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Business Taxes Law Guide—Revision 2024
Sales And Use Tax Law
Revenue and Taxation Code
Division 2. Other Taxes
Part 1. Sales and Use Taxes
Chapter 1. General Provisions and Definitions
Section 6018.10
6018.10. Volunteer fire departments. (a) An all volunteer fire department is a consumer, and shall not be considered a retailer within the provisions of this part , of all tangible personal property sold by it, including, but not limited to, hot prepared food products and clothing, if the profits are used solely and exclusively in furtherance of the purposes of the all volunteer fire department.
(b) For purposes of this section, an "all volunteer fire department" means an organization that meets all of the following requirements:
(1) A member shall not be paid a regular salary, but a member may be compensated on an hourly or per incident basis.
(2) The purpose of the organization is to protect the lives, property, and environment within a designated geographical area from fires, disasters, and emergency incidents through education, prevention, training, and emergency response.
(3) The organization is regularly organized for volunteer fire department purposes and qualifies as an exempt organization, either under Section 23701d or 23701f of this code or under Section 501(c)(3) or 501(c)(4) of the Internal Revenue Code, having official recognition and full or partial support of the government of the county, city, or district in which the volunteer fire department is located, and that has functions having an exclusive connection with the prevention and extinguishing of fires within the area of the county, city, or district extending official recognition for the benefit of the public generally and to lessen the burdens of the entity of government that would otherwise be obligated to furnish that fire protection.
(c) This section shall not apply if an all volunteer fire department, in each of the two preceding calendar years, has gross receipts from the sale of tangible personal property of one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000) or more.
(d) This section shall remain in effect only until January 1, 2026, and as of that date is repealed.
History—Added by Stats. 2015, Ch. 248 (SB 598), in effect September 2, 2015, but operative January 1, 2016. Amended by stats. 2020, Ch. 78 (SB 38), replaced "No" with "A" and added "not" after "shall" in paragraph (1) and replaced "2021" with "2026" in subdivision (d).
Note.—Section 2, of stats. 2020, Ch. 78 (SB 38) specifies:
For purposes of complying with Section 41 of the Revenue and Taxation Code, with respect to the tax expenditure created by the amendment of Section 6018.10 of the Revenue and Taxation Code made by this act, the Legislature finds and declares as follows:
(a) The specific goals, purposes, and objectives of this tax expenditure are all of the following:
(1) To ensure that the entire gross amount of fundraisers continues to stay with all volunteer fire departments and helps provide critically needed equipment and services.
(2) To help all volunteer fire departments through this critical time.
(3) To ensure all volunteer fire departments can afford necessary equipment during fire season.
(b) For the purpose of aiding the Legislature in determining whether this act meets the goals, purposes, and objectives listed in subdivision (a), the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration shall annually estimate the revenue loss associated with the tax expenditure created by this act.
(c) The California Department of Tax and Fee Administration shall report the information described in subdivision (b) to the Legislature before each year beginning on or after January 1, 2023, and before January 1, 2026. The report shall be submitted in compliance with Section 9795 of the Government Code.