§ 7204. Exclusions from tax
Purdon's Pennsylvania Statutes and Consolidated StatutesTitle 72 P.S. Taxation and Fiscal AffairsEffective: July 8, 2022
Effective: July 8, 2022
72 P.S. § 7204
§ 7204. Exclusions from tax
The tax imposed by section 2021 shall not be imposed upon any of the following:
(1) The sale at retail or use of tangible personal property (other than motor vehicles, trailers, semi-trailers, motor boats, aircraft or other similar tangible personal property required under either Federal law or laws of this Commonwealth to be registered or licensed) or services sold by or purchased from a person not a vendor in an isolated transaction or sold by or purchased from a person who is a vendor but is not a vendor with respect to the tangible personal property or services sold or purchased in such transaction: Provided, That inventory and stock in trade so sold or purchased, shall not be excluded from the tax by the provisions of this subsection.
(2) The use of tangible personal property purchased by a nonresident person outside of, and brought into this Commonwealth for use therein for a period not to exceed seven days, or for any period of time when such nonresident is a tourist or vacationer and, in either case not consumed within the Commonwealth.
(3) The use of tangible personal property purchased outside this Commonwealth for use outside this Commonwealth by a then nonresident natural person or a business entity not actually doing business within this Commonwealth, who later brings such tangible personal property into this Commonwealth in connection with his establishment of a permanent business or residence in this Commonwealth: Provided, That such property was purchased more than six months prior to the date it was first brought into this Commonwealth or prior to the establishment of such business or residence, whichever first occurs. This exclusion shall not apply to tangible personal property temporarily brought into Pennsylvania for the performance of contracts for the construction, reconstruction, remodeling, repairing and maintenance of real estate.
(5) The sale at retail or use of steam, natural and manufactured and bottled gas, fuel oil, electricity or intrastate subscriber line charges, basic local telephone service or telegraph service when purchased directly by the user thereof solely for his own residential use and charges for telephone calls paid for by inserting money into a telephone accepting direct deposits of money to operate.
(10) The sale at retail to or use by (i) any charitable organization, volunteer firemen's organization, volunteer firefighters' relief association as defined in 35 Pa.C.S. § 7412 (relating to definitions) or nonprofit educational institution, or (ii) a religious organization for religious purposes of tangible personal property or services other than pursuant to a construction contract: Provided, however, That the exclusion of this clause shall not apply with respect to any tangible personal property or services used in any unrelated trade or business carried on by such organization or institution or with respect to any materials, supplies and equipment used and transferred to such organization or institution in the construction, reconstruction, remodeling, renovation, repairs and maintenance of any real estate structure, other than building machinery and equipment, except materials and supplies when purchased by such organizations or institutions for routine maintenance and repairs. If the department has issued sales tax-exempt status to a volunteer firefighters' organization or a volunteer firefighters' relief association, the sales tax-exempt status may not expire unless the activities of the organization or association change so that the organization or association does not qualify as an institution of purely public charity in which case the organization or association shall immediately notify the department of the change. If the department ascertains that an organization or association no longer qualifies as an institution of purely public charity, the department may revoke the sales tax-exempt status of the organization or association.
(13) The sale at retail, or use of wrapping paper, wrapping twine, bags, cartons, tape, rope, labels, nonreturnable containers, all other wrapping supplies and kegs used to contain malt or brewed beverages, when such use is incidental to the delivery of any personal property, except that any charge for wrapping or packaging shall be subject to tax at the rate imposed by section 202, unless the property wrapped or packaged will be resold by the purchaser of the wrapping or packaging service. As used in this paragraph, the term “cartons” includes corrugated boxes used by a person engaged in the manufacture of snack food products to deliver the manufactured product, whether or not the boxes are returnable for potential reuse.
(15) Sale at retail of tangible personal property or services used or consumed in building, rebuilding, repairing and making additions to or replacements in and upon vessels designed for commercial use of registered tonnage of fifty tons or more upon special order of the purchaser, or when rebuilt, repaired or enlarged, or when replacements are made upon order of or for the account of the owner.
