FIRST REGULAR SESSION
SENATE BILL NO. 380
90TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
INTRODUCED BY SENATOR SCOTT.
Read 1st time February 1, 1999, and 1,000 copies ordered printed.
TERRY L. SPIELER, Secretary.
S1691.01I
AN ACT
To repeal sections 144.010 and 144.030, RSMo Supp. 1998, relating to sales tax exemptions, and to enact in lieu thereof two new sections relating to the same subject.
Section A. Sections 144.010 and 144.030, RSMo Supp. 1998, are repealed and two new sections enacted in lieu thereof, to be known as sections 144.010 and 144.030, to read as follows:
144.010. 1. The following words, terms, and phrases when used in sections 144.010 to 144.525 have the meanings ascribed to them in this section, except when the context indicates a different meaning:
(1) "Admission" includes seats and tables, reserved or otherwise, and other similar accommodations and charges made therefor and amount paid for admission, exclusive of any admission tax imposed by the federal government or by sections 144.010 to 144.525;
(2) "Business" includes any activity engaged in by any person, or caused to be engaged in by him, with the object of gain, benefit or advantage, either direct or indirect, and the classification of which business is of such character as to be subject to the terms of sections 144.010 to 144.525. The isolated or occasional sale of tangible personal property, service, substance, or thing, by a person not engaged in such business, does not constitute engaging in business within the meaning of sections 144.010 to 144.525 unless the total amount of the gross receipts from such sales, exclusive of receipts from the sale of tangible personal property by persons which property is sold in the course of the partial or complete liquidation of a household, farm or nonbusiness enterprise, exceeds three thousand dollars in any calendar year. The provisions of this subdivision shall not be construed to make any sale of property which is exempt from sales tax or use tax on June 1, 1977, subject to that tax thereafter;
(3) "Gross receipts", except as provided in section 144.012, means the total amount of the sale price of the sales at retail including any services other than charges incident to the extension of credit that are a part of such sales made by the businesses herein referred to, capable of being valued in money, whether received in money or otherwise; except that, the term "gross receipts" shall not include the sale price of property returned by customers when the full sale price thereof is refunded either in cash or by credit. In determining any tax due under sections 144.010 to 144.525 on the gross receipts, charges incident to the extension of credit shall be specifically exempted. For the purposes of sections 144.010 to 144.525 the total amount of the sale price above mentioned shall be deemed to be the amount received. It shall also include the lease or rental consideration where the right to continuous possession or use of any article of tangible personal property is granted under a lease or contract and such transfer of possession would be taxable if outright sale were made and, in such cases, the same shall be taxable as if outright sale were made and considered as a sale of such article, and the tax shall be computed and paid by the lessee upon the rentals paid;
(4) "Livestock", cattle, calves, sheep, swine, ratite birds, including but not limited to, ostrich and emu, aquatic products as defined in section 277.024, RSMo, elk documented as obtained from a legal source and not from the wild, goats, horses, other equine, or rabbits raised in confinement for human consumption;
(5) "Motor vehicle leasing company" shall be a company obtaining a permit from the director of revenue to operate as a motor vehicle leasing company. Not all persons renting or leasing trailers or motor vehicles need to obtain such a permit; however, no person failing to obtain such a permit may avail itself of the optional tax provisions of subsection 5 of section 144.070, as hereinafter provided;
(6) "Person" includes any individual, firm, copartnership, joint adventure, association, corporation, municipal or private, and whether organized for profit or not, state, county, political subdivision, state department, commission, board, bureau or agency, except the state transportation department, estate, trust, business trust, receiver or trustee appointed by the state or federal court, syndicate, or any other group or combination acting as a unit, and the plural as well as the singular number;
(7) "Purchaser" means a person who purchases tangible personal property or to whom are rendered services, receipts from which are taxable under sections 144.010 to 144.525;
(8) "Research or experimentation activities", activities directed toward the development of an experimental or pilot model, plant process, formula, invention or similar property, and the improvement of existing property of such type. Research or experimentation activities do not include activities such as ordinary testing or inspection of materials or products for quality control, efficiency surveys, advertising promotions or research in connection with literary, historical or similar projects;
