State Tax Rulings
Free state tax letter rulings and advisory opinions with plain-English summaries, full citations, and the original source on every page.
No rulings match these filters
Try a different search term or clear the filters.
Were blood glucose meters exempt from South Carolina sales and use tax under PLR 95-6?
Yes, for the addressed taxpayer when a blood glucose meter was sold to a diabetic under a physician's authorization and direction. The Department treated the meter as a technological development servi…
Can a corporation with multiple internal divisions get separate direct payment (direct pay) permits for each division, so each division reports and pays its own Texas sales and use tax?
No. The Comptroller's Tax Administration division denied the request. Only one direct payment permit may be held by the legal entity (the corporation as a whole, referred to in the letter as "CORP A."…
When a shop changes a customer's oil and oil filter, does it charge sales tax on a lump-sum price or does it need to separately state and tax the materials?
Either method is allowed, and the tax treatment differs. If you charge one lump-sum price for the oil change (parts and labor not separated), you do not collect sales tax from the customer, but you mu…
I'm the fee owner and ground tenant of an office building. To help a tenant (Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette) get NYC Industrial Development Agency economic-development benefits, I'm converting the building to condominium units and conveying title to the IDA-benefited units to the IDA for nominal consideration, then leasing them back from the IDA under a 22-year 'Overlease.' I'll keep all the rent, insurance and condemnation proceeds, income-tax ownership treatment, and the right to sell, mortgage, or transfer the units; title reverts to me automatically in 2016 or whenever the tenant's IDA benefits end. Are the conveyance to the IDA, the eventual reversion, and the various leases subject to New York's Real Estate Transfer Tax or Real Property Transfer Gains Tax?
Exempt at every step -- Stanley Stahl, doing business as Stahl Park Avenue Co., kept all the real economic benefits and burdens of ownership throughout. Stahl, the fee owner and ground tenant of 277 P…
When a Texas customer calls an 800 number to order flowers for delivery through an FTD-type wire-order florist network, is the sale subject to Texas sales tax?
It depends on where the telemarketer who takes the order — the "selling florist" — is located, not on where the flowers are delivered. If the telemarketer-florist is in Texas, the sale is taxable in T…
Is a certified sonographer's fee for a veterinary ultrasound exam -- including the written report, video tape, and thermal prints she gives the client -- subject to New York sales tax?
No, as long as she's selling a personal written report (impression) that isn't and can't be reused in reports to other clients -- that's an exempt 'personal or individual' information sale. But if she…
Does a free bi-weekly arts-and-entertainment magazine qualify as an exempt 'periodical,' and are the typesetting/layout charges for its pre-press camera-ready mechanicals taxable?
The publication itself qualifies as an exempt periodical. But because it's given away free rather than sold, its purchases of typesetting and camera-ready mechanicals -- which would otherwise be exemp…
In a nightly-rental resort property, is the property owner or the property manager legally responsible for collecting and remitting sales tax, transient room tax, and resort communities tax?
It depends on the property manager's contractual role. If the property manager contracts to receive payment for room rentals on the owner's behalf, the manager is a "vendor" who must obtain a sales ta…
Will a new Utah resident owe Utah income tax on retirement income (pensions, deferred compensation, Social Security) already taxed by California, and what are Utah's general sales and property tax rates?
Yes, a Utah resident must report all of their income, including retirement income earned or received from another state -- but they get a credit that prevents double taxation. A prospective retiree pl…
When a construction contract commingles taxable renovation/remodeling labor with nontaxable new-construction labor and the contract doesn't separately state the two, can a taxpayer's own engineer certify how much labor was new construction in order to claim a tax refund?
Yes. The Comptroller's Tax Policy Division said the customer's construction engineer may certify the split between new-construction labor and renovation/remodeling labor on a commingled job, citing Ru…
How did PLR 95-7 apportion trademark royalties and the corporate license fee for a South Carolina licensing subsidiary?
The addressed licensing subsidiary used a gross-receipts ratio: its South Carolina numerator included royalties from licensees' sales delivered to customers in South Carolina, while the denominator in…
Does Utah sales tax apply to a multi-day river rafting trip that starts in Colorado, spends most of its time there, and ends in Utah?