(16) The sale at retail or use of tangible personal property or services to be used or consumed for ship cleaning or maintenance or as fuel, supplies, ships' equipment, ships' stores or sea stores on vessels designed for commercial use of registered tonnage of fifty tons or more to be operated principally outside the limits of the Commonwealth.
(17) The sale at retail or use of prescription or non-prescription medicines, drugs or medical supplies, crutches and wheelchairs for the use of cripples and invalids, artificial limbs, artificial eyes and artificial hearing devices when designed to be worn on the person of the purchaser or user, false teeth and materials used by a dentist in dental treatment, eyeglasses when especially designed or prescribed by an ophthalmologist, oculist or optometrist for the personal use of the owner or purchaser and artificial braces and supports designed solely for the use of crippled persons or any other therapeutic, prosthetic or artificial device designed for the use of a particular individual to correct or alleviate a physical incapacity, including but not limited to hospital beds, iron lungs, and kidney machines.
(24) The sale at retail or use of motor vehicles, trailers and semi-trailers, or bodies attached to the chassis thereof, sold to a nonresident of Pennsylvania to be used outside of Pennsylvania and which are registered in a state other than Pennsylvania within twenty days after delivery to the vendee.
(26) The sale at retail or use of all vesture, wearing apparel, raiments, garments, footwear and other articles of clothing, including clothing patterns and items that are to be a component part of clothing, worn or carried on or about the human body but all accessories, ornamental wear, formal day or evening apparel, and articles made of fur on the hide or pelt or any material imitative of fur and articles of which such fur, real, imitation or synthetic, is the component material of chief value, but only if such value is more than three times the value of the next most valuable component material, and sporting goods and clothing not normally used or worn when not engaged in sports shall not be excluded from the tax.
(iii) Food or beverages, whether sold for consumption on or off the premises or on a “take-out” or “to go” basis or delivered to the purchaser or consumer, when purchased (A) from persons engaged in the business of catering; or (B) from persons engaged in the business of operating establishments from which ready-to-eat food and beverages are sold, including, but not limited to, restaurants, cafes, lunch counters, private and social clubs, taverns, dining cars, hotels, night clubs, fast food operations, pizzerias, fairs, carnivals, lunch carts, ice cream stands, snack bars, cafeterias, employe cafeterias, theaters, stadiums, arenas, amusement parks, carryout shops, coffee shops and other establishments whether mobile or immobile. For purposes of this clause, a bakery, a pastry shop, a donut shop, a delicatessen, a grocery store, a supermarket, a farmer's market, a convenience store or a vending machine shall not be considered an establishment from which food or beverages ready to eat are sold except for the sale of meals, sandwiches, food from salad bars, hand-dipped or hand-served iced based products including ice cream and yogurt, hot soup, hot pizza and other hot food items, brewed coffee and hot beverages. For purposes of this subclause, beverages shall not include malt and brewed beverages and spirituous and vinous liquors but shall include soft drinks. The sale at retail of food and beverages at or from a school or church in the ordinary course of the activities of such organization is not subject to tax.
(30) The sale at retail or use of newspapers. For purposes of this section, the term “newspaper” shall mean a “legal newspaper” or a publication containing matters of general interest and reports of current events which qualifies as a “newspaper of general circulation” qualified to carry a “legal advertisement” as those terms are defined in 45 Pa.C.S. § 101 (relating to definitions), not including magazines. This exclusion shall also include any printed advertising materials circulated with such newspaper regardless of where or by whom such printed advertising material was produced.
(35) The sale at retail or use of mail order catalogs and direct mail advertising literature or materials, including electoral literature or materials, such as envelopes, address labels and a one-time license to use a list of names and mailing addresses for each delivery of direct mail advertising literature or materials, including electoral literature or materials, through the United States Postal Service.
(37) The sale at retail of buses to be used under contract with school districts that are replacements for buses destroyed or lost in the flood of 1977 for a period ending December 31, 1977 in the counties of Armstrong, Bedford, Cambria, Indiana, Jefferson, Somerset and Westmoreland, or the use of such buses.
