Iowa Admin. Code r. 701—215.15(423) — Exemption for the sale of property directly and primarily used in processing by a manufacturer

The sales price of computers, computer peripherals, machinery, equipment, replacement parts, supplies, and materials used to construct or self-construct computers, computer peripherals, machinery, equipment, replacement parts, and supplies is exempt from sales and use tax when the property is directly and primarily used in processing by a manufacturer. 215.15(1) Required elements. To qualify for exemption under this rule, the purchaser must prove the property is: a. Computers, computer peripherals, machinery, equipment, replacement parts, supplies, or materials used to construct or self-construct computers, computer peripherals, machinery, equipment, replacement parts, or supplies as described in subrule 215.14(2); b. Directly used as described in subrule 215.15(2); c. Primarily used as described in subrule 215.15(2); d. Used in processing as described in subrule 215.15(3); and e. Used by a manufacturer as described in subrule 215.15(4). 215.15(2) Directly and primarily used. a. Directly used. (1) Generally. Property is “directly used” only if it is used to initiate, sustain, or terminate an exempt activity. In determining whether any property is “directly used,” consideration should be given to the following factors: 1. The physical proximity of the property to the exempt activity; 2. The temporal proximity of the use of the property to the use of other property that is directly used in the exempt activity; and 3. The active causal relationship between the use of the property and the exempt activity. The fact that a particular piece of property may be essential to the conduct of the activity because its use is required either by law or practical necessity does not, of itself, mean that the property is directly used. (2) Examples. The following property typically is not directly used in an exempt manner: 1. Property used exclusively for the comfort of workers, such as air cooling, air conditioning, or ventilation systems. Revenue[701]Ch 215, p.12 IAC 2/5/25 2. Property used in support operations, such as a machine shop, where production machinery is assembled, maintained, or repaired. 3. Property used by administrative, accounting, or personnel departments. 4. Property used by security, fire prevention, first aid, or hospital stations. 5. Property used in communications or safety. b. Primarily used. The primary use of property is the activity or activities for which the property is used more than half of the time. 215.15(3) Processing. a. Generally. “Processing” and “receipt or producing of raw materials” mean the same as defined in Iowa Code section 423.3(47)“d.” With respect to raw materials produced from or upon real estate, “production of raw materials” is deemed to occur immediately following the severance of the raw materials from the real estate. b. The beginning of processing. Processing begins with a processor’s receipt or production of raw material. Thus, when a processor produces its own raw material, it is engaged in processing. Processing also begins when a supplier transfers possession of raw materials to a processor. c. The completion of processing. Processing ends when the finished product is transferred from the processor or delivered for shipment by the processor. Therefore, a processor’s packaging, storage, and transport of a finished product after the product is in the form in which it will be sold at retail are part of the processing of the product. d. Examples of the beginning, intervening steps, and the ending of processing. Of the following, Examples A and B illustrate when processing begins under various circumstances, Example C demonstrates the middle stages of processing, and Example D demonstrates when the end of processing takes place. Example A: Company A manufactures fine furniture. Company A owns a grove of walnut trees that it uses as raw material. Company A’s employees cut the trees, transport the logs to Company A’s facility, store the logs in a warehouse to begin the curing process, and eventually take the logs to Company A’s sawmill. The walnut trees are real property while they are growing. Thus, no “production of raw materials” has occurred with regard to the trees until they have been severed from the soil and transformed into logs. Processing of the logs begins when they are placed on vehicles for transport to Company A’s factory. However, if the transport vehicles are “vehicles subject to registration,” the vehicles are not exempt from the fee for new registration under this rule (as described in subparagraph 215.14(2)“g”(6)). Example B: Company A from the previous example also buys mahogany logs from a supplier in Honduras. Company A uses its equipment to offload the logs from railroad cars at its facility. Company A then stores and saws the logs as previously described in Example A. Processing begins when Company A offloads the logs from the railroad cars. Example C: Company C is a microbrewery. It uses a variety of kettles, vats, tanks, tubs, and other containers to