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 waste collection service that picks up used oil and oil filters taxable, and can the service provider buy the collection containers tax-free?
The waste collection service is taxable until the customer gives the provider certification or other documentation that the waste (such as used oil and oil filters) is excluded from the definition of …
Were household goods in a South Carolina timeshare or vacation home exempt from property tax under RR 95-1?
Generally yes for personal use. RR 95-1 treated household goods and furniture in a second home or ownership-timeshare unit as exempt when the dwelling was never rented or was only occasionally rented …
Can a stadium skybox landlord separately state charges for parking passes, TV/phone use, electricity, and janitorial services in a suite license agreement so that only those specific items are taxed?
No. The full charge for the skybox license is taxable as an amusement admission charge with no deduction allowed, even if items like parking passes, electricity, and janitorial services are separately…
Is Texas sales or use tax due on a microbial enhanced oil recovery (MEOR) process, in which bacteria are injected into a crude oil reservoir to produce organic by-products that improve oil mobility?
No. The Comptroller ruled that the MEOR process is not a taxable service under Rule 3.324 because it does not involve repairing, remodeling, maintaining, or restoring tangible personal property, and i…
Are dues paid to a homeowners association subject to New York sales tax as a social or athletic club when the association has no pool, tennis courts, or other recreational facilities?
No. Without any recreational facilities like a pool or tennis courts, the association isn't a taxable social or athletic club, so none of its dues -- even the portion funding a clubhouse used only for…
Are the annual dues paid to a lakeside property owners association subject to New York sales tax as social or athletic club dues, when the association has no pool, clubhouse, tennis courts, or docking/swimming facilities and spends its dues on common-area upkeep?
No. Without a pool, clubhouse, tennis courts, or docking facilities, and with dues spent entirely on non-recreational common-area upkeep like snow removal and road paving, the association isn't a taxa…
When the buyer controls the shipment and picks the goods up at the seller's New York factory, are those sales New York receipts, and can factory roof, window, and shipping-dock repairs qualify for the investment tax credit?
Yes to New York receipts. Flexovit's customer contracts its own common carrier, controls it, arranges pickup at Flexovit's New York factory, sets the out-of-state destination, and pays the freight -- …
Is a trucking company's fee for hauling recyclable raw material from a supplier's site to a recycler's facility taxable as trash/garbage removal (a real-property maintenance service), or exempt as transportation?
It's exempt transportation, not taxable trash removal -- because the recycler or its broker (not the supplier whose property the materials are picked up from) hires and pays the trucking company, and …
Is a federally chartered Farm Credit System leasing corporation, an instrumentality of the United States, exempt from New York franchise tax under Articles 9-A and 32?
Yes. Farm Credit Leasing Services Corporation is a federally chartered body corporate and instrumentality of the United States, organized by Farm Credit System banks under 12 USC 2211 to provide leasi…
Did PLR 94-12 require a Class II or Class III license for the Countertop Champion video-game machine?
The machine required a Class II license. Although certain games could continue for extra hands or time based on points, the machine never awarded a complete additional game without another coin, so it…
Could William Midkiff reduce mandatory interest on 1990-1991 personal income tax deficiencies because the 15% statutory rate exceeded market rates, his children had overpaid tax on the shifted income, or the Department assessed him years later?
No. Section 7-1-67 required interest at 15% per year from the original tax due dates until payment. The hearing officer had no authority to substitute a market rate, one taxpayer's payments could not …
Is Texas sales tax due on mud logging services performed at oil and gas wells?
No. Mud logging services — recording information from analyzing formation cuttings and mud circulated out of the well bore, as defined in A Primer of Oil Well Service and Workover — are not taxable un…
Does a nonprofit that's incorporated under New York law but operates entirely out of Massachusetts have enough nexus with New York to be required to collect New York sales tax on mail-order merchandise shipped to New York customers?
Yes. Because it's a domestic New York corporation -- even though its offices, staff, and operations are entirely in Massachusetts -- and its bylaws require a volunteer secretary who is a New York resi…
Can a brewery buy kegs and pallets tax-free for resale, even when customers outside its normal delivery territory keep them instead of returning them because return shipping costs too much?
Yes. As long as the kegs and pallets are actually transferred to the customer to keep or dispose of as they wish -- with the deposit price raised to reflect their real cost -- they qualify as exempt p…
When a cellular phone retailer sells or gives away phones at a reduced price (or free) bundled with a carrier service contract, is its original purchase of those phones still tax-exempt as a purchase for resale -- and what about the retailer's commissions, installation fees, and activation fees?
