Washington Tax Decisions

A fruit packing house asserts that its fruit sorting and packing income is exempt from the service and other activities B&O tax, alleging that its income was compensation for the “receiving, washing, sorting, and packing” of fruit from a grower. It also protests the warehousing B&O tax assessed on amounts derived from its storage of fruit claiming that this activity was not a separate business activity from its fruit sorting and packing business. Taxpayer also protests the deferred sales tax/use tax assessed on fruit bin rentals. We deny the petition.

An event planning and production company requests reconsideration of Det. No. 06-0048, which sustained in part and reversed in part the Audit Division’s reclassification of its revenue from the service and other activities B&O Tax classification to retailing B&O tax and retail sales tax, contending Det. No. 06-0048 incorrectly held that certain entertainment services the taxpayer provided were retail in nature, and incorrectly held that the taxpayer was the consumer of entertainment equipment it used to provide entertainment services. We modify Det. No. 06-0048.

A Taxpayer operating supermarkets in Washington seeks reconsideration of our determination that the lower tax rate provided by RCW 82.04.260(4) for the slaughtering, breaking and/or processing of perishable meat products, does not apply to retail sales of meat products that are broken and/or processed in the Taxpayer’s deli and meat departments. We affirm our decision that the statutory language restricting the activity to products sold “at wholesale only and not at retail” precludes the Taxpayer’s retail sales from being classified as slaughtering, breaking and/or processing perishable meat products under the statute. We deny the Taxpayer’s petition for reconsideration and affirm the Audit Division’s denial of the Taxpayer’s refund request.