State Tax Rulings
Free state tax letter rulings and advisory opinions with plain-English summaries, full citations, and the original source on every page.
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Is a political subdivision's sale of a duty weapon to a retiring officer subject to Kansas sales tax?
Yes. When a political subdivision sells a retiring officer's duty weapon to that officer, the sale is subject to Kansas retail sales tax. The government exemption in K.S.A. 79-3606(b) covers the polit…
Which of a YMCA's receipts — memberships, recreational program fees, and retail sales — are subject to Kansas sales tax?
Most of a qualifying YMCA's receipts are not taxed. Because a YMCA that is exempt from property tax under the Ninth paragraph of K.S.A. 79-201 falls within K.S.A. 79-3603(m), its fees and charges for …
How does New York sales tax apply to a contractor's installation of gas mains and telephone conduit, and to the road-building materials and conduit it buys for those jobs?
The installation charge itself usually escapes tax as an exempt capital improvement (given a proper certificate), but the contractor's own purchases mostly stay taxable -- gas mains supplied free by t…
Are membership dues paid to a fox-hunting club subject to New York's club dues sales tax?
No -- because the club's sole purpose is fox and coyote hunting on horseback with hounds, and it maintains no social or athletic facilities, doesn't sell meals, and provides no other member services, …
Is the fee a carnival game operator charges patrons to play a game of chance for a prize a taxable admission charge under New York sales tax law?
No -- because patrons aren't charged anything just to enter the tent or area where the games are set up, the fee to actually play a game for a chance at a prize isn't an admission charge to a place of…
When a corporate wellness consultant bundles nontaxable coaching, handouts, workshops, textbooks, and on-site massage into one yearly package price, is the whole charge taxable, or just the textbooks?
It depends on how the bill is itemized. Dr. Coff's wellness coaching, workshops, and on-site chair massage are nontaxable services, and the handouts and wellness calendar are incidental freebies that …
Is a telecom subsidiary's brand-new corporate jet purchase exempt from New York sales tax when it's delivered out of state and used mostly to fly the parent company's affiliated group?
Yes. A telecom subsidiary's purchase of a new aircraft — delivered out of state and hangared in New York — qualifies as exempt commercial aircraft because the subsidiary keeps full operational control…
Is a corporate subsidiary's company-owned aircraft, and the fuel and maintenance it buys for it, exempt from New York sales and use tax when the subsidiary flies its parent company's people over 95% of the time for a cost-based fee?
Yes. Because the subsidiary keeps complete dominion and control over its aircraft and charges its parent and sister companies a fee that reasonably reflects its true operating costs for more than 95% …
Are sales of wound closure devices exempt from Kansas sales tax?
Yes, in the instances presented. The Department applied K.S.A. 79-3606(b), which exempts sales, leases, and rentals of tangible personal property purchased directly by a public or private nonprofit ho…
Are sales and leases of therapeutic medical beds and mattresses exempt from Kansas sales tax?
It depends on the buyer and use. The exemption the Department identified is K.S.A. 79-3606(b), which exempts sales, leases, and rentals of tangible personal property purchased directly by a public or …
Are payments from the Kansas Public Employees Retirement System (KPERS) subject to Kansas income tax, and how is the exemption claimed?
All KPERS benefits are exempt from Kansas income tax under K.S.A. 74-4923(b). Because Kansas starts from federal adjusted gross income, a member claims the exemption by making a **subtraction modifica…
What changed for commercial-zone and out-of-state farm-plated vehicles under Kansas motor-fuel law on July 1, 2005?
Effective July 1, 2005, Kansas House Bill 2297 removed the motor-fuel-use exemptions for commercial-zone vehicles and vehicles with out-of-state farm plates. Qualifying vehicles thereafter needed eith…
Could Garcia’s Kitchen avoid penalty, interest, and a refund offset because its bookkeeper did not receive notice that the business had to use New Mexico's special tax-payment procedures?
No. Garcia’s Kitchen had to use the special payment methods required for taxpayers whose average monthly CRS payments exceeded $25,000. The Department mailed notice to the address on the business's re…
Could DePuy recover a $79,241 New Mexico corporate income tax refund after receiving retroactive permission to use separate-entity filing but submitting its amended 1999 return after the refund deadline?
No. The Department's written permission to change DePuy to separate-entity filing beginning in 1999 was effective for years still open under the refund statute. But the amended 1999 returns claiming $…
Must a wholly-owned company with no Texas gross receipts still file a separate Texas franchise-tax report if it was physically present in Texas?
