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Ezel / Tax Rulings / TX
TX 8812L0921G05 Sales and/or Use Tax (State,Local,MTA) 1988-12-30

Were charges for temporary workers taxable when they performed general tasks or helped during a busy period?

Short answer: No for general temporary help. A business that regularly sold a taxable service still had to collect tax, even for a short engagement.

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 an official Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts letter published on the State Tax Automated Research (STAR) system. Letters on STAR can be the basis of a detrimental reliance claim only for the taxpayer to whom the letter was directly issued (see 34 Tex. Admin. Code Rules 3.1 and 3.10); documents on STAR may no longer represent current policy even if not marked superseded. Taxpayer-identifying details are redacted. This summary is informational only and is not legal or tax advice. Consult a licensed Texas tax professional about your specific situation.
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 Comptroller said charges for temporary workers were not taxable when the worker performed general tasks or helped an office through a busy period.

That treatment did not apply when the provider regularly sold a taxable service. The letter's example was a janitorial firm hired to clean an office for one week: the short duration did not change the firm's taxable cleaning service, so it had to collect tax.

Common questions

Was ordinary temporary help taxable? No under the described general-task and busy-period facts.

Did a one-week engagement automatically qualify as temporary help? No.

What mattered instead? Whether the provider regularly furnished a taxable service in the ordinary course of business.

Source

Original ruling text

COMPTROLLER OF PUBLIC ACCOUNTS
STATE OF TEXAS
AUSTIN, 78774

BOB BULLOCK
Comptroller December 30, 1988

Dear ***:

Thank you for your letter concerning temporary service providers.
Charges by a temporary service provider are not taxable when the
person or helper provided by the temporary service provider is
hired to perform general tasks. Or, if the temporary employee is
provided to help the office get through a busy period.

However, a temporary service provider does not include persons
who, in the regular course of their business, provide taxable
services to their clients, regardless of the amount of time
devoted to any particular client. These charges are taxable. For
example, if a company hires a janitorial firm to clean its office
building for a week, then the janitorial firm should collect tax
on their charge to clean the office building.

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

If you have any questions, please contact Tax Correspondence. You
may call toll free 1-800-252-5555, or our regular number is
512/463-4600. My extension is 3-4658.

Sincerely,
Sherry Buckley
Tax Correspondence

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