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.
Does a National Park Service concessioner owe sales tax on materials and services it buys to repair, maintain, and improve government-owned facilities under its concession contract and city license agreement?
Materials that become an integral, permanent part of government-owned property (federal or City) can be bought tax-free, and services genuinely resold to the government are exempt too -- but any mater…
Does Utah sales tax apply to installed swimming pool cover systems, and does an out-of-state auto-parts locator service with no Utah office or employees owe Utah franchise or income tax?
Two separate advisory opinions are bundled in this record. Installed swimming pool covers become part of the real property, so the installer (not the pool owner) owes sales/use tax on the materials, a…
Does vibration-monitoring equipment bought by petroleum processors or electricity generators to protect manufacturing machinery from damage qualify for the Texas manufacturing sales tax exemption?
No. The Comptroller ruled that vibration-monitoring equipment used to detect excessive vibration and trigger safety shutdowns does not qualify for the Texas manufacturing exemption. It is not an 'acce…
Is telemarketing taxable in Texas?
It depends on what the telemarketing calls actually do. (1) Using an automated computer system to call people and deliver standardized messages is a taxable telecommunications service. (2) Making call…
Is cleaning, painting, and sealing residential air vents/ducts taxable in Texas?
No, not when paint and sealing are involved. The Comptroller reconsidered an earlier ruling that soot-cleaning of vents/ducts was taxable janitorial work, and concluded that when the service also incl…
How does Texas decide whether a bed-and-breakfast pays residential or commercial (nonresidential) tax on its gas and electricity?
Texas applies a 'predominant use' test. If 50% or more of a bed-and-breakfast's square footage is rented out (or the rooms are offered for rent 50% or more of the year), the property is treated as non…
Is drafting, marine surveying, marine appraisal, or marine architecture/engineering/consulting work taxable under Texas sales tax?
It depends on who develops the design and why the survey is done. Drafting is taxed as the sale of graphic art only when the customer supplies all the schematics and specifications and the drafter mer…
In a combined Article 9-A report, must the parent still add back interest on debt used to acquire a subsidiary that is itself included in the combined group?
It is handled at two levels. When parent P and subsidiary S file a combined Article 9-A report, each must also file its own separate report. On P's separate report, P must make the section 208.9(b)(6)…
If a registered/professional engineer performs forensic investigations of accidents, fires, or structural damage in connection with an insurance claim, does Texas sales tax apply to that service?
Yes. The Comptroller ruled that nothing in the Texas Engineering Practice Act (Article 3271a) or Chapter 151 of the Tax Code exempts a registered/professional engineer from charging and collecting sal…
Can a non-Texas retailer use a multi-jurisdictional resale certificate instead of a Texas Resale Certificate when buying from Texas vendors?
Probably not safely. A multi-jurisdictional resale/exemption certificate (even paired with an affidavit) is likely incomplete under Texas law and probably would not protect a Texas vendor from tax lia…
Does tri-ethylene glycol (TEG) used in natural gas processing qualify for the Texas manufacturing sales tax exemption?
It depends on how the chemical is used. Tri-ethylene glycol (TEG) used like anti-freeze in a pipeline that transports natural gas to an end marketer does NOT qualify for the manufacturing exemption, b…
New York Advisory Opinion TSB-A-95(34)S: Is the charge for a 24/7 personal emergency response ("medical alert") system -- a wearable pendant and sending unit that lets customers summon help -- exempt from New York sales tax?
Exempt. MSS Electronics Inc. provides "LifeFone," a 24-hour, 7-day-a-week personal emergency response system that lets customers summon help at any time. Customers give Petitioner information about th…
Is a separately-stated property tax reimbursement on an equipment rental invoice taxable in Texas?
It depends on what the reimbursement covers. A property tax reimbursement is excluded from the taxable sales price of an equipment rental only when it is (1) separately stated and clearly identified o…
If my company makes and installs fireplace facings or mantles for home builders, is the whole charge (materials, labor, overhead, markup) taxable as a sale of tangible personal property, or is it a nontaxable real property improvement?
It depends on the contract with the home builder. If the facing/mantle is simply sold, or installed without becoming a permanent improvement to the home, the company is a manufacturer selling taxable …
Can New York State withhold a wife's share of a joint personal income tax refund and apply it against a sales tax assessment owed individually by her husband alone?