Yes, if it was physically present in Texas. Because Texas prohibits consolidated franchise-tax reporting, an entity cannot rely on its parent's report. The Comptroller advised that a wholly-owned comp…
Did a Florida county's airport-construction procedures qualify its material purchases as tax-exempt direct government purchases?
No. The county met four direct-purchase requirements—government purchase orders, direct payment, title, and risk of loss—but its contract did not require vendors to invoice the county directly. Adding…
Does New Mexico motor vehicle excise tax apply when a resident buys a vehicle in another state without paying that state's sales tax and then titles and registers it in New Mexico?
Yes. Derek Larson owed New Mexico motor vehicle excise tax on a Corvette bought in Georgia and a travel trailer bought in California when he obtained New Mexico certificates of title. The Act treated …
Are a retired New York public school teacher's IRC section 403(b) tax-deferred annuity (TDA) distributions exempt from New York personal income tax?
Not automatically. TDA distributions made under an Education Law § 3109 salary-reduction agreement qualify for the pension exemption in Tax Law § 612(c)(3)(i) only if they are attributable to amounts …
Is specialized equipment sold to blind and visually impaired people — video magnifiers, Braille note-takers, talking GPS units, and reading scanners — exempt from New York sales tax as prosthetic aids?
Yes. Video magnifiers, Braille and voice note-taking devices, their GPS attachments, reading scanners, and the specialized proprietary software bundled with them are all exempt from New York sales tax…
Is a corporate flight subsidiary's aircraft-leasing and in-house air-transportation setup exempt from New York sales tax as a 'commercial aircraft,' and does a corporate merger of the flight subsidiary trigger sales tax on the transferred plane?
Yes, mostly. If a corporate flight subsidiary keeps full control of its aircraft and charges an affiliate a fee that covers its true operating costs for over 50% of flight time, that counts as a taxab…
Is a box of frozen, individually wrapped, fully cooked chicken sandwiches sold at a warehouse club subject to New York sales tax as a taxable 'sandwich,' or exempt as grocery food?
No. A box of 12 individually wrapped, fully cooked, frozen chicken sandwiches sold in a warehouse club's freezer case is exempt from New York sales tax as food for human consumption. Even though New Y…
Was Navajo Refining entitled to reduce its 2004 New Mexico refinery valuation by $22.2 million for functional obsolescence and $63.8 million for environmental-compliance costs?
No. Navajo Refining did not prove either its $22.2 million functional-obsolescence claim for operating an integrated refinery at two locations or its $63.8 million economic-obsolescence claim for envi…
Were optional consulting and training services taxable when purchased and invoiced months after a taxable software license under a separate agreement?
Yes. Separate timing, invoices, and a later agreement did not make the consulting exempt because the original license-and-services agreement incorporated the consulting and training schedules into the…
How did RR 05-6 tax a vacation-rental provider's optional or mandatory hurricane-protection charge?
If lodging was furnished for any part of the reserved period, optional hurricane protection was taxed at the historical 5% additional-guest-charge rate, while a mandatory charge was part of lodging ta…
Are elevator inspection, consulting, design, and expert-witness services taxable as real property maintenance in New York, or exempt when they're government-mandated code inspections?
Discretionary elevator condition inspections (for sales, financing, modernization planning, or avoiding future violations) are taxable as real-property maintenance services, but an inspection specific…
Were flat-fee vehicle safety, roadside, navigation, and concierge packages retail communications services subject to Florida communications services tax?
No. Packages A, B, and C were not retail communications services because communications merely enabled the company's safety, roadside, navigation, and concierge work; the company was the consumer and …
Were flat-fee in-vehicle safety, security, roadside, navigation, and concierge packages subject to Florida sales tax, and how was a separate prepaid calling plan taxed?
Yes. The full flat charge for Packages A, B, and C was taxable because each bundle included monitored protection services, and one taxable service made the whole single-price package taxable. The sepa…
Were charges for printed or online medical records and related retrieval fees taxable in SC PLR 05-2?
Yes, for the taxpayer and facts in this PLR. Printed medical-record copies were taxable tangible personal property, and Quickview online access was a taxable communications service. Retrieval, per-pag…
Were monthly and percentage rents paid by a café concessionaire inside a city-owned public library exempt from Florida commercial-rent sales tax?
Yes. The operator held a city-granted concession to sell food and drinks inside the main library, and the Department treated the publicly owned library as a recreational facility. Both the monthly bas…
What counted as an expansion for South Carolina job-tax-credit eligibility under RR 05-5?