[(8)] (9) "Sale" or "sales" includes installment and credit sales, and the exchange of properties as well as the sale thereof for money, every closed transaction constituting a sale, and means any transfer, exchange or barter, conditional or otherwise, in any manner or by any means whatsoever, of tangible personal property for valuable consideration and the rendering, furnishing or selling for a valuable consideration any of the substances, things and services herein designated and defined as taxable under the terms of sections 144.010 to 144.525;
[(9)] (10) "Sale at retail" means any transfer made by any person engaged in business as defined herein of the ownership of, or title to, tangible personal property to the purchaser, for use or consumption and not for resale in any form as tangible personal property, for a valuable consideration; except that, for the purposes of sections 144.010 to 144.525 and the tax imposed thereby: (i) purchases of tangible personal property made by duly licensed physicians, dentists, optometrists and veterinarians and used in the practice of their professions shall be deemed to be purchases for use or consumption and not for resale; and (ii) the selling of computer printouts, computer output or microfilm or microfiche and computer-assisted photo compositions to a purchaser to enable the purchaser to obtain for his own use the desired information contained in such computer printouts, computer output on microfilm or microfiche and computer-assisted photo compositions shall be considered as the sale of a service and not as the sale of tangible personal property. Where necessary to conform to the context of sections 144.010 to 144.525 and the tax imposed thereby, the term "sale at retail" shall be construed to embrace:
(a) Sales of admission tickets, cash admissions, charges and fees to or in places of amusement, entertainment and recreation, games and athletic events;
(b) Sales of electricity, electrical current, water and gas, natural or artificial, to domestic, commercial or industrial consumers;
(c) Sales of local and long distance telecommunications service to telecommunications subscribers and to others through equipment of telecommunications subscribers for the transmission of messages and conversations, and the sale, rental or leasing of all equipment or services pertaining or incidental thereto;
(d) Sales of service for transmission of messages by telegraph companies;
(e) Sales or charges for all rooms, meals and drinks furnished at any hotel, motel, tavern, inn, restaurant, eating house, drugstore, dining car, tourist camp, tourist cabin, or other place in which rooms, meals or drinks are regularly served to the public;
(f) Sales of tickets by every person operating a railroad, sleeping car, dining car, express car, boat, airplane, and such buses and trucks as are licensed by the division of motor carrier and railroad safety of the department of economic development of Missouri, engaged in the transportation of persons for hire;
[(10)] (11) "Seller" means a person selling or furnishing tangible personal property or rendering services, on the receipts from which a tax is imposed under section 144.020;
[(11)] (12) The noun "tax" means either the tax payable by the purchaser of a commodity or service subject to tax, or the aggregate amount of taxes due from the vendor of such commodities or services during the period for which he is required to report his collections, as the context may require;
[(12)] (13) "Telecommunications service", for the purpose of chapter 144, the transmission of information by wire, radio, optical cable, coaxial cable, electronic impulses, or other similar means. As used in this definition, "information" means knowledge or intelligence represented by any form of writing, signs, signals, pictures, sounds, or any other symbols. Telecommunications service does not include the following if such services are separately stated on the customer's bill:
(a) Access to the Internet, access to interactive computer services or electronic publishing services, except the amount paid for the [telecommunication] telecommunications service used to provide such access;
(b) Answering services and one-way paging services;
(c) Private mobile radio services which are not two-way commercial mobile radio services such as wireless telephone, personal communications services or enhanced specialized mobile radio services as defined pursuant to federal law; or
(d) Cable or satellite television or music services; and
[(13)] (14) "Product which is intended to be sold ultimately for final use or consumption" means tangible personal property, or any service that is subject to state or local sales or use taxes, or any tax that is substantially equivalent thereto, in this state or any other state.
2. For purposes of the taxes imposed under sections 144.010 to 144.525, and any other provisions of law pertaining to sales or use taxes which incorporate the provisions of sections 144.010 to 144.525 by reference, the term "manufactured homes" shall have the same meaning given it in section 700.010, RSMo.