No. Under Tax Law § 686(a), the Commissioner may only credit an overpayment against a liability owed by 'the person who made the overpayment.' Although Tax Law § 651(b)(2) makes joint filers' income t…
After moving away from New York and building a life in New Jersey for 14 years, does building a family home back in New York (where the taxpayer's spouse and children now live) mean the taxpayer has become domiciled in New York again for income tax purposes?
The Department would not say. It explained New York's full legal test for domicile and for changing domicile, but concluded that whether this taxpayer's 1986 New York house revived his New York domici…
Could a Texas vehicle rental or leasing business split one retired vehicle's fair market value deduction between two replacement vehicles?
No. Section 152.002(c) allowed the retired vehicle's fair market value to reduce the taxable value of one replacement vehicle only. The deduction could not be split between two purchases, and any unus…
When a contractor issues a change order on a nonresidential repair or remodeling contract, is the change order taxed the same way as the original contract, and when does the contractor become liable to collect the sales tax?
Yes, change orders are taxable in the same manner as the original nonresidential repair or remodeling contract. A change order that does not alter the sales price causes no change in tax owed, but a c…
Do clean-room air handling systems and floor panels qualify for Texas's manufacturing exemption in semiconductor fabrication?
Yes — the Comptroller confirmed that air handling equipment, ceiling vents, and waffle floor panels used in semiconductor (microchip) fabrication clean rooms qualify as equipment used in manufacturing…
If I bundle a cellular phone's price with the cost of service, does that affect my use tax liability on the phone?
No — a cellular phone service provider that gives a phone to a customer as part of its taxable telecommunications service may buy that phone for resale, regardless of what price it places on the phone…
Did a dealer-lessor and a second lessor each owe Texas vehicle tax when the leased vehicle and contract were sold days after lease inception?
Yes. Entering the operating lease was taxable use, making the dealer-lessor's acquisition taxable. Its later sale of the leased vehicle to a second lessor was another taxable sale. The lessee's vehicl…
Do dedicated telecom lines used to transmit news content to a printing plant qualify for Texas's manufacturing exemption?
No — the Comptroller ruled the telecommunication service is taxable because it is not performed directly on the newspaper being manufactured; merely facilitating the manufacturing process is not enoug…
Is providing a portable surgical laser with an operating technician a taxable equipment rental in Texas?
Yes — the entire charge is taxable as a rental of tangible personal property, even though a technician sets up, tunes, and operates the laser while the physician performs the actual procedure. An exem…
Does processing a neighbor's agricultural products alongside my own destroy my Texas manufacturing-exemption for my processing equipment?
Not entirely, under the policy this letter recommends. The Comptroller's task force proposed replacing the old all-or-nothing rule (which required that 100% of the products processed, packed, or marke…
Is a software modification delivered out-of-state and brought into Texas on diskette taxable?
It depends on who made the modification. If the same company that sold the original computer program also created the modification, the modification is taxable when brought into Texas on diskette only…
Are environmental testing, waste analysis, and disposal services for underground storage tank (UST) remediation taxable in Texas?
Mostly nontaxable, with two important exceptions. Invoice-by-invoice, the Comptroller found that environmental sampling, lab analysis, waste-stream review, and disposal-approval services related to un…
Is a not-for-profit workers'-compensation and risk-management association, formed by a statewide association of municipalities exclusively for its member cities and villages, exempt from New York sales and use tax on its own purchases as an 'instrumentality of the State'?
Yes. Because the association performs a governmental function for its municipal members, is controlled by them, has no private ownership interest, was created under specific statutory authority, and i…
If a utility bills a homeowner's backyard hot tub at a commercial 'general secondary' rate (because it's on a separate meter), does that override the tax-law rule that residential recreational equipment gets the reduced or exempt residential energy sales tax rate?
No. A utility's own billing-rate classification doesn't control the sales tax outcome -- personal, non-commercial residential recreational equipment like a backyard hot tub still qualifies for the res…
Who did RR 94-10 treat as a bingo-house agent or representative barred from playing at that operation?
Promoters, employees, assisting contractors, officers, and volunteers could not play at the operation they served. A nonprofit member was covered on days the member volunteered, while an independent b…
When a distributor's propane is a mix of natural-gas propane and petroleum-gas propane, how much of its Connecticut gross earnings is subject to the petroleum products gross earnings tax?
Only the petroleum-gas propane portion is taxable. Petroleum-gas propane is a 'petroleum product' (SIC Major Group 29, Industry 2911) subject to the petroleum products gross earnings tax under Conn. G…
Is document scanning and indexing a taxable computer and data processing service in Connecticut, and is supervising a customer's own scanning staff taxable business management?