mix, cook, ferment, settle, age, and store the beer it brews. Company C also uses a variety of pipes and pumps to move the beer among the various containers involved in the activity of brewing. All stages of this brewing are part of processing, including fermentation or aging (the transformation of the raw materials from one state to another) as well as the storage of hops in a bin and the storage of beer prior to bottling (the holding of materials in an existing state). Any movement of the product between containers is also a part of processing. Example D: After the brewing process is complete, Company C places its beer in various containers, stores the beer, and moves the beer to Company C’s customers by a common carrier that picks up the beer at Company C’s facility. Company C’s activities of placing the beer into bottles, cans, and kegs, storing the beer after packaging, and moving the beer by use of a forklift to the common carrier’s pickup site are part of processing. 215.15(4) Manufacturer. a. Generally. Iowa Code section 423.3(47)“d”(4) abrogates The Sherwin-Williams Company v. Iowa Department of Revenue, 789 N.W.2d 417 (Iowa 2010). b. Definitions. Revenue “Construction contracting” means engaging in or performing a construction contract as described in rule 701—219.8(423). “Manufacturer” means the same as defined in Iowa Code section 423.3(47). “Transporting for hire” means the service of moving persons or property for consideration, including but not limited to the use of a “personal transportation service” as that term is described in Iowa Code section 423.2(6) and rule 701—211.51(423). c. Primarily engaged in an excluded activity. A person is not considered a manufacturer if the person is “primarily engaged” in any of the activities listed in Iowa Code section 423.3(47)“d”(4)(c). A person is “primarily engaged” in an activity if the person generates more than 50 percent of the person’s gross revenue from its operating business from, or spends more than 50 percent of the person’s time engaging in, any combination of those activities during the 12-month period after the date the person engages in one of the listed activities. Example 1: Company A makes widgets and repairs widgets damaged during use by its customers. Company A generates 70 percent of its revenue making widgets, and its employees spend 80 percent of their time making widgets. The remainder of its revenue and time are attributed to widget repair. Company A is not primarily engaged in “repairing tangible personal property or real property” (Iowa Code section 423.3(47)“d”(4)(c)(ii)) or any of the other enumerated activities from Iowa Code section 423.3(47)“d”(4) (c) because only 30 percent of its revenue and 20 percent of employee time are attributed to widget repair. Example 2A: Company B makes concrete and sells it for resale or directly to individual consumers without entering into a construction contract. Company B generates 100 percent of its revenue from such sales of concrete, and its employees spend 95 percent of their time making concrete during the 12-month period after it claims to be a manufacturer. Company B is not excluded from being considered a manufacturer because Company B’s production and sale of concrete are not part of construction contracting (Iowa Code section 423.3(47)“d”(4)(c)(i)). Example 2B: Company B begins construction contracting to sell its concrete. After 12 months of construction contracting (Iowa Code section 423.3(47)“d”(4)(c)(i)), Company B generates 55 percent of its revenue from construction contracting and 45 percent from resale sales or sales directly to consumers and spends 40 percent of its time performing construction contracts. Company B is no longer considered a manufacturer starting 12 months from the date it began construction contracting because it generates more than 50 percent of its gross revenue from construction contracting. 215.15(5) Manufacturing. a. Activities commonly understood to be manufacturing. “Manufacturing” means the same as defined in Iowa Code section 423.3(47). b. Premises primarily used to make retail sales. (1) A person engaged in activities on a premises primarily used to make retail sales is not engaged in manufacturing at that premises and cannot claim this exemption for items used at that premises. (2) The following are “premises primarily used to make retail sales”: 1. Restaurants. 2. Mobile food vendors, vehicles, trailers, and other facilities used for retail sales. 3. Retail bakeries. 4. Prepared food retailers establishments. 5. Bars and taverns. 6. Racing and gaming establishments. 7. Racetracks. 8. Casinos. 9. Gas stations. 10. Convenience stores. 11. Hardware and home improvement stores. 12. Grocery stores. 13. Paint or paint supply stores. 14. Floral shops. 