An expansion could be physical growth of a qualifying facility, capital investment that required new employees, or a qualifying increase in full-time jobs. Ordinary repairs or upgrades did not count a…
Could Floyd Carroll defeat a $46,525.58 New Mexico CRS tax assessment because Department personnel had not filed private surety bonds and his chosen nonlawyer could not represent him?
No. State employee bond coverage was governed by the Surety Bond Act, not the private-surety filing provisions Carroll cited, and his power of attorney did not authorize an unlicensed person to practi…
Did a lump-sum fantasy-camp package combining admission, hotel, transportation, meals, and other items qualify for Florida travel-agent vacation-package treatment?
Yes. The seller qualified as a travel agent and bought every package component from third parties, paid tax on taxable components, and billed customers one unitemized lump sum. It therefore did not co…
Did a Nevada limited partnership owe Florida intangible tax when its Florida general partner made all securities investment decisions from Florida and it had no office elsewhere?
Yes. The general partner's discretionary decisions to buy and sell securities were management and control, not ministerial work. Because those executive functions occurred in Florida and the partnersh…
Could a New Mexico glass subcontractor deduct construction-service receipts when general contractors did not provide NTTCs within the Department's 60-day audit deadline?
No. Century Glass could deduct subcontract construction-service receipts only when the general contractor delivered a nontaxable transaction certificate. Section 7-9-43 gave the company 60 days after …
How did RR 05-4 historically tax sales and leases of trailers, semitrailers, and pole trailers?
South Carolina residents generally owed sales or use tax. Certain recreational trailers, truck-tractor-only trailers and semitrailers, and horse trailers qualified for the historical $300 maximum tax;…
Is an out-of-state computer-hardware company that sells in New York only through one home-based sales representative exempt from New York franchise tax under Public Law 86-272?
Yes, it is exempt from Article 9-A franchise tax under Public Law 86-272. The company's only New York activity is one sales representative soliciting orders for tangible personal property (thin-client…
Is the $7,500 salary Petitioner was paid for January 2003 New York source income under Tax Law § 631, even though Petitioner never physically entered New York State during that month?
Yes, potentially in part. Because Petitioner performed no services at all for the employer in 2003, the Department treated the January 2003 salary as compensation for past services (like severance) un…
In a chain of landlord, tenant, and sub-tenant manufacturers sharing one electric meter, who owes sales tax on the electricity, and does any of it qualify for the manufacturing production exemption?
It depends on how precisely the electricity is measured and billed. A landlord or master tenant who sub-meters and bills a sub-tenant for its ACTUAL usage is making a taxable resale of electricity and…
Does interest on underreported New Mexico income tax begin on the original payment due date or only when the Department later notifies the taxpayer of the error?
Interest began on the original due date. Donna Marchak mistakenly claimed an extra personal exemption and underpaid her 1999 New Mexico income tax by $170. The Department did not discover the error un…
Does a planned members-only fitness club owe New York sales tax on founding-member loans, refundable deposits, monthly dues, and forfeited minimum-spending credits toward its restaurant, spa, and massage services?
The club's founding-member loans, refundable deposits, and monthly membership dues aren't taxable at all, because members have no control over the club's management or activities, so it isn't a taxabl…
What must a religious organization show to qualify for a Kansas sales-tax exemption, and did this one qualify?
To qualify under K.S.A. 79-3606(aaa), a religious organization must meet the statutory definition (a group gathering for worship at an established place of worship, with no earnings inuring to members…
Was a separately stated furniture 'Delivery and Setup Fee' taxable when store customers could avoid delivery but the single fee also covered assembly and placement?
Yes. Store customers could avoid delivery, but the optional lump-sum fee also covered taxable setup and installation, so the delivery portion was not separately stated from the taxable service. Online…
Could Kansas taxpayers deduct sales tax on federal Schedule A, and could homeowners deduct the sales tax on their 2004 residential construction materials?
For 2004, individuals who itemized on federal Schedule A could choose to deduct state and local general sales taxes instead of state and local income taxes -- but not both (IRS Publication 600). Sales…
When did Kansas resume the $.01-per-gallon petroleum environmental assurance fee in 2005, and who pays it?
Effective May 1, 2005, Kansas resumed the environmental assurance fee of $.01 per gallon on all petroleum products, until further notice. Under K.S.A. 65-34,117 the fee is paid by the manufacturer, im…
Were electronic discovery collection, preparation, hosted review, metadata, production tracking, downloads, and tangible deliverables taxable in Louisiana?