Document imaging is taxable; supervising the customer's staff is not. Scanning paper documents into electronic images and indexing them IS a taxable computer and data processing service under Conn. Ge…
Can a bank charge sales tax on a returned/insufficient-funds check fee?
No — a bank cannot charge sales tax on a fee for a returned (insufficient-funds) check. The Comptroller ruled the charge isn't for a service performed for the customer; it's just a nontaxable overdraf…
Can a business store its tax records only on CD-ROM and destroy the paper originals?
Not entirely. The Comptroller will accept electronic (e.g., CD-ROM) storage of purchase orders, invoices, and similar business records only for partial retention — the records must remain examinable b…
Which services that an outside contractor performs for a public pay-phone company in Texas — rate-table downloads and installation testing, coin-collection polling review, long-distance record transfers, software updates and file backups, coin collection, and repairs — are subject to Texas sales tax?
It depends on the specific service. Texas taxes a pay-phone system contractor's charges for downloading a new rate table and field-testing a newly installed phone (remodeling of tangible property), tr…
For a long-distance telephone reseller offering switched service, private lines, 1-800 numbers, calling cards, debit cards, and billing services, which specific charges are taxable New York intrastate telephone service and which are exempt (interstate calls, or purchases the company resells to its own customers)?
Whether a call is taxable turns only on where it originates and terminates (intrastate = taxed, interstate = exempt), never on the customer's billing address; almost everything the company itself buys…
Does the prior-contract exemption cover casualty-damage repair labor after the October 1993 law change?
No. There is no prior-contract exemption for casualty-repair labor performed on or after October 1, 1993. Effective that date, the Comptroller's old, broader administrative rule exempting labor to rep…
Do specialized air-support-therapy hospital beds, mattresses, and mattress overlays -- prescribed by physicians to prevent and treat bedsore-related skin ulceration -- qualify for New York's medical equipment sales tax exemption?
Yes. Because these products are used exclusively on a physician's prescription to treat or prevent a specific medical condition and aren't generally useful absent illness or injury, they (and their re…
Is a construction contractor's purchase of required progress and special construction photographs -- submitted to New York City as a condition of getting paid -- exempt as a resale or as part of a tax-exempt capital improvement?
No to both. The photographs are taxable tangible personal property that the contractor itself consumes to satisfy its contract and get paid (not a resale to the City), and since the photos never becom…
Did three South Carolina aircraft landings create 1993 income-tax nexus for the out-of-state lessor in PLR 94-8?
No, on the complete 1993 facts. ABC had no South Carolina property base, employees, accounts, registration, or other business activity, and its leased aircraft made only three landings. The ruling war…
Is land surveying performed on a farm or ranch exempt from Texas sales tax as an agricultural service?
No. Surveying that determines or confirms real property boundaries or the location of structures relative to those boundaries is a taxable real property service in Texas, and performing it on agricult…
Is a freight forwarder subject to the Article 9 sections 183 and 184 transportation-corporation taxes or to Article 9-A, and how are its gross earnings allocated to New York?
It is taxed under Article 9, sections 183 and 184. S&S Westchester arranges overseas shipment of vendors' merchandise; in over two-thirds of its activities it acts as a principal -- it assumes the ris…
When one partner transfers its minority partnership interest to the only other partner — ending the partnership that owns Connecticut real estate — does the conveyance tax or the controlling interest transfer tax apply?
Neither tax applies. When a parent transfers its MINORITY partnership interest to the only other partner (its subsidiary, which already holds the controlling interest), ending the partnership so the C…
Does a certified copy of a Texas Comptroller document need to be notarized to be valid?
No — a properly certified copy of a document maintained by the Texas Comptroller's office (such as a Certificate of Account Status) does not need to be notarized. A document signed and sealed by the C…
Do I need a Texas sales tax permit to sell pet-registration-database sign-ups?
No — this is not a taxable service, so a distributor signing customers up for a national pet-registration database does not need a Texas sales tax permit.
When a Texas retailer sells goods to a foreign customer who takes them out of the country, how soon must the goods be exported and what documents prove the export for purposes of getting the sales tax refunded or not charged?
It depends on the proof, but generally a customer-signed air waybill alone is NOT enough. Goods exported within 30 days of purchase are presumed not to have been used in Texas, but exports after 30 da…
Can an exempt organization's employees still make tax-free purchases using an Exempt Organization Certification (Form ST-119.1) when their corporate credit cards show only the employee's name plus an abbreviation of the organization's name, rather than its full name?
