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.
Could a business use one store's natural-gas predominant-use study to claim the utility exemption at another store?
Only if the stores and the first study were truly identical and valid. Otherwise each location needed its own study based on actual utility uses and product quantities.
Were monthly water-softener equipment and maintenance services taxable when the provider kept control of the equipment?
No. The managed equipment-and-maintenance service was not taxable, but the provider owed tax on the equipment, salt, and supplies it used. Outright rentals and salt sales were taxable.
Were natural gas and electricity used by restaurants to prepare food for immediate consumption exempt from Texas sales tax?
No. Restaurant utilities used to prepare food for immediate consumption were taxable commercial use, whether customers ate on-site or took the food away.
Was Texas use tax due on a Mexican company's bagged mineral product delivered to Texas customers, and who had to collect it?
Yes. The Mexican seller had to collect and remit use tax; an agent handling billing and collections had to collect it, and customers remained liable if it was not collected.
How is New York sales/use tax applied to an oil- and chemical-spill cleanup company's services, the materials it uses, and its outright sales of cleanup supplies?
The Department treated Marine Pollution Control, an oil- and chemical-spill cleanup company, as a contractor and answered seven questions. Its spill cleanup and disposal is a service of maintaining, s…
Which new tires became subject to Kansas's $0.50 tire excise tax on July 1, 1991?
Effective July 1, 1991, Kansas's $0.50 tire excise tax applied to new tires for any vehicle within the broadened K.S.A. 8-1485 highway-vehicle definition and to tires mounted on a new vehicle at its f…
Were inedible white grease, dried blood, and dry rendered tankage made from livestock offal subject to Texas sales tax?
Yes, as taxable tangible property. A buyer could still claim resale or manufacturing-ingredient treatment by giving the appropriate certificate.
Were Escaid 110, Norpar 13, Paranox 106, and polyacrylic acid A-3 treated as diesel fuel or as sales-taxable materials?
They were subject to sales tax. Although some material might work in a diesel engine, it was not classified and taxed as diesel fuel unless actually used in a motor vehicle.
Could an authorized employee sign a Texas customs-broker certificate showing that goods were exported to Mexico?
Yes. An employee authorized by the customs broker could sign, and omitting 'attorney-in-fact' did not invalidate an otherwise complete certificate accepted in good faith.
Did the exemption for books and periodicals from qualified nonprofit publishers depend on which retailer sold the publication?
No. If the publisher qualified under Rule 3.299, either retailer's sale was exempt; if the publisher did not qualify, either retailer's sale was taxable.
Were fees a cable company paid a utility for permission to attach cable lines to utility poles subject to Texas sales tax?
No. The Comptroller said the described pole-attachment charges were not subject to state or local sales tax, but did not address federal tax.
Were utilities used in a homeowners association's jointly owned, members-only common areas exempt as residential use?
Yes. Utilities for jointly owned common areas intended solely for association members were exempt residential use for billing cycles beginning on or after January 1, 1988.
Was a demurrage charge imposed when a customer returned a gas seller's tank late subject to Texas sales tax?
No. The Comptroller treated the charge as a nontaxable penalty for returning the seller's reusable container after the specified deadline.
Were a contractor's charges to update and correct software developed by someone else subject to Texas sales tax?
No. Rule 3.308(b)(4) made program-modification charges nontaxable when the person performing the modification had not sold the program.
Could a foreign retailer buy auto parts tax-free in Texas for resale in El Salvador using a Texas resale certificate?
No. The buyer could avoid tax if the supplier shipped the parts abroad, or pay tax on Texas pickup and seek a refund after giving the supplier proof of export.
Were pill boxes used for free medicine samples and slides used in laboratory analysis exempt from Texas sales tax?
No. Both were taxable when purchased: the container exemption required the contained product to be sold, and laboratory supplies were not within the health-care exemption.
Could a club buy landscaping and repair services tax-free when maintaining a municipal park under contract with a city?
Yes. Services for the city-owned park were exempt when identified on an exemption certificate; any refund had to come from the provider to the entity that paid the tax.
Were charges for adding local contact information to a network video feed and for recording a satellite program taxable in Texas?
The tagging charge was not taxable when information was added to a network feed, but the charge for videotaping a satellite program was taxable.
Who had to collect and remit Texas sales tax on janitorial services performed by franchisees?
The franchisor. The Comptroller treated it as the retailer and required it to hold a permit and collect and remit all tax due on franchisee services.
Were services to collect delinquent real-property rent and medical bills subject to Texas sales tax?
Yes. Although rent and medical services were not taxable, activities performed to collect or adjust those past-due debts were taxable debt-collection services.
How did Texas tax a purchased portfolio of peanut- and cotton-wagon agreements?
Continuing the manufacturer's original agreements kept them as rentals, requiring a retailer permit and tax on cooperative rentals while qualifying farmer rentals could be exempt. New or renegotiated …
Could a newsletter publisher buy film, film processing, and desktop publishing services for resale without Texas sales tax?