(38) The sale at retail of horses, if at the time of purchase, the seller is directed to ship or deliver the horse to an out-of-State location, whether or not the charges for shipment are paid for by the seller or the purchaser; the seller shall obtain a bill of lading, either from the carrier or from the purchaser, who, in turn has obtained the bill of lading from the carrier, reflecting delivery to the out-of-State address to which the horse has been shipped. The seller shall execute a “Certificate of Delivery to Destination Outside of the Commonwealth” for each bill of lading reflecting out-of-State delivery. The seller shall be required to retain the certificate of delivery form to justify the noncollection of sales tax with respect to the transaction to which the form relates.
In transactions where a horse is sold by the seller and delivered to a domiciled person, agent or corporation prior to its being delivered to an out-of-State location, the “Certificate of Delivery to Destination Outside of the Commonwealth” form must have attached to it bills of lading both for the transfer to the domiciled person, agent or corporation and from the aforementioned to the out-of-State location.
(39) The sale at retail or use of fish feed purchased by or on behalf of sportsmen's clubs, fish cooperatives or nurseries approved by the Pennsylvania Fish Commission.4
(44) The sale at retail or use of firewood. For the purpose of this clause, firewood shall mean the product of trees when severed from the land and cut into proper lengths for burning and pellets made from pure wood sawdust if used for fuel for cooking, hot water production or to heat residential dwellings.
(45) The sale at retail or use of materials used in the construction and erection of objects purchased by not-for-profit organizations for purposes of commemoration and memorialization of historical events, provided that the object is erected upon publicly owned property or property to be conveyed to a public entity upon the commemoration or memorialization of the historical event.
(i) “nonprofit association” means an entity which is organized as a nonprofit corporation or nonprofit unincorporated association under the laws of this Commonwealth or the United States or any entity which is authorized to do business in this Commonwealth as a nonprofit corporation or unincorporated association under the laws of this Commonwealth, including, but not limited to, youth or athletic associations, volunteer fire, ambulance, religious, charitable, fraternal, veterans, civic, or any separately chartered auxiliary of the foregoing, if organized and operated on a nonprofit basis;
(iv) “sports program” means baseball (including softball), football, basketball, soccer and any other competitive sport formally recognized as a sport by the United States Olympic Committee as specified by and under the jurisdiction of the Amateur Sports Act of 1978 (Public Law 95-606, 36 U.S.C. § 371 et seq.), the Amateur Athletic Union or the National Collegiate Athletic Association. The term shall be limited to a program or that portion of a program that is organized for recreational purposes and whose activities are substantially for such purposes and which is primarily for participants who are 18 years of age or younger or whose 19th birthday occurs during the year of participation or the competitive season, whichever is longer. There shall, however, be no age limitation for programs operated for persons with physical handicaps or persons with mental retardation;
(50) The sale at retail or use of subscriptions for magazines. The term “magazine” refers to a periodical published at regular intervals not exceeding three months and which are circulated among the general public, containing matters of general interest and reports of current events published for the purpose of disseminating information of a public character or devoted to literature, the sciences, art or some special industry. This exclusion shall also include any printed advertising material circulated with the periodical or publication regardless of where or by whom the printed advertising material was produced.
(51) The sale at retail or use of interior office building cleaning services but only as relates to the costs of the supplied employe, which costs are wages, salaries, bonuses and commissions, employment benefits, expense reimbursements, and payroll and withholding taxes, to the extent that these costs are specifically itemized or that these costs in aggregate are stated in billings from the vender or supplying entity.
(i) transferred pursuant to a construction contract for any charitable organization, volunteer firemen's organization, volunteer firefighters' relief association, nonprofit educational institution or religious organization for religious purposes, provided that the building machinery and equipment and services thereto are not used in any unrelated trade or business; or
(58) The sale at retail or use of a personal computer, a peripheral device or an Internet access device, or a service contract or single-user licensed software purchased in conjunction with a personal computer, peripheral device or Internet access device, during the exclusion period by an individual purchaser for nonbusiness use. The exclusion does not include a sale at retail or use of, leasing, rental or repair of a personal computer, peripheral device or Internet access device; mainframe computers; network servers; local area network hubs; routers and network cabling; network operating systems; multiple- user licensed software; minicomputers; hand-held computers; personal digital assistants without Internet access; hardware word processors; graphical calculators; video game consoles; telephones; digital cameras; pagers; compact discs encoded with music or movies; and digital versatile discs encoded with music or movies. For purposes of this clause, the phrase “exclusion period” means the period of time from August 5, 2001, to and including August 12, 2001, and from February 17, 2002, to and including February 24, 2002. For purposes of this clause, “purchaser” means an individual who places an order and pays the purchase price by cash or credit during the exclusion period even if delivery takes place after the exclusion period.
