34 Tex. Admin. Code § 3.299 - Newspapers, Magazines, Publishers, Exempt Writings
(a) Newspapers.
(1) Newspaper--A publication:
(A) printed on newsprint;
(B) whose average sales price per copy over a
30-day period does not exceed $3.00. The average sales price per copy shall be
presumed to be the newspaper's masthead price unless the taxpayer provides
contemporaneous documentary evidence satisfactory to the comptroller that
adequately demonstrates the actual average sales price ;
(C) that is printed and distributed
periodically at daily, weekly, or other short intervals of four weeks or
less;
(D) for the dissemination of
news of a general character and of a general interest, including
advertising.
(2)
Newspaper includes a publication containing articles and essays of general
interest by various writers and advertisements that is produced for the
operator of a licensed and certificated carrier of persons and distributed by
the operator to its customers during their travel on the carrier.
(3) Newspaper also includes publications for
the dissemination of news of a general character and of a general interest that
is printed on newsprint and distributed to the general public free of charge at
daily, weekly, or other short intervals of four weeks or less.
(4) The term newspaper does not include
magazines, handbills, circulars, flyers, sales catalogs, or the like, unless
these items are distributed as a part of a newspaper and the items, after being
printed, are delivered by the printer to the person responsible for the
distribution of the newspaper.
(5)
The sale of newspapers whether sold or distributed by individual copy or
subscription is exempt.
(b) Magazines.
(1) Magazine--Those publications usually
paper-backed and sometimes illustrated that appear at regular intervals and
contain stories, articles, essays by various writers, and
advertisements.
(2) The sale of
subscriptions to magazines entered as periodicals class (formerly called second
class) mail and sold for a semiannual or longer period of time is exempt from
the sales tax. Except as provided in subsection (d) of this section, other
sales of magazines are taxable.
(3)
For the purposes of this section, controlled circulation magazines means
magazines paid for by advertisers rather than by recipients of the magazines.
(A) The publishers of controlled circulation
magazines must collect sales tax from persons who advertise in their magazines
based upon the sales price of the magazine. The sales price of the magazine
must be separately stated from the charge for advertising and must be a
reasonable amount for such publication. The sales price will be considered
reasonable if the publication meets the requirement for periodicals class
postal rates, as set forth in the postal regulations.
(B) Controlled circulation magazines do not
include those magazines provided to members of an organization as part of their
membership if:
(i) either a part of their
membership dues are identified as the sales price of the magazine plus tax;
or
(ii) the membership dues do not
identify the sales price of the magazine, but sales tax was paid by the
organization on the cost of publication.
(c) Publishers.
(1) Newspaper publishers may claim a
manufacturing exemption as set out in §
3.300 of this title (relating to
Manufacturing; Custom Manufacturing; Fabricating; Processing). Newspaper
publishers may also claim the exemption for packaging supplies as set out in
§
3.314 of this title (relating to
Wrapping, Packing, Packaging Supplies, Containers, Labels, Tags, Export
Packers, and Stevedoring Materials and Supplies). Persons printing newspapers
may accept an exemption certificate in lieu of the sales tax from the
publisher.
(2) Magazine and other
publishers of tangible personal property for sale will be considered
manufacturers under Tax Code, Chapter 151 and should see §
3.300 of this title and §
3.314 of this title concerning the
status of their purchases.
(3)
Magazine publishers of tangible personal property distributed free of charge
are not considered manufacturers under Tax Code, Chapter 151 or §
3.300 of this title. These
publishers must pay tax on their purchases of equipment and materials used to
produce the free magazine.
(d) Exempt writings.
(1) Periodicals and writings are exempt from
tax if published and distributed by a religious, philanthropic, charitable,
historical, scientific, or other similar organization not operated for profit.
Periodicals and writings published and distributed by an educational
organization are subject to the tax.
(2) Material provided in Braille and audio
recordings of writings and periodicals recorded and distributed by a religious,
philanthropic, charitable, historical, scientific, or other similar
organization for use by the visually impaired are exempt from tax.
(3) The phrase "similar organization" used in
this section shall include, but not necessarily be limited to, organizations
qualifying for exemption from federal income taxes under
26 United States Code §
501(c)(3), with the
exception of educational organizations. "Similar organizations" must be
organized for a benevolent purpose and must not be operated for
profit.
(4) The term "distributed"
used in this section shall mean the shipment, marketing, or sale of periodicals
or writings.
(5) The terms
"periodicals" and "writings" used in this section shall mean printed reading
materials including those presented on audio tape, videotape, and computer
disk. Examples include books, Bibles, United Way newsletters, American Cancer
Society magazines, brochures, newspapers, hymnals or sheet music, and similar
items. Items that contain printed materials susceptible to being read, but that
primarily serve other purposes or functions, are not exempt. Examples of such
nonexempt items include bookmarks, clothing, posters, art work, photographs,
novelties, and souvenirs.
(6) The
phrase "educational organization" used in this section shall mean all public
and private schools, colleges and universities, and other similar institutions
that are organized for the systematic dissemination of knowledge through a
formal program of instruction.
Notes
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