The retailer's phone purchases stay exempt as purchases for resale even when bundled free or discounted with a service contract; its carrier commissions aren't taxed either, but it must collect sales …
Does a voluntarily dissolved corporation that, by oversight, still held record title to real property but was completely inactive owe Article 9-A franchise tax for the years after dissolution?
No. Holver Realty Corporation was voluntarily dissolved on January 25, 1980, with the Tax Department's consent, and has been completely inactive since -- conducting no business. By oversight, a deed t…
Is Texas sales tax due on labor to demolish, repair, and rebuild a shopping center that was partially destroyed by fire?
Yes, in most cases. Charges to rebuild, repair, or remodel the existing structure — including demolition labor — are taxable, whether billed separately or lump-sum, even if the existing slab turns out…
Can a Texas retailer switch from accrual to cash-basis reporting of sales tax, and how does that affect installment/credit sales where interest is charged on the tax portion of the balance?
Yes. A retailer may switch from accrual to cash-basis sales tax reporting (remitting tax as payments are received), but the change cannot be made retroactively, and the retailer must set up a proper t…
Does a direct sales (multi-level marketing) organization have to collect and remit Texas sales and use tax on the sales its independent distributors make in Texas?
Yes. The Comptroller advised the company that, as a direct sales organization, it is responsible for collecting and remitting Texas sales and use tax on taxable sales its independent distributors make…
Can U.S. citizens claim the same Texas sales and use tax export exemption that Mexican citizens use when exporting purchased goods?
Yes. The Texas export exemption under Tax Code Section 151.307 applies to exported goods regardless of the purchaser's nationality — it is not a special exemption reserved for Mexican citizens, and U.…
Is a deionized-water treatment system installed for a semiconductor (clean-room) manufacturer taxable as an improvement to real property, or exempt as manufacturing equipment?
It depends on installation and use. If the system becomes an improvement to real property (loses its identity as equipment and can't be removed without substantial damage), labor is exempt when instal…
Could a buyer obtain a Texas vehicle-tax refund when disability modifications were made eight months after purchase without prior documentation?
No. Although the taxpayer met the historical orthopedic-disability definition, the exemption required modifications at purchase or a timely sworn statement describing planned work and the installer. N…
Is Texas sales tax due when a facsimile-service company installs, rents, and maintains fax equipment in hotel rooms so guests can send and receive faxes?
It depends on who actually operates the equipment. If the equipment is transferred to the care, custody, and control of the hotel (or, in turn, the guest) — meaning the customer has the right to move,…
Is Texas sales tax due on mileage or travel charges billed alongside taxable pay-telephone repair, installation, or maintenance services?
Yes. Mileage charges connected to the sale of a taxable item or taxable service are taxable in Texas whether they are billed separately or bundled with the other charges.
Did RR 94-11 extend South Carolina's school and public-library book exemptions to alternative media?
Yes. Qualifying school and public-library books, periodicals, and newspapers remained exempt when supplied on media such as audio or video tape, CD-ROM, microfilm, or microfiche. The ruling did not ad…
Is Texas sales tax due on seal coating and striping a parking lot's asphalt?
It depends on the circumstances. Seal coating and striping done shortly after new asphalt is laid is non-taxable new construction. On an existing lot, doing it for the first time is taxable remodeling…
Is a 'phone flea market' — where sellers pay to be listed and buyers call in for the listings — a taxable sales-agent service or a taxable advertising service in Connecticut?
Neither — but this ruling is dated and only partly good law. As DRS decided it in 1994, a 'phone flea market' (sellers pay a flat fee to be listed; buyers call in for the listings and deal directly wi…
Is renting film, video, or audio production equipment (cameras, lights, microphones, costumes, fog/wind machines) exempt from Texas sales tax?
Yes, but only the equipment used directly in producing a motion picture, video, or audio recording that will be sold, licensed, distributed, broadcast, or exhibited is exempt, and only if the producer…
Is television programming delivered through an 18-inch satellite receiving antenna treated as tax-exempt cable television service, or as taxable telephony/telegraphy?
It's treated as exempt cable television service -- basic, premium, pay-per-view, and most administrative fees all escape sales tax, but the installation charge for hooking up the service remains taxab…
Do the plumbing and electrical connections needed to run new manufacturing equipment qualify for Utah's manufacturing exemption, and is repair labor on commercial refrigeration units taxable or exempt?