No. Those inputs were not transferred into the subscribers' care, custody, and control, so they did not qualify as purchases for resale under Rule 3.342(e).
Was a magazine with mostly free one-year subscriptions a controlled-circulation publication, and what Texas tax applied?
No. The paid subscriptions showed the magazine was published for subscription sale; paid subscriptions were not taxable, but the publisher owed tax on free copies mailed to Texas subscribers.
Would a church lose the Texas exemption for its centennial history book by hiring an outside professional printer?
No. The church still qualified if it published and distributed the book; using an unaffiliated professional printer did not defeat the exemption.
Was flexlight used as a printing plate exempt from Texas sales tax when a printer manufactured products for sale?
Yes. It was necessary and essential to manufacturing and was neither machinery nor equipment under Rule 3.300(a), so the six-month useful-life test did not apply.
Did Texas exempt labor to repair real-property pollution-control equipment, and what refund applied to replacement wastewater piping?
No exemption applied to real-property repair labor. Pipe bought in 1990 or 1991 qualified for a 25% state-tax refund, but removal and replacement labor did not if the system was an improvement to real…
In a sale-leaseback, does property a company sells and leases back count as 'investment' for Nebraska's LB 775 incentive?
Only if it was first put into service after the application. Under Revenue Ruling 29-91-3, when a taxpayer leases property in a sale-leaseback that it previously owned, that property qualifies as 'inv…
Which personal property in ABC's headquarters expansion qualified for the historical SC headquarters credit under PLR 91-3?
Personal property used by employees performing headquarters functions or qualifying experimental software research and development qualified. Property for custom client programming, installations, cus…
Was a Network WATS subscription fee excluded from Texas sales tax because it was separately named and was not a local-access or equipment charge?
No. Telecommunications services were taxable items, so the total charge was taxable unless a component had its own exemption; renaming the charge did not exempt it.
My client can't keep up with interest payments on two large mortgages. The bank will agree to defer the unpaid interest, but only if additional interest accrues on that unpaid interest (compounding), while the mortgages' already-taxed maximum principal caps stay the same. Does adding compound interest to the mortgage trigger additional mortgage recording tax?
No additional tax due -- but only because the compounded amount stays within the mortgage's already-taxed maximum, and there's an important enforcement trap lurking underneath. A client held real prop…
When a New York S corporation reincorporates into a different state through a tax-free F-reorganization merger, does its New York S election survive, or do the shareholders have to make a brand-new election and file two short-period corporate returns?
The S election itself survives, but two short-period corporate franchise tax returns are still required. X Corp, a New York corporation that had elected both federal and New York S status, will merge …
Were freelance photographer charges to a Texas video production company taxable, and did camera ownership or an exempt client change the result?
Motion-picture or video-camera work was nontaxable, but still-camera work was taxable. Camera ownership and producing the master for an exempt entity did not change the result.
When a hotel stay lasts more than 30 consecutive days, does Connecticut's room occupancy tax still apply to the first 30 days?
Historical rule -- this Ruling has since been OBSOLETED by Announcement 94(8) and no longer states current law, so confirm the current treatment before relying on it. A hotel agreed to provide lodging…
How did Kansas's 3.5% short-term vehicle rental excise tax work beginning July 1, 1991?
Effective July 1, 1991, Kansas imposed a 3.5% excise tax on gross receipts from motor-vehicle rentals or leases lasting 28 days or less, in addition to state and local sales tax. The base included the…
Did the Texas residential-use exemption cover electricity and natural gas for a mental hospital where patients stayed 30 to 90 days?
No. Rule 3.295's residential-use exemption did not apply to health-care facilities, and the patients' 30-to-90-day stays did not make the hospital a residence.
Are weekly rentals of self-contained motel housekeeping/efficiency units subject to New York sales tax when no hotel services are provided?
Not taxable, on these facts. The Juliana Motel rents housekeeping and efficiency units — each with its own kitchen, bathroom, and sleeping room and no services provided — on a weekly basis through the…
As bankruptcy trustee for 68 limited partnerships, I'm selling their real estate free and clear of liens under court order, with liens attaching instead to the sale proceeds. Depending on whether the buyer is a stranger to the mortgage, partially assumes it, or is the mortgage-holder itself credit-bidding at a bankruptcy auction, how is 'consideration' calculated for New York's Real Property Transfer Gains Tax in each scenario?
Consideration is calculated differently in each of the three scenarios -- the price actually paid if the buyer doesn't touch the mortgage, price paid plus the assumed portion if the buyer partially as…
Did common ownership exempt motor-vehicle and equipment leases between sister corporations from Texas tax?
No. The intercorporate-services exemption did not cover those leases; motor vehicles and financed equipment followed their ordinary tax rules despite common ownership.
Which Texas charges for computer consulting, data processing, custom programming, and software modification were taxable?
Standalone consulting and qualifying custom programming were nontaxable, but data processing and software sales were taxable; lumping taxable and unrelated services made the full charge taxable.