No. The overall transaction was a nontaxable technical or professional service, not a sale, fabrication, rental, or enumerated taxable service, even when results were delivered on paper or media. The …
Which machinery, systems, structures, and construction purchases for two city electric-generating units qualified for Florida's energy-production sales-tax exemption?
Most permanent machinery and integrated systems qualified because the units burned natural gas and distillate oil to produce electricity for sale. General site and road improvements and rented cranes,…
Can a Texas franchise taxpayer with zero Texas receipts and zero total receipts carry forward a business loss?
No. A corporation that had zero Texas gross receipts and zero gross receipts everywhere in the year cannot generate or carry forward a business loss for franchise tax. The apportionment factor is Texa…
When a condo association sub-meters electricity to bill unit owners for their actual usage, does it have to collect sales tax on those charges, and at what rate?
Yes. Once a condo association sub-meters and bills unit owners for their actual electricity usage, it becomes a vendor making a genuine resale of electricity and must register, collect, and remit sale…
Did quitclaim deeds transferring unencumbered land from an individual to her already wholly owned Florida LLC owe more than minimum documentary stamp tax?
No. Only minimum documentary stamp tax applied because the LLC gave no consideration, the land had no mortgage or lien, and the owner's 100% LLC interest stayed unchanged. The transfer altered legal f…
Can an organization with a Kansas manufacturer's exemption also claim exemption as a nonprofit educational institution?
Not as an educational institution. The organization already held a Manufacturer's Exemption letter, letting it buy materials used in its manufacturing process exempt from sales tax. But it no longer q…
Does an organization qualify for a Kansas sales-tax exemption just because it requests one?
No. Kansas tax exemptions are narrowly construed, so an organization must clearly fit the plain language of a specific exemption statute. After reviewing the more than 60 exemptions in K.S.A. 79-3606,…
Were separately charged wireless internet access at a marina and wired in-room internet access for hotel guests subject to Florida communications services tax?
No. Daily, weekly, monthly, and annual charges for the described marina wireless access and daily hotel-room wired access were excluded from Florida communications services tax as internet access. The…
Which federal income-tax changes had South Carolina adopted for 2004 and early 2005 under temporary RR 05-2?
South Carolina generally conformed to the Internal Revenue Code only through the dates specified by its temporary 2004 budget proviso, with state exceptions. The ruling required state adjustments for …
Could a taxpayer recover interest and penalty on a 1999 New Mexico income-tax underpayment when her accountant used the wrong over-65 deduction table and she did not receive the original assessment?
No. Marilyn Stock's accountant used the married-filing-jointly table to claim a $2,000 over-65 deduction for a single taxpayer whose income exceeded the allowable limit. Stock did not review the retur…
Does an out-of-state HVAC service-contract manager with one New York employee and a network of local subcontractors have to collect New York sales tax, and how are capital-improvement vs. taxable repair charges split?
Yes. Even though the company has no office in New York and only one resident employee (who does site surveys, not repairs), hiring local subcontractors to perform HVAC installation, maintenance, and r…
Can a casket manufacturer deduct a 5% early-payment discount from the taxable receipt when it sells caskets to New York funeral directors?
No. A 5% discount offered only to customers who pay by a specified date is an 'early payment discount' meant to encourage prompt payment, not a genuine price reduction, so New York law specifically ba…
Is an out-of-state corporation whose only New York activity is a researcher it hired to work at a New York university subject to New York Article 9-A franchise tax?
It depends on the worker status. If the New York researcher is the corporation's employee, that activity is doing business in New York and the corporation owes Article 9-A franchise tax and must file …
Is a Texas parent that runs payroll for its New York operating subsidiary subject to New York Article 9-A franchise tax?
It depends on whose employees the New York workers are. A Texas parent that handles payroll for its New York operating subsidiary (PPNY) under the parent's federal EIN is subject to Article 9-A only i…
Can a single-member LLC or its corporate owner claim New York Brownfield Cleanup Program tax credits, and when, if costs are incurred or property is placed in service before the program's first effective year?
Yes, the corporate owner claims them. If the LLC is disregarded, it is a branch or division of its owner, so the owner (taxable under Article 9-A) claims the brownfield redevelopment credit (site prep…
Is an out-of-state ready-mix concrete seller that delivers to New York in its own trucks protected by Public Law 86-272?
Yes, if the concrete is central-mixed. An out-of-state seller whose New York activity is a phone listing and delivery of central-mixed (plant-mixed) concrete in its own trucks -- where the slow drum r…
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