A river rafting trip conducted entirely within Utah is subject to Utah sales tax. A multi-day trip that crosses into Colorado is subject to Utah sales tax only if more than half (a 'preponderance,' me…
If a beverage distributor buys pre-mix or post-mix carbonated drink machines and loans them to restaurant customers as a marketing incentive (in exchange for the customer agreeing to buy that distributor's soft drink products), can the machines be purchased tax-free as manufacturing equipment?
No. Even though pre-mix and post-mix drink machines otherwise qualify as manufacturing equipment under Rule 3.300, loaning them to customers is itself a taxable "use" of the equipment by the distribut…
Are a television, a VCR, and pre-recorded or blank video cassettes sold for use on a maritime vessel exempt from Texas sales and use tax as component parts of the vessel or as sea stores/ships' stores?
A television and/or VCR can qualify as an exempt component part of a vessel if it is bolted or otherwise firmly attached to the vessel, under Rule 3.297(b)(2)(B). A video cassette cannot be attached t…
If a company designs tools, dies, jigs, and fixtures on a computer for manufacturers, is the sale of those designs subject to Texas sales tax?
Yes. The Texas Comptroller ruled that selling a computer-generated design is taxable as the sale of a pattern for use in manufacturing. Selling a design modification for an existing production-line ma…
Is a business's total charge to etch glass items (such as awards or motor vehicle windows), including labor, subject to Texas sales tax?
Yes. The Comptroller held that etching glass items is taxable processing or fabrication of tangible personal property, so the total charge to the customer — including labor — is taxable as graphic art…
Does a company's proposed Multi-Jurisdictional Sales Tax Certificate form comply with Texas resale certificate requirements?
Yes, with one fix needed. The Comptroller found the submitted Multi-Jurisdictional Sales Tax Certificate form met Texas's basic requirements, but flagged one gap: Texas resale certificates may only co…
How did PLR 95-5 apply South Carolina's historical job credits and job development fee to a new multi-county industrial-park facility?
For the addressed project, 1995 was the first job-credit year because permanent staff began operating the facility then. The company qualified for a historical $1,500 annual credit per new full-time j…
Is a heavy truck chassis a tax-exempt 'commercial truck' in Connecticut when a bucket lift is mounted on it — and when it's still bare?
It depends on whether it hauls freight. A heavy truck chassis (GVWR over 26,000 lbs) with an aerial lift mounted on it is NOT an exempt 'commercial truck' under Conn. Gen. Stat. § 12-412(70), because …
Is replacing the ground beds/anodes in a cathodic corrosion protection system on an existing pipeline every 7 to 15 years considered nontaxable real property maintenance, or taxable repair and remodeling of real property?
It's taxable repair and remodeling, not maintenance. The Comptroller reaffirmed that adding cathodic protection systems to existing pipelines is taxable repair, restoration, or remodeling of real prop…
When an independent auto dealer is the actual lessor on a vehicle lease and accepts a trade-in, but then immediately sells (assigns) the lease and vehicle to a finance company, can the trade-in still be excluded from the taxable lease receipts?
Yes. Because the dealer itself -- not the finance company -- is the lessor who negotiates and accepts the trade-in with intent to resell it, the trade-in value can be excluded from the taxable lease r…
Is a software-duplication company's disc-copying machinery exempt production equipment, and is the electricity powering it exempt production electricity?
Yes to both, but with different thresholds. The duplicating machinery is exempt if used more than 50% of the time ('predominantly') to copy master discs onto blank discs for resale. The electricity po…
Is a Texas insurance underwriter liable for sales and use tax on the risk-inspection services it buys from an outside vendor as part of underwriting a policy, and is the underwriting activity itself taxable?
The underwriting activity itself is not taxable — Tax Code § 151.0039(b) and Rule 3.355(c)(1) exclude insurance coverage for which a premium is paid, or sales commissions paid to insurance agents, fro…
When a business sells tickets to a taxable amusement service in Texas, how much local sales tax must it collect, and can it report the tax on a mixed cash/accrual basis?