Was equipment temporarily assembled in Texas before shipment for use solely in Oklahoma subject to Texas sales or use tax?
It depended on origin. Out-of-state equipment could qualify for the temporary-storage use-tax exclusion, but equipment shipped from within Texas remained subject to sales tax.
Was a charge to paint pictures on a person's face subject to Texas sales tax?
No. The face-painting charge was not taxable, but the provider had to pay sales tax on all supplies used to paint customers' faces.
Were trolley fares subject to Texas sales tax when the trolley provided public transportation or an amusement ride?
Public-street transportation fares were not taxable, but operating on private property as an amusement ride or providing tour guides was a taxable amusement service.
When did SC Revenue Ruling 91-9 tax lease payments for tangible personal property delivered in or later brought into South Carolina?
In-state delivery from a South Carolina lessor made every lease payment taxable even if the lessee immediately moved the property out of state. Lessor-required out-of-state delivery made the payments …
Which components of a municipal water-treatment-plant expansion qualified for the manufacturing-machine sales-tax exemption under SC RR 91-8?
Equipment within the processing window—from the rapid-mix tank through final filtration—generally qualified, including mixers, flocculators, sludge machinery, processing piping, filter tanks, media fi…
Is Texas motor vehicle tax due when a dissolving corporation distributes a vehicle to a stockholder as part of the stockholder's liquidation share?
No tax was due when a dissolving corporation transferred a vehicle to a stockholder as part of the stockholder's liquidation share, provided there was no consideration or lien assumption. The letter's…
How did Texas tax discount-travel memberships, amusement components, travel certificates, and promotional giveaways?
Discount memberships and qualifying travel certificates were not taxable, but amusement components and the promoter's printed certificates and giveaways were taxed under different rules.
Was installing or changing an artificial-lift system on a Texas oil well taxable?
The first installation was nontaxable, but changing or converting an existing well from one artificial-lift method to another was taxable remodeling.
Could a homeowners association use Texas's prior-contract exemption for trash service it purchased and separately billed to members?
No for the separately billed trash service. The HOA was the seller, had to buy for resale, and could not use the prior-contract exemption for that purchase.
Could a company using a thirteen-period fiscal calendar file Texas sales-tax returns on that accounting cycle?
It could use its fiscal calendar only by mapping the periods into 12 calendar-month returns, observing the fixed due dates, and leaving preprinted report-period dates unchanged.
Did Texas sales tax apply when a dissolving partnership distributed equipment to its partners, who contributed it to wholly owned professional associations?
No. Neither transfer involved consideration, so neither was a sale; no additional tax was due after tax had been paid on the original purchases.
Could a cellular provider buy a flat-fee call-forwarding roaming feature tax-free for resale when it bundled the feature into taxable service?
Yes. Because the roaming feature was provided as part of the telecommunications service sold to each customer, the provider could issue a resale certificate.
Was labor to operate another company's machine and perforate that company's vinyl sheeting taxable in Texas?
Yes. The work was taxable processing of tangible personal property, unless the vinyl owner resold the material and issued a valid resale certificate.
Could sales tax be refunded on natural gas used by an apartment-complex boiler to provide residential hot water?
Yes. State, city, and MTA tax paid within the limitations period could be refunded based on the stated residential-only use.
When could a Texas seller accept a resale or exemption certificate in good faith, and could the purchaser invoke good faith when issuing it?
The purchaser could not invoke good faith. A seller needed a timely, facially valid certificate and no knowledge that the claimed resale or exemption was improper.
Could restaurants buy disposable paper placemats tax-free with a Texas resale certificate?
Yes. Nonreusable placemats furnished to customers could be purchased for resale whether they were plain, decorative, or carried advertising.
Did Texas's agricultural exemption apply to machinery and equipment used by an original-producer shrimp farm?
Yes under the 1991 letter. STAR warns that a 2011 law later required a Comptroller registration number for certain agricultural and timber exemptions.
Which of a property manager's charges — management fees versus cleaning, repair, and maintenance — are subject to New York sales tax?
It splits by the type of service — and separate billing matters. Certified Properties manages apartments and houses. Its core management services — renting units and signing leases, collecting and dep…
Is a company's charge to remove a wheel 'boot' from an illegally parked car subject to New York sales tax — as a parking service or as servicing tangible personal property?
The boot-removal fee is taxable — but not as a parking service. A-Z Parking runs a private-property enforcement program: its teams place an immobilizing wheel 'boot' on unauthorized vehicles, and the …
Are a mutual fund's exempt-interest dividends derived from Puerto Rico obligations subject to Connecticut's dividend and interest income tax?
Exempt -- but this concerns a Connecticut tax that no longer applies in this form (the ruling is obsoleted by AN 94(2), obsoleted in part by PA 94-4 § 13, and superseded in part by SN 95(17)), so trea…
Which league, tournament, admission, and sports-participation charges were taxable in Kansas?
Kansas taxed fees charged by private clubs, organizations, and businesses for participation in sports, games, and recreation, including league or tournament fees collected from individuals or teams. A…
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.