3. Sections 144.010 to 144.525 may be known and quoted as the "Sales Tax Law".
144.030. 1. There is hereby specifically exempted from the provisions of sections 144.010 to 144.525 and from the computation of the tax levied, assessed or payable pursuant to sections 144.010 to 144.525 such retail sales as may be made in commerce between this state and any other state of the United States, or between this state and any foreign country, and any retail sale which the state of Missouri is prohibited from taxing pursuant to the Constitution or laws of the United States of America, and such retail sales of tangible personal property which the general assembly of the state of Missouri is prohibited from taxing or further taxing by the constitution of this state.
2. There are also specifically exempted from the provisions of the local sales tax law as defined in section 32.085, RSMo, section 238.235, RSMo, and sections 144.010 to 144.525 and 144.600 to 144.745 and from the computation of the tax levied, assessed or payable pursuant to the local sales tax law as defined in section 32.085, RSMo, section 238.235, RSMo, and sections 144.010 to 144.525 and 144.600 to 144.745:
(1) Motor fuel or special fuel subject to an excise tax of this state, unless all or part of such excise tax is refunded pursuant to section 142.584, RSMo; or upon the sale at retail of fuel to be consumed in manufacturing or creating gas, power, steam, electrical current or in furnishing water to be sold ultimately at retail; or feed for livestock or poultry; or grain to be converted into foodstuffs which are to be sold ultimately in processed form at retail; or seed, limestone or fertilizer which is to be used for seeding, liming or fertilizing crops which when harvested will be sold at retail or will be fed to livestock or poultry to be sold ultimately in processed form at retail; economic poisons registered pursuant to the provisions of the Missouri pesticide registration law (sections 281.220 to 281.310, RSMo) which are to be used in connection with the growth or production of crops, fruit trees or orchards applied before, during, or after planting, the crop of which when harvested will be sold at retail or will be converted into foodstuffs which are to be sold ultimately in processed form at retail;
(2) Materials, manufactured goods, machinery and parts which when used in manufacturing, processing, compounding, mining, producing or fabricating become a component part or ingredient of the new personal property resulting from such manufacturing, processing, compounding, mining, producing or fabricating and which new personal property is intended to be sold ultimately for final use or consumption; and materials, including without limitation, gases and manufactured goods, including without limitation, slagging materials and firebrick, which are ultimately consumed in the manufacturing process by blending, reacting or interacting with or by becoming, in whole or in part, component parts or ingredients of steel products intended to be sold ultimately for final use or consumption;
(3) Materials, replacement parts and equipment purchased for use directly upon, and for the repair and maintenance or manufacture of, motor vehicles, watercraft, railroad rolling stock or aircraft engaged as common carriers of persons or property;
(4) Replacement machinery, equipment, and parts and the materials and supplies solely required for the installation or construction of such replacement machinery, equipment, and parts, used directly in manufacturing, mining, fabricating or producing a product which is intended to be sold ultimately for final use or consumption; and machinery and equipment, and the materials and supplies required solely for the operation, installation or construction of such machinery and equipment, purchased and used to establish new, or to replace or expand existing, material recovery processing plants in this state. For the purposes of this subdivision, a "material recovery processing plant" means a facility which converts recovered materials into a new product, or a different form which is used in producing a new product, and shall include a facility or equipment which is used exclusively for the collection of recovered materials for delivery to a material recovery processing plant but shall not include motor vehicles used on highways. For purposes of this section, the terms "motor vehicle" and "highway" shall have the same meaning pursuant to section 301.010, RSMo;
(5) Machinery and equipment, and parts and the materials and supplies solely required for the installation or construction of such machinery and equipment, purchased and used to establish new or to expand existing manufacturing, mining or fabricating plants in the state if such machinery and equipment is used directly in manufacturing, mining or fabricating a product which is intended to be sold ultimately for final use or consumption;
(6) Tangible personal property which is used exclusively in the manufacturing, processing, modification or assembling of products sold to the United States government or to any agency of the United States government;
(7) Animals or poultry used for breeding or feeding purposes;
(8) Newsprint, ink, computers, photosensitive paper and film, toner, printing plates and other machinery, equipment, replacement parts and supplies used in producing newspapers published for dissemination of news to the general public;