The seller of a ticket to a taxable amusement service must collect tax on the full admission price, including any convenience fee, handling charge, service charge, or other amount charged above the pr…
Are separately stated charges for original design work performed by a Certified Kitchen and/or Bath Designer subject to Texas sales tax?
No. The Texas Comptroller's Tax Policy Division confirmed that separately stated charges for original design work performed by a Certified Kitchen and/or Bath Designer are not subject to sales tax.
Is a ripper and the bulldozer that powers it exempt from Texas sales and use tax as manufacturing equipment when they are used to break limestone and shale out of the earth as the first step in making cement?
Yes, with a condition. The Comptroller ruled the ripper qualifies as manufacturing equipment and is exempt from sales and use tax because it is the first stage in producing cement, breaking limestone …
If I sell food, soft drinks, or candy to a jail or prison in Texas, or to inmates there, do I have to charge sales tax?
It depends on who is buying. Sales of food products, meals, soft drinks, and candy to the correctional facility itself (for example, to feed inmates at no charge to them) remain exempt from Texas sale…
What made each video-game room a separate 'single place or premises' under South Carolina RR 95-7?
Under the regulation explained in RR 95-7, each video-game room in a shared structure needed qualifying exterior walls or firewalls, a separate electric meter, its own employee during business hours, …
Does the Texas Comptroller agree that the industry-published 'Sales Tax Guide for Texas Printers' (June 1995 edition) — covering when printers charge sales tax, what equipment/energy purchases qualify for the manufacturing exemption, and how to claim refunds — reflects current Comptroller policy?
Yes, with the corrections shown in this letter. The Comptroller's Tax Administration Division (Gilbert Zamora) reviewed the trade associations' 'Sales Tax Guide for Texas Printers' line-by-line, marke…
Was documentary tax due when church trustees deeded church realty to the same church after nonprofit incorporation under RR 95-8?
No. RR 95-8 concluded that a church's transfer of realty from its trustees to the newly incorporated church was only a change in legal form, not a sale for consideration. Documentary tax was not due, …
Is a technical-manual developer's computer equipment, software, and supplies exempt production machinery under Tax Law Section 1115(a)(12)?
Yes, to the extent the equipment is used more than 50% of the time to produce camera-ready mechanicals or print-ready computer disks that are delivered to the customer as tangible personal property fo…
Which restaurant purchases were taxable or exempt from South Carolina sales and use tax under RR 95-6?
RR 95-6 treated food and beverage ingredients and qualifying containers or packaging used to sell and deliver the meal as nontaxable wholesale or exempt purchases. It treated supplies consumed by the …
Which entities were subject to South Carolina's corporate license fee under Revenue Ruling 95-5?
RR 95-5 applied the corporate license fee to South Carolina corporations, foreign corporations qualified or doing business or earning income in the state, and LLCs, professional associations, and othe…
What dry cleaning environmental surcharge and solvent fee did Kansas start charging on July 1, 1995?
Beginning July 1, 1995, the Kansas Dry Cleaner Environmental Response Act required dry cleaning and laundry retailers to collect an environmental surcharge of 2% of gross receipts from dry cleaning or…
Does a contractor owe Texas sales tax on renting portable toilets for a construction job site when the job is a contract to improve real property for a tax-exempt entity like a public school?
Yes, generally. A contractor owes sales tax on the rental of portable toilets used at a job site improving real property for an exempt entity, even if the contract requires the toilets to be there. Te…
If a retailer of x-ray equipment loans machines free of charge to tax-exempt hospitals and depreciates the equipment on its books, does that count as tax-free demonstration/display use, or does the retailer owe sales tax?
The retailer owes tax. The Comptroller ruled that loaning x-ray machines to hospitals for their free use is not demonstration or display under Rule 3.285(e)(1), because the hospitals have no incentive…
When Company A sells a mold to Company B under a written agreement, is the sale of the mold taxable, and does it matter whether Company B itself manufactures the end product?
It depends on whether Company B is manufacturing tangible personal property for sale and on whether a written agreement transfers title to the mold. If B uses the mold (directly or through a component…
If a company leases drilling tools that are delivered to and picked up in Texas, but then actually used at drilling sites in another state (New Mexico), does the lessee owe Texas sales tax on the lease charges?
