: Distribution List
From: Gary Hopkins, Tax Assistance VIA: Carol Willis
Subject: Permit Fees

In our meeting concerning permit fees on January 4, a policy
decision was needed for handling out-of-state taxpayers that do
not have a place of business in Texas. After talking with Mona
Shoemate of Tax Policy and Carol Willis of Headquarters Operations,
we've come to an agreement on the treatment of out-of-state sales
tax permit holders:

Taxpayer's without a "place of business" inside the State of Texas
will not be required to pay the sales tax permit fee.

All outlets entered on the system with an out-of-state address can
have the permit fee waived at the taxpayer's request.

If an OOS taxpayer does not send us the fee, then a fee waiver must
be processed in order to issue the permit.

There are presently no plans to implement a system-wide waiver for
sales tax outlets with out-of-state addresses.

If you have any questions or corrections, please call me at 463-4579.

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