(9) The rentals of films, records or any type of sound or picture transcriptions for public commercial display;
(10) Pumping machinery and equipment used to propel products delivered by pipelines engaged as common carriers;
(11) Railroad rolling stock for use in transporting persons or property in interstate commerce and motor vehicles licensed for a gross weight of twenty-four thousand pounds or more or trailers used by common carriers, as defined in section 390.020, RSMo, solely in the transportation of persons or property in interstate commerce;
(12) Electrical energy used in the actual primary manufacture, processing, compounding, mining or producing of a product, or electrical energy used in the actual secondary processing or fabricating of the product, or a material recovery processing plant as defined in subdivision (4) of this subsection, in facilities owned or leased by the taxpayer, if the total cost of electrical energy so used exceeds ten percent of the total cost of production, either primary or secondary, exclusive of the cost of electrical energy so used or if the raw materials used in such processing contain at least twenty-five percent recovered materials as defined in section 260.200, RSMo. For purposes of this subdivision, "processing" means any mode of treatment, act or series of acts performed upon materials to transform and reduce them to a different state or thing, including treatment necessary to maintain or preserve such processing by the producer at the production facility;
(13) Anodes which are used or consumed in manufacturing, processing, compounding, mining, producing or fabricating and which have a useful life of less than one year;
(14) Machinery, equipment, appliances and devices purchased or leased and used solely for the purpose of preventing, abating or monitoring air pollution, and materials and supplies solely required for the installation, construction or reconstruction of such machinery, equipment, appliances and devices, and so certified as such by the director of the department of natural resources, except that any action by the director pursuant to this subdivision may be appealed to the air conservation commission which may uphold or reverse such action;
(15) Machinery, equipment, appliances and devices purchased or leased and used solely for the purpose of preventing, abating or monitoring water pollution, and materials and supplies solely required for the installation, construction or reconstruction of such machinery, equipment, appliances and devices, and so certified as such by the director of the department of natural resources, except that any action by the director pursuant to this subdivision may be appealed to the Missouri clean water commission which may uphold or reverse such action;
(16) Tangible personal property purchased by a rural water district;
(17) All amounts paid or charged for admission or participation or other fees paid by or other charges to individuals in or for any place of amusement, entertainment or recreation, games or athletic events, including museums, fairs, zoos and planetariums, owned or operated by a municipality or other political subdivision where all the proceeds derived therefrom benefit the municipality or other political subdivision and do not inure to any private person, firm, or corporation;
(18) All sales of insulin and prosthetic or orthopedic devices as defined on January 1, 1980, by the federal Medicare program pursuant to Title XVIII of the Social Security Act of 1965, including the items specified in Section 1862(a)(12) of that act, and also specifically including hearing aids and hearing aid supplies and all sales of drugs which may be legally dispensed by a licensed pharmacist only upon a lawful prescription of a practitioner licensed to administer those items, including samples and materials used to manufacture samples which may be dispensed by a practitioner authorized to dispense such samples and all sales of medical oxygen, home respiratory equipment and accessories, hospital beds and accessories and ambulatory aides, all sales of manual and powered wheelchairs, stairway lifts, Braille writers, electronic Braille equipment and, if purchased by or on behalf of a person with one or more physical or mental disabilities to enable them to function more independently, all sales of scooters, reading machines, electronic print enlargers and magnifiers, electronic alternative and augmentative communication devices, and items used solely to modify motor vehicles to permit the use of such motor vehicles by individuals with disabilities or sales of over-the-counter or nonprescription drugs to individuals with disabilities;
(19) All sales made by or to religious and charitable organizations and institutions in their religious, charitable or educational functions and activities and all sales made by or to all elementary and secondary schools operated at public expense in their educational functions and activities;