Yes, generally. Because the lessee took possession/delivery of the leased tools in Texas (the common carrier's bill of lading showed delivery to Odessa, Texas), the operating lease was executed in Tex…
Can 14 related commercial property owners consolidate their on-site maintenance and janitorial staff's payroll processing into a single payroll corporation without triggering New York sales tax on the wages funneled through it?
Yes. As long as each property owner keeps the real controls that make the maintenance staff its own employees -- hiring/firing authority, setting salary and benefits, and reimbursing the payroll compa…
How old did employees have to be to bartend, serve alcohol, or work in a South Carolina liquor business under RR 95-4?
Under RR 95-4, bartenders serving open beer, wine, or distilled spirits had to be at least 21. Servers, waiters, and waitresses could serve open alcoholic beverages at 18. Anyone working in any capaci…
Are meal-replacement and nutritional supplement products like Extreme Measures and Preferred Whey taxable or exempt under Texas sales tax?
Exempt, in this case. The Comptroller found that Extreme Measures may be used as a meal replacement and is therefore treated as a food product, exempt from tax. Whey itself is classified as a food pro…
How did House Bill 2077 re-enact and change Kansas instant bingo rules in 1995?
After the Kansas Supreme Court declared the 1993 instant bingo laws unconstitutional and Kansas voters approved a constitutional amendment permitting instant bingo in April 1995, House Bill 2077 re-en…
How does Texas sales and use tax apply to a company that installs, repairs, and remodels exterior lighting permanently placed in the landscaping and hardscaping of residential and commercial property?
It depends on the type of work and the type of property. The company acts as a contractor (not a taxable-service provider) when it makes original exterior lighting improvements to residential or non-r…
Is electricity used to recool ferns after they arrive in Texas from Mexico, and again after further processing, exempt from Texas sales tax as an exempt use in processing?
Yes, in this case. The Comptroller held that because a processing step (removing bacteria and deepening the ferns' color) occurred before each recooling, the recooling was itself part of processing, s…
For a Dallas-based mobile radio repeater service whose customers are located throughout the Dallas area and suburbs, should local sales tax be charged at the Dallas rate or at the various suburban rates based on each customer's location?
The Dallas rate. Local sales tax on mobile radio repeater services is based on where the telecommunications device (the repeater) that originates the amplified signal is located, not on the customer's…
When a cigarette manufacturer packages a free promotional item -- like a lighter or playing cards -- together with a pack of cigarettes as a marketing premium, is buying that item a tax-free purchase for resale?
No. Promotional items given away for free with a product (rather than genuinely sold to the end customer) don't qualify for the resale exclusion -- the manufacturer's purchase of the premiums is a tax…
Who owed South Carolina sales and use tax under PLR 95-4 when a food-service company managed hospital or private-company cafeterias?
For the addressed contracts, the food-service company made a nontaxable wholesale sale when it supplied food to a hospital and provided a nontaxable service when the hospital bought the food itself; t…
I paid the coal severance surtax while finalizing a contract, then registered the contract — can I still get the surtax exemption for coal I sold before registration?
Yes — the producer won. New Mexico's coal severance surtax exemption (Section 7-26-6.2) requires a producer to register the qualifying sales contract 'prior to taking the exemption.' Hearing Officer G…
On a utility's sale-leaseback of business equipment, is only the gain (not the entire proceeds) taxed under section 186, and how is the gain/profit computed for sections 186 and 186-a?
Only the gain, and it is computed from original cost. On a sale-leaseback of equipment used in (not held for sale in) its business, only the gain -- not the entire proceeds -- is a 'receipt from the e…
Is a scrap metal processing service — cutting, chopping, and separating aluminum and copper conductors for electric utilities and co-ops — taxable, and does the machinery used qualify for the Texas manufacturing exemption?
The processing service itself is taxable, but the utility company can give the processor a resale or exemption certificate stating the service is purchased to further processing of property that will …
When a country club charges members a separate capital assessment to pay for remodeling the club, and the club itself already pays sales tax to the contractors doing the remodeling, is the members' assessment also taxable, or does that create impermissible double taxation?