(62) The sale at retail or use of tangible personal property or services which are directly used in farming, dairying or agriculture when engaged in as a business enterprise whether or not the sale is made to the person directly engaged in the business enterprise or to a person contracting with the person directly engaged in the business enterprise for the production of food.
(64) The sale at retail to or use by a construction contractor, employed by a public school district pursuant to a construction contract, of any materials and building supplies which, during construction or reconstruction, are made part of any public school building utilized for instructional classroom education within this Commonwealth, if the construction or reconstruction:
(65) The sale at retail or use of investment metal bullion and investment coins. “Investment metal bullion” means any elementary precious metal which has been put through a process of smelting or refining, including, but not limited to, gold, silver, platinum and palladium, and which is in such state or condition that its value depends upon its content and not its form. “Investment metal bullion” does not include precious metal which has been assembled, fabricated, manufactured or processed in one or more specific and customary industrial, professional, aesthetic or artistic uses. “Investment coins” means numismatic coins or other forms of money and legal tender manufactured of gold, silver, platinum, palladium or other metal and of the United States or any foreign nation with a fair market value greater than any nominal value of such coins. “Investment coins” does not include jewelry or works of art made of coins, nor does it include commemorative medallions.
(ii) “government agency” means an “agency” as defined in section 1 of the act of June 21, 1957 (P.L. 390, No. 212),5 referred to as the “Right-to-Know Law”;
(67) The sale at retail or use of repair or replacement parts or software or software upgrades, including the installation of those parts, software or software upgrades, exclusively for use in helicopters and similar rotorcraft and flight simulators or in overhauling or rebuilding of helicopters and similar rotorcraft and flight simulators or helicopters and similar rotorcraft and flight simulator components.
(70) The sale at retail or use of services related to the set up, tear down or maintenance of tangible personal property rented by an authority to exhibitors at a convention center or a public auditorium, established under 64 Pa.C.S. Ch. 60 (relating to Pennsylvania Convention Center Authority), the act of July 28, 1953 (P.L. 723, No. 230),6 known as the Second Class County Code, or the act of August 9, 1955 (P.L. 323, No. 130),7 known as The County Code.
“Directly utilized in conducting the business of banking” includes the purchase of canned computer software by a financial institution to be used in transactions with customers and service providers. The term does not include the purchase of canned computer software by entities, other than a financial institution, such as holding companies and subsidiaries of a financial institution.
“Financial institution” means an institution doing business in this Commonwealth subject to the tax imposed by Article VII or Article XV.8
(74) The sale at retail or use of a multipurpose agricultural vehicle operated for the benefit of or pursuant to the operation of a farm owned or operated by the owner of the vehicle or a business whose enterprises and activities are considered part of farming. For the purposes of this clause, the following terms or phrases shall have the following meanings:
“Multipurpose agricultural vehicle” shall mean a motor vehicle exempt from registration in accordance with 75 Pa.C.S. § 1302(17) (relating to vehicles exempt from registration) which is 66 inches or less in width and 2,000 pounds or less in dry weight and which is used exclusively for agricultural operations and only incidentally operated or moved upon the highways.
“Use of a multipurpose agricultural vehicle in farming” shall mean repairing and maintaining buildings, including houses, garages, barns, stables, greenhouses, mushroom houses and storehouses, fences and stanchions permanently affixed to real estate, as well as transporting farming personnel, collecting, conveying or transporting property to be used in farming and transporting or conveying the farm product after the final farming operation, which includes, but does not extend beyond, the operation of packaging for the ultimate consumer and storage.
