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Business Taxes Law Guide—Revision 2024
Sales and Use Tax Annotations
A B C D E F G H I J L M N O P R S T U V W X
U
570.0000 Use of Property in State and Use Tax Generally
Annotation 570.0435
(a) In General
570.0435 Withdrawals from Ex-Tax Inventory. "Storage or use" and "stored or used" within the meaning of subdivision (a)(2) of Regulation 1668 is storage or use in this state. A person who properly issues a resale certificate when purchasing property and thereafter uses the property solely outside California does not owe California use tax with respect to that out-of-state use. (See Regulation 1661 for the application of tax to out-of-state use of mobile transportation equipment which is purchased under a resale certificate for the limited purpose of leasing.)
Storage or use includes, but is not limited to, the withdrawal of property from resale inventory or other ex-tax inventory (such as property purchased from outside California without the payment of California use tax) for functional use in this state by the purchaser and for the transfer of title in this state to other persons in transactions that do not constitute sales (e.g., making gifts, loans, donations, and transferring marketing aids for less than 50 percent of the purchase price). For example:
(1) A person purchases 1000 watches under a resale certificate. The purchaser withdraws 100 watches from the California resale inventory and ships them to the purchaser's Nevada store. The Nevada store places 90 watches in resale inventory and makes a gift of 10 watches to its employees and customers. Under these facts, the purchaser continues to hold the 90 watches in resale inventory, and California use tax does not apply. The purchaser makes a use of the other 10 watches, but that use is in Nevada and is not subject to California use tax.
(2) Same facts as above except the purchaser ships the 10 watches given to its customers and employees from California by common carrier. Under these facts, the purchaser uses the 10 watches given to customers and employees when the purchaser delivers the watches in California to the common carrier for shipment to donees outside California. There is no interstate commerce exemption for such use because it is not a sale in interstate commerce. The use in California is complete at the time of delivery to the common carrier. The purchaser owes California use tax on the purchase price of the 10 watches.
(3) A person purchases 1000 watches under a resale certificate. The purchaser's logo is on the face of 100 of the watches and, at the time of purchase, the purchaser plans to give these 100 watches to its employees and customers for promotional purposes. The purchaser takes delivery of the 1000 watches in California and places them in its California warehouse. The purchaser sends all the watches to its Nevada store and places 900 of them in resale inventory. The Nevada store distributes the 100 watches with the purchaser's logo to customers and employees without charge. The Nevada store also removes 50 other watches from Nevada resale inventory and distributes them to customers without charge.
Since the purchaser knew at the time of purchase that it would use, and not resell, the 100 watches with its logo, it was improper to issue a resale certificate for their purchase. Use tax is due on the purchase price of these 100 watches. The remaining 900 watches were purchased as a fungible, commingled lot, all or most of which the purchaser intended to resell. Since the purchaser did not know at the time of purchase which, if any, of the fungible, commingled lot would be withdrawn for use, the resale certificate was properly issued for their purchase. The subsequent withdrawal by the Nevada store of the 50 watches was a use outside California and no California use tax applies. 5/19/95.