(20) All sales of aircraft to common carriers for storage or for use in interstate commerce and all sales made by or to not for profit civic, social, service or fraternal organizations, including fraternal organizations which have been declared tax exempt organizations pursuant to Section 501(c)(8) or (10) of the 1986 Internal Revenue Code, as amended, solely in their civic or charitable functions and activities and all sales made to eleemosynary and penal institutions and industries of the state, and all sales made to any private not for profit institution of higher education not otherwise excluded pursuant to subdivision (19) of this subsection or any institution of higher education supported by public funds, and all sales made to a state relief agency in the exercise of relief functions and activities;
(21) All ticket sales made by benevolent, scientific and educational associations which are formed to foster, encourage, and promote progress and improvement in the science of agriculture and in the raising and breeding of animals, and by nonprofit summer theater organizations if such organizations are exempt from federal tax pursuant to the provisions of the Internal Revenue Code and all admission charges and entry fees to the Missouri state fair or any fair conducted by a county agricultural and mechanical society organized and operated pursuant to sections 262.290 to 262.530, RSMo;
(22) All sales made to any private not for profit elementary or secondary school, all sales of feed additives, medications or vaccines administered to livestock or poultry in the production of food or fiber, all sales of pesticides used in the production of crops, livestock or poultry for food or fiber, all sales of bedding used in the production of livestock or poultry for food or fiber, all sales of propane or natural gas, electricity or diesel fuel used exclusively for drying agricultural crops, and all sales of farm machinery, other than airplanes, motor vehicles and trailers. As used in this subdivision, the term "feed additives" means tangible personal property which, when mixed with feed for livestock or poultry, is to be used in the feeding of livestock or poultry. As used in this subdivision, the term "pesticides" includes adjuvants such as crop oils, surfactants, wetting agents and other assorted pesticide carriers used to improve or enhance the effect of a pesticide and the foam used to mark the application of pesticides and herbicides for the production of crops, livestock or poultry. As used in this subdivision, the term "farm machinery" means new or used farm tractors and such other new or used farm machinery and equipment and repair or replacement parts thereon and lubricants used exclusively for such farm machinery and equipment and one-half of each purchaser's purchase of diesel fuel therefor which is:
(a) Used exclusively for agricultural purposes;
(b) Used on land owned or leased for the purpose of producing farm products; and
(c) Used directly in producing farm products to be sold ultimately in processed form or otherwise at retail or in producing farm products to be fed to livestock or poultry to be sold ultimately in processed form at retail;
(23) Except as otherwise provided in section 144.032, all sales of metered water service, electricity, electrical current, natural, artificial or propane gas, wood, coal or home heating oil for domestic use and in any city not within a county, all sales of metered or unmetered water service for domestic use;
(a) "Domestic use" means that portion of metered water service, electricity, electrical current, natural, artificial or propane gas, wood, coal or home heating oil, and in any city not within a county, metered or unmetered water service, which an individual occupant of a residential premises uses for nonbusiness, noncommercial or nonindustrial purposes. Utility service through a single or master meter for residential apartments or condominiums, including service for common areas and facilities and vacant units, shall be deemed to be for domestic use. Each seller shall establish and maintain a system whereby individual purchases are determined as exempt or nonexempt;
(b) Regulated utility sellers shall determine whether individual purchases are exempt or nonexempt based upon the seller's utility service rate classifications as contained in tariffs on file with and approved by the Missouri public service commission. Sales and purchases made pursuant to the rate classification "residential" and sales to and purchases made by or on behalf of the occupants of residential apartments or condominiums through a single or master meter, including service for common areas and facilities and vacant units, shall be considered as sales made for domestic use and such sales shall be exempt from sales tax. Sellers shall charge sales tax upon the entire amount of purchases classified as nondomestic use. The seller's utility service rate classification and the provision of service thereunder shall be conclusive as to whether or not the utility must charge sales tax;