Plumbing and electrical connections needed to operate new manufacturing equipment qualify for the sales tax exemption as tangible personal property, as long as they aren't permanently built into the b…
Is a direct sales/multi-level marketing company treated as the seller of the products its independent distributors sell, responsible for collecting and remitting Texas sales and use tax?
Yes. The Comptroller confirmed that under Texas Tax Code Section 151.024, a direct sales organization is regarded as the seller (not its independent distributors) and must collect and remit sales and …
What counts as a 'bona fide chapter' of an exempt organization for purposes of Texas's two one-day tax-free sale days, and does this apply to groups within a local church as well as school clubs?
A bona fide chapter is a local branch of an organization that is structured and organized enough to carry out its own business — for example, by electing officers, holding meetings, and conducting bus…
Does the manufacturing exemption apply to light bulbs used in a machine that sorts rice kernels before they are ground into flour?
No. The Comptroller ruled that light bulbs used to illuminate a sorting machine that separates and selects broken rice kernels before grinding do not qualify for the manufacturing exemption, because s…
Is a flash-dried fruit and vegetable product sold in capsule form ('Juice Plus+') exempt from Texas sales tax as a food product?
Yes. As long as the capsules contain pure fruit or pure vegetable products, the Comptroller treats them as exempt food products, not taxable items.
Can a caterer, hotel, or event planner give a resale certificate for tables, chairs, lighting, audio-visual equipment, or a margarita machine provided to a customer as part of a catering service?
No. The Comptroller's office treats these items as used by the caterer to render its catering service, not as sold or rented to the customer, because control and possession of the property never pass …
Is Texas sales tax due on simulcast horse/dog racing services purchased by a racetrack for its patrons to view, and can the racetrack buy those services for resale?
Simulcast services sold to a racetrack are classified as cable television services and are subject to Texas sales tax under Tax Code Section 151.0101(a)(2). However, the racetrack can purchase the sim…
Is repair labor exempt from Texas sales tax for property damaged in a disaster area, and are Red Cross voucher purchases taxable?
Yes to both. Texas exempts separately stated labor charges to repair real or personal property damaged by the event that caused an area to be declared a disaster area, though the replacement parts and…
Is Texas sales tax due on information services sold to a newspaper?
No. Under Tax Code Section 151.0038, sales of information services to a newspaper are excluded from Texas sales tax regardless of how the newspaper uses the information, and the seller does not need a…
Is a chemist's paid consulting on the chemical properties of a manufacturer's products a taxable business-management service in Connecticut?
No. A chemist with advanced degrees who consults on the chemical properties of a manufacturer's hair care and hair color products is NOT providing taxable 'business analysis, management, management co…
Can a racetrack buy simulcast horse/dog racing signals tax-free with a resale certificate, or does it owe sales/use tax on the simulcasting fee?
It depends on whether the receiving track charges admission. If the receiving track charges an admission fee to see the live or simulcast races, the simulcast signal is being resold as part of a taxab…
Can a direct pay permit holder resell repair parts or supplies to another company without losing its direct pay permit, if it didn't know at the time of purchase that the items would be resold?
Yes. A direct pay permit holder does not lose its permit by occasionally reselling items to another business, as long as it did not know at the time it purchased those items under the permit that they…
Can a racetrack buy simulcast horse/dog racing signal services tax-free using a resale certificate?
Yes, but only if the receiving track charges an admission fee to see the live races and/or the simulcast. Because the simulcast is being resold as part of a taxable amusement service in that case, the…
Can subsidiaries of financial institutions owned by the FDIC or RTC buy taxable items tax-free using an exemption certificate?
Yes. The Comptroller concluded that 100%-owned subsidiaries of the RTC (Resolution Trust Corporation) may purchase taxable items under an exemption certificate for use in operating the subsidiary busi…
Was an airport access fee taxable when a vehicle rental company passed it through to customers?
Yes. Whether characterized as a fee or tax charged by the airport, it was the rental company's expense. When passed to the customer, it became part of taxable rental receipts even if separately stated…
Does a direct sales (multi-level marketing) organization, rather than its independent Texas distributors, have to collect and remit Texas sales and use tax on sales made through those distributors?
Yes. The Comptroller told this direct sales organization that it, not its independent distributors, is responsible for collecting and remitting Texas sales and use tax on taxable sales its distributor…
Is a landowner who digs up and hauls away contaminated soil that is a hazardous waste a 'generator' owing Connecticut's hazardous waste assessment, even if the pollution predates their ownership?