Credits
1971, March 4, P.L. 6, No. 2, art. II, § 204. Amended 1971, Aug. 31, P.L. 362, No. 93, § 2; 1971, Sept. 9, P.L. 437, No. 105, § 1; 1974, July 20, P.L. 535, No. 183, § 1, imd. effective; 1974, Oct. 17, P.L. 756, No. 255, § 1, imd. effective; 1977, Dec. 14, P.L. 322, No. 93, § 1, imd. effective; 1979, Oct. 27, P.L. 242, No. 79, § 1, imd. effective; 1980, Dec. 8, P.L. 1117, No. 195, § 1, effective in 60 days; 1980, Dec. 16, P.L. 1240, No. 223, § 1, effective in 60 days; 1981, Oct. 22, P.L. 314, No. 109, § 1, effective in 60 days; 1982, June 23, P.L. 610, No. 172, § 1, effective in 60 days; 1982, Dec. 9, P.L. 1047, No. 246, § 1, effective July 1, 1983; 1983 July 21, P.L. 63, No. 29, § 1, effective in 15 days; 1983, Dec. 23, P.L. 370, No. 90, § 1, effective Jan. 1, 1984; 1985, Dec. 19, P.L. 354, No. 100, § 1, imd. effective; 1987, July 13, P.L. 317, No. 58, § 1, effective Sept. 30, 1987; 1991, Aug. 4, P.L. 97, No. 22, § 3, imd. effective; 1991, Dec. 13, P.L. 373, No. 40, § 2, imd. effective; 1993, Dec. 3, P.L. 473, No. 68, § 1, imd. effective; 1994, June 16, P.L. 279, No. 48, § 2; 1995, June 30, P.L. 139, No. 21, § 3; 1997, May 7, P.L. 85, No. 7, § 2, effective July 1, 1997; 1998, April 23, P.L. 239, No. 45, § 3, effective July 1, 1998; 1999, May 12, P.L. 26, No. 4, § 2, imd. effective; 2000, May 24, P.L. 106, No. 23, § 3, imd. effective. Affected 2000, Dec. 20, P.L. 841, No. 119, § 10, imd. effective; 2001, June 22, P.L. 353, No. 23, § 2, effective July 1, 2001; 2002, June 29, P.L. 559, No. 89, § 3, effective July 1, 2002; 2003, Dec. 23, P.L. 250, No. 46, § 2, imd. effective; 2006, July 6, P.L. 319, No. 67, § 1, effective in 60 days [Sept. 5, 2006]; 2006, Nov. 29, P.L. 1630, No. 189, § 1, imd. effective; 2007, July 25, P.L. 373, No. 55, § 1.1, effective Oct. 1, 2007; 2009, Oct. 9, P.L. 451, No. 48, § 1, imd. effective. Amended 2012, July 2, P.L. 751, No. 85, § 1.1, imd. effective; 2013, July 9, P.L. 270, No. 52, § 2, effective in 90 days [Oct. 7, 2013]; 2016, July 13, P.L. 526, No. 84, § 2; 2017, Oct. 30, P.L. 672, No. 43, § 3, imd. effective; 2019, June 28, P.L. 50, No. 13, § 3, effective July 1, 2019; 2019, Nov. 27, P.L. 651, No. 90, § 1, imd. effective; 2021, June 30, P.L. 124, No. 25, § 2; 2022, July 8, P.L. 513, No. 53, § 2, imd. effective.
Footnotes
72 P.S. § 7202.
72 P.S. § 2611a et seq. (repealed); see 75 Pa.C.S.A. § 9001 et seq.
72 P.S. § 2614.1 et seq. (repealed); see 75 Pa.C.S.A. § 9001 et seq.
Now Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission, see 30 Pa.C.S.A. § 308.
65 P.S. § 66.1 (repealed); see 65 P.S. § 67.102.
16 P.S. § 3101 et seq.
16 P.S. § 101 et seq.
72 P.S. § 7701 et seq. and 72 P.S. § 8501 et seq., respectively.
72 P.S. § 7204, PA ST 72 P.S. § 7204
Current through Act 11 of the 2024 Regular Session. Some statute sections may be more current, see credits for details.
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