(c) Each person making domestic use purchases of services or property and who uses any portion of the services or property so purchased for a nondomestic use shall, by the fifteenth day of the fourth month following the year of purchase, and without assessment, notice or demand, file a return and pay sales tax on that portion of nondomestic purchases. Each person making nondomestic purchases of services or property and who uses any portion of the services or property so purchased for domestic use, and each person making domestic purchases on behalf of occupants of residential apartments or condominiums through a single or master meter, including service for common areas and facilities and vacant units, under a nonresidential utility service rate classification may, between the first day of the first month and the fifteenth day of the fourth month following the year of purchase, apply for credit or refund to the director of revenue and the director shall give credit or make refund for taxes paid on the domestic use portion of the purchase. The person making such purchases on behalf of occupants of residential apartments or condominiums shall have standing to apply to the director of revenue for such credit or refund;
(24) All sales of handicraft items made by the seller or the seller's spouse if the seller or the seller's spouse is at least sixty-five years of age, and if the total gross proceeds from such sales do not constitute a majority of the annual gross income of the seller;
(25) Excise taxes, collected on sales at retail, imposed by sections 4041, 4061, 4071, 4081, 4091, 4161, 4181, 4251, 4261 and 4271 of Title 26, United States Code. The director of revenue shall promulgate rules pursuant to chapter 536, RSMo, to eliminate all state and local sales taxes on such excise taxes;
(26) Sales of fuel consumed or used in the operation of ships, barges, or waterborne vessels which are used primarily in or for the transportation of property or cargo, or the conveyance of persons for hire, on navigable rivers bordering on or located in part in this state, if such fuel is delivered by the seller to the purchaser's barge, ship, or waterborne vessel while it is afloat upon such river;
(27) All sales made to an interstate compact agency created pursuant to sections 70.370 to 70.430, RSMo, or sections 238.010 to 238.100, RSMo, in the exercise of the functions and activities of such agency as provided pursuant to the compact;
(28) Computers, computer software and computer security systems purchased for use by architectural or engineering firms headquartered in this state. For the purposes of this subdivision, "headquartered in this state" means the office for the administrative management of at least four integrated facilities operated by the taxpayer is located in the state of Missouri;
(29) All livestock sales when either the seller is engaged in the growing, producing or feeding of such livestock, or the seller is engaged in the business of buying and selling, bartering or leasing of such livestock;
(30) All sales of barges which are to be used primarily in the transportation of property or cargo on interstate waterways;
(31) Electrical energy or gas, whether natural, artificial or propane, which is ultimately consumed in connection with the manufacturing of cellular glass products;
(32) Notwithstanding other provisions of law to the contrary, all sales of pesticides or herbicides used in the production of crops, aquaculture, livestock or poultry;
(33) Tangible personal property purchased for use or consumption directly or exclusively in the research and development of prescription pharmaceuticals consumed by humans or animals;
(34) All sales of grain bins for storage of grain for resale;
(35) All sales of feed which are developed for and used in the feeding of pets owned by a commercial breeder when such sales are made to a commercial breeder, as defined in section 273.325, RSMo, and licensed pursuant to sections 273.325 to 273.357, RSMo;
(36) All purchases by a contractor on behalf of an entity located in another state, provided that the entity is authorized to issue a certificate of exemption for purchases to a contractor under the provisions of that state's laws. For purposes of this subdivision, the term "certificate of exemption" shall mean any document evidencing that the entity is exempt from [sale] sales and use taxes on purchases pursuant to the laws of the state in which the entity is located. Any contractor making purchases on behalf of such entity shall maintain a copy of the entity's exemption certificate as evidence of the exemption. If the exemption certificate issued by the exempt entity to the contractor is later determined by the director of revenue to be invalid for any reason and the contractor has accepted the certificate in good faith, neither the contractor or the exempt entity shall be liable for the payment of any taxes, interest and penalty due as the result of use of the invalid exemption certificate. Materials shall be exempt from all state and local sales and use taxes when purchased by a contractor for the purpose of fabricating tangible personal property which is used in fulfilling a contract for the purpose of constructing, repairing or remodeling facilities for the following:
(a) An exempt entity located in this state, if the entity is one of those entities able to issue project exemption certificates in accordance with the provisions of section 144.062; or
(b) An exempt entity located outside the state if the exempt entity is authorized to issue an exemption certificate to contractors in accordance with the provisions of that state's law and the applicable provisions of this section;
(37) Tangible personal property purchased for use or consumption directly or predominantly in research or experimentation activities.