Yes. A landowner who excavates and removes contaminated soil that is itself a hazardous waste from a site IS a 'generator of hazardous waste' under Conn. Gen. Stat. § 22a-132 — and owes the hazardous …
Is Texas sales tax due on the installation of permanent accent lighting in residential and commercial landscapes, and how does the contract type affect the tax?
Labor to install permanently attached exterior lighting is not taxable because it's an improvement to real property. Tax on the lighting and wiring materials depends on the contract type: under a lump…
Could Dr. Eduardo Castrejon avoid penalty and interest when employees failed to file two prepared 1990 CRS-1 returns and the Department did not notify him of the omissions until nearly four years later?
No. Employees acting as Castrejon's agents failed to submit the February and May 1990 CRS-1 returns and payments, making the omissions negligent under Section 7-1-69(A). Section 7-1-67 also made inter…
What did the 1994 internal Comptroller memo say about whether prewiring a building for a burglar alarm system is taxable as a security service?
This is NOT a taxpayer-specific letter ruling — it's an internal November 1994 Comptroller staff email (with an attached Legal Services memo from Chung Chu Cha and a supporting letter from the Texas B…
For the section 1505(b) test of whether more than 95% of an insurer's premiums are for annuity contracts, does premiums include reinsurance premiums and all direct premiums received both inside and outside New York?
Yes to both. For the section 1505(b) test of whether more than 95% of an insurer's premiums are received as consideration for annuity contracts, the term premiums means premiums as used in the first s…
Could Meridian Oil administratively protest the Department's planned release of its oil-and-gas audit report after the Department decided the report was not confidential under Section 7-1-8?
Yes. Section 7-1-24(A) allowed a taxpayer to protest the application of any Tax Administration Act provision. The Department necessarily applied Section 7-1-8 when it analyzed the statute's confidenti…
Is labor to install window and door screens taxable under Texas sales tax, and does it matter whether the job is new construction or repair/remodeling of residential versus nonresidential property?
It depends on the type of job. Installing window and door screens is treated as improving real property, and labor is NOT taxable when the screens are installed in new construction, unfinished structu…
Is tattooing a dog or other companion animal for identification purposes subject to Texas sales tax?
Yes. Tattooing a dog or other companion animal is a taxable graphic arts service because the animal is tangible personal property and imprinting tangible personal property is a taxable service. By con…
Does a company that rebuilds customers' ink rollers for the printing industry owe Texas sales tax on materials and equipment, or can it claim a manufacturing exemption?
The company may buy rebuilding materials tax-free with a resale certificate, but must charge its customers tax on the full charge to rebuild each roller. Equipment used solely to rebuild customers' ro…
Should a manufacturer give its supplier a resale certificate or an exemption certificate when buying component parts or ingredients that will become part of an item manufactured for sale?
Either one. The Comptroller confirmed that a supplier may accept either a resale certificate or an exemption certificate in lieu of tax when a manufacturer purchases component parts or ingredients of …
If a nonresident's former-New-York-employer pension is paid out on a declining-balance schedule, a mortgage-style amortization schedule, or with interest that varies with the Consumer Price Index, does it still qualify as a non-taxable 'annuity' rather than taxable New York-source compensation?
Yes, in all four scenarios examined. New York taxes a nonresident's former-New-York-employment pension only if it fails to meet the regulatory definition of an 'annuity' under 20 NYCRR § 132.4(d)(2) -…
Did PLR 94-11 apply South Carolina's historical $300 maximum tax to a research electron microscope?
Yes. Each item of the electron-microscope system qualified because it was used directly and exclusively to develop or improve membrane-filter applications and was located in a separate facility devote…
Are a limited partnership, a trust, and the holders of the trust's interests subject to Texas franchise tax?
None of them were subject. Under the pre-2008 franchise tax, a limited partnership and a trust were not subject because neither is a corporation, and the holders of the trust interests were not subjec…
Does a nursing home operator owe sales tax on the disposable diapers it buys for use on its resident patients, or does the medical-supplies exemption cover them?
The nursing home operator owes sales tax on the diapers -- because it's buying them at retail to use while performing medical/nursing services for compensation, which is a specific exception to the me…
Is the sales tax on club initiation fees due when a golf club sells founding memberships before the golf course and clubhouse are even built?
Yes. A membership payment counts as a taxable initiation fee as soon as it's required as a condition of joining the club, regardless of whether the club's facilities physically exist yet.
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