Tax Type
Retail Sales and Use Tax
Description
Government transactions; Photocopies purchased from patent office
Topic
Taxability of Persons and Transactions
Date Issued
10-16-1995
October 16, 1995
Re: Request for Ruling: Retail Sales and Use Tax
Dear**********************
This will reply to your letter of June 14, 1995 and follow-up letter of August 23, 1995 seeking a ruling on the tax status of photocopies which a patent law firm (the "Taxpayer") makes at the U.S. Patent Office.
FACTS
The Taxpayer conducts research at the U.S. Patent Office and identifies documents it desires to copy. The Patent Office provides the documents which are copied by the Taxpayer. The Taxpayer has a Deposit Account with the Office, whereby it deposits a certain amount of money and then, through the use of credit cards generally inserted into copy machines, draws upon that deposit. The deposit is replenished as needed. The photocopies are utilized by the Taxpayer in preparing legal opinions and patent applications, and in assisting clients responding to Patent Office actions. You seek a ruling on the tax status of photocopies.
RULING
Since the obligation to collect the sales tax cannot be imposed upon the federal government, purchases of tangible personal property from the federal government or its agencies, are subject to the use tax, unless otherwise exempt. Accordingly, at issue is whether the Taxpayer is required to remit use tax to the department on its purchases of photocopies.
Generally, photocopies of reports, etc. are taxable sales of tangible personal property. However, copies of official government documents are exempt from the tax as explained in VR 630-10-45, copy enclosed. While the regulation contains no definition of what constitutes an "official document or record," in P.D. 94-335 (11/10/94), copy enclosed, the department held that, as a general rule, official documents or records are those sold by a government entity and which are not normally available from other sources.
Applying this definition to the instant case, I find that the copies of patent information made by the Taxpayer from documents supplied by the Patent Office are copies of official documents or records and thus are not subject to the tax. Accordingly, the Taxpayer is not required to remit use tax to the department on its purchases of copies of patent information from the Patent Office. As explained in P.D. 86-15 (1/7/86), copy enclosed, if the copies are obtained from a source other than a federal agency (or state or local government, as the case may be), the tax is due on such purchases.
If you have any questions about this matter, please contact****** in my Office of Tax Policy at **************.
Sincerely,
Danny M. Payne
Tax Commissioner
OTP/9890H
Rulings of the Tax Commissioner