Yes. As long as the exempt organization and the employee are both identified on the bill/invoice and the organization is shown as the direct payer of record, an abbreviated organization name on the cr…
Are replacement air filters for a prescribed air purification system exempt from Texas sales tax?
Yes — the Comptroller ruled that air filters for a physician-prescribed air purification system are treated like related supplies for a therapeutic device (similar to lancets and test strips for a blo…
Is a minimum food/beverage spending charge billed to private club members taxable in Texas?
Yes — under Tex. Tax Code Sec. 151.007(e), minimum spending charges billed to private club members who don't purchase enough food and beverages are taxable the same as membership dues or other fees fo…
Is an out-of-state (Arkansas) government agency exempt from Texas sales tax?
No — Arkansas state and local government agencies are not exempt from Texas sales tax, because no reciprocal exemption agreement currently exists between Texas and Arkansas under Tex. Tax Code § 151.3…
My business partner and I each own a 50% share (as tenants-in-common) in five properties held through a partnership, and we each want to put our share into a Grantor Retained Annuity Trust for estate planning, then divide the actual properties between our two families instead of continuing to co-own everything. Does that division trigger New York's Real Property Transfer Gains Tax?
Partly exempt, partly taxable -- split by how much each family's beneficial share actually changed. Two families, the Moskelands and the Tobiassens, each held a 50% interest (via tenants-in-common tit…
After retiring from a New York job and moving out of state, is the investment income earned inside my IRA or employee savings plan still taxable by New York once I start taking distributions as a nonresident?
Yes, to the extent your original contributions trace back to New York employment. New York taxes IRA distributions (including the earnings inside the account) based on where the underlying job was per…
Are concession stand sales by a school band booster club exempt from Texas sales tax?
Yes — food sales from a school band booster club's concession stand at football games and band events are exempt from Texas sales tax under Tax Code Section 151.314(e), because the sales are part of a…
Is collecting and disposing of medical waste, infectious waste, or hazardous waste from a hospital or doctor's office taxable in Texas?
It depends on the type of waste. Charges for collecting and removing 'medical waste' are subject to Texas sales tax, but charges for collecting and removing 'infectious waste' are not taxable. A third…
Is replacing sections of pipe during scheduled pipeline maintenance a taxable 'repair' or nontaxable maintenance?
It can qualify as nontaxable maintenance. The Comptroller's office concluded that replacing 30 individual pipe sections (3 to 41.7 feet each, totaling 523.9 feet on a 41-mile line and 156.2 feet on a …
We're developing a title insurance endorsement for reverse mortgages that lets accrued interest compound (either added to principal or tracked as additional interest owed). Does compounding interest on a reverse mortgage disqualify it from New York's mortgage recording tax exemption for reverse mortgages?
No, compound interest doesn't disqualify the exemption. Title Insurance Rate Service Association, Inc. asked the Department to confirm that recording a reverse mortgage containing a compound-interest …
When a private company operates a county-owned golf course and restaurant under a long-term concession agreement and must fund capital improvements that become the county's property, are its construction materials, equipment, and architectural fees exempt from sales tax?
Materials that become an integral, permanent part of the county-owned course/clubhouse (fairway reclamation, irrigation, building renovations, etc.) are exempt, and licensed-architect design services …
Can a customs broker who refunds sales tax to an exporting customer recover that money from the vendor?
Yes — via assignment and power of attorney. Although the Tax Code itself gives customs brokers no mechanism to recover from the vendor or the state tax they refunded to an exporting customer, the Comp…
What Kansas state and local use tax did out-of-state vehicle lessors collect beginning August 1, 1994?
For vehicle lease payments billed on or after August 1, 1994, an out-of-state dealer or lessor had to collect Kansas state compensating use tax and local compensating use tax when the leased vehicle w…
Are air filters, water filters, saunas, and other medical-supply items exempt from Texas sales tax when prescribed by a doctor for chemically-sensitive or allergic patients?
Water Filters are TAXABLE — no prescription exemption applies to them. Also taxable: Air Filters (central heat/air system filters) and Radiant Heaters and Ecological Masks. EXEMPT only when purchased …
Is repairing a residential well pump taxable in Texas?
Yes — repairing a residential water well pump is taxable in Texas. Because the pump can easily be removed for repair or replacement, the Comptroller treats it as tangible personal property, so the tot…
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.