Both charges are taxable — this isn't double taxation on the same transaction. The remodeling contractors must collect tax from the country club on the total charge for remodeling the nonresidential r…
Is a vehicle's DMV registration by the lessee proof that sales tax was paid on a pre-June-1990 lease, and separately, does a lessor keep its exemption-certificate protection when it accepts a farmer's exemption certificate for leasing an ultrasound machine to a veterinarian for use on farm livestock?
No, DMV registration alone doesn't prove sales tax was paid -- for leases before June 1, 1990, the lessor owed sales tax on each lease payment separately (not all at once as under the current law), an…
I own a one-third tenant-in-common interest in a commercial building (subject to a tenant's purchase option worth over $3 million for the whole property). I want to transfer my one-third interest, for no payment, into my own revocable trust -- I'm the grantor and sole trustee, I'll keep receiving all the income during my life, and I can amend or revoke the trust at any time. Does moving my interest into my own revocable trust trigger New York's Real Estate Transfer Tax or Real Property Transfer Gains Tax?
Exempt -- moving property into your own revocable trust doesn't change who beneficially owns it. Betty G. Reader owned a one-third interest, as tenant-in-common, in a commercial building at 391-401 Si…
How does Texas sales and use tax apply to the packing supplies, equipment, and moving vans a moving company uses for local, intrastate, interstate, and international moves?
It depends on how the mover bought the supplies and how it bills the move. If the mover pays tax when it buys supplies, no further tax is due on interstate, intrastate, and local moves (the customer's…
Is the Instituto Panamericano De Geografia E Historia (an organ of the Organization of American States) exempt from Texas sales tax on its purchases because of the OAS treaty?
No. The Comptroller ruled that the Instituto Panamericano De Geografia E Historia is not exempt from Texas sales tax because of the OAS Treaty. The 1948 treaty creating the OAS included a reservation …
Is a manufacturer's post-warranty travel-expense charge, travel extension contract, and extended service contract for repairing equipment taxable in Texas, and does bringing replacement parts into Texas under a warranty or service contract create a use tax liability?
Yes, the charges are taxable, but the parts generally are not use-taxed. The Comptroller held that a manufacturer's lump-sum "On-Site Expenses" charge for post-warranty travel (meals, lodging), a sepa…
Is a bank-account verification service -- where subscribers call in or log on to check whether an applicant's prior checking account was closed for cause -- a taxable information service, even though each answer is about one specific applicant?
Yes, taxable. Even though each inquiry is 'tailored' to one specific applicant, the answer is pulled from the same shared database used to answer every subscriber's inquiries -- so it isn't 'personal …
How does House Bill 2161 relieve Kansas school buses from motor fuel tax?
House Bill 2161, effective July 1, 1995, helps school districts and nonpublic schools with motor fuel tax on fuel for their buses. A 'school bus' (per K.S.A. 8-1406) is a bus privately owned and contr…
As a customs broker, what date should I use as the 'date of export' when a proof of export covers multiple invoices grouped together, and how far back can those invoices go?
Under the Comptroller's rules, a single proof of export may cover multiple purchases from multiple vendors, but only if those purchases were made within the 30 days before the goods are certified as e…
Is a hospital's charge for an outside company's inspection and certification of hospital electrical and biomedical equipment (to meet federal or state safety regulations required for licensing) subject to Texas sales or use tax?
No. The Comptroller ruled that this inspection and certification service is a nontaxable service. It is not the repair or maintenance of tangible personal property, not the repair of nonresidential re…
How these rulings are useful
- See how the rule applies: A letter ruling shows how a state revenue department actually applied the tax law to a specific business and set of facts.
- Plan with confidence: Find a ruling with facts close to yours before you charge, remit, or claim an exemption.
- Binding only on the requester: A ruling is binding on the department only for the taxpayer who asked. It is persuasive, not a substitute for your own ruling or professional advice.
- Research across states: Compare how different states treat the same issue, from SaaS and food exemptions to nexus and contractor purchases.