15. Other retail stores. Revenue[701]Ch 215, p.14 IAC 2/5/25 c. Rebuttable presumption. In addition to the premises listed in paragraph 215.15(5)“b,” a premises shall be presumed to be “primarily used to make retail sales” when more than 50 percent of the gross sales of a business and its affiliates attributable to the premises are retail sales sourced to the premises under Iowa Code section 423.15(1)“a.” (1) For purposes of paragraph 215.15(5)“c”: “Attributable to the premises” means sales of tangible personal property at the premises or shipped from the premises to another location for sale or eventual sale. “Premises” means any contiguous parcels, as defined in Iowa Code section 426C.1, which are owned, leased, rented, or occupied by a business or its affiliates and are operated by that business or its affiliates for a common business purpose. A “common business purpose” means the participation in any stage of manufacturing, production, or sale of a product. Whether a business is operating for a common business purpose is a fact-based determination that will depend on the individual circumstances at issue. (2) Calculation. If a business seeking to claim this exemption makes retail sales sourced to a premises under Iowa Code section 423.15(1)“a” and the location is not one of those listed in paragraph 215.15(5) “b,” the business shall determine whether a specific premises is primarily used to make retail sales by determining the amount of retail sales sourced to the premises under Iowa Code section 423.15(1)“a” during the 12-month period after the date the tangible personal property claimed to be exempt is used at the premises. The calculation should be done as follows: Retail sales sourced to the premises ______________________________ Gross sales attributable to the premises If the result is less than or equal to 0.5 (or 50 percent), the premises is not primarily used to make retail sales. If the result is greater than 0.5, the premises is presumed to be primarily used to make retail sales. (3) Rebutting the presumption. If a premises is presumed to be primarily used to make retail sales under subparagraph 215.15(5)“c”(2), a manufacturer may prove to the department the premises is not primarily used to make retail sales by providing information regarding the following nonexclusive list of factors to support its assertion: 1. The square footage of the premises allocated to the manufacturing process. 2. The number of employees or employee work hours allocated to the manufacturing process. 3. The wages and salaries of employees working at the premises allocated to the manufacturing process. 4. The cost of operating the premises attributable to the manufacturing process. The department’s determination is a fact-based determination based on the information provided by a manufacturer and the individual circumstances at issue. Example 1: Company A owns a centralized facility where it makes widgets and distributes them to several of its own retail stores for retail sale. The retail stores are not contiguous to the centralized facility. Company A purchases a widget maker for its centralized facility and seeks to claim this exemption. Because the widgets sold are sold at the retail stores, the sales of those widgets are sourced to the retail stores where the sales occur. Therefore, none of the sales are retail sales sourced to the centralized facility. Because Company A does not make retail sales sourced to the centralized facility, the centralized facility is not primarily used to make retail sales. Example 2A: Company A makes widgets at its premises in Iowa, known as Location 1. Company A sells its widgets to retailers for resale and also makes some retail sales that are sourced to Location 1. Twelve months ago, Company A purchased and put into use at Location 1 a new molding machine for making new widgets. Company A paid tax on the sales price of the molding machine at the time of purchase. During the 12-month period after Company A first used the molding machine, 2 percent of the gross sales attributable to Location 1 were from retail sales sourced to Location 1 and 98 percent of the gross sales attributable to Location 1 were from sales of widgets to retailers. Because less than half of the sales attributable to Location 1 during the 12-month period after the molding machine was first used at Location 1 were generated from retail sales sourced to Location 1, Location 1 is not primarily used to make retail sales. Therefore, if Company A’s use of the molding Revenue machine satisfies all other requirements of the exemption, Company A’s activities occurring on the premises constitute manufacturing. Example 2B: Same facts as in Example 2A, except that Company A also owns a second, noncontiguous premises in Iowa, known as Location 2. At Location 2, Company A operates a factory that makes the same types of widgets as Location 1. Company A also makes substantial retail sales that are sourced to Location 2. Twelve months ago, Company A purchased new molding machines for Location 1 and Location 2. Company A paid tax on the sales price of the molding machines. During this 12-month period, 2 percent of the gross sales attributable to Location 1 were retail sales sourced to Location 1 and 98 percent of the gross sales attributable to Location 1 were from sales of widgets to distributors. Also during this 12-month period, 60 percent of the gross sales attributable to Location 2 were retail sales sourced to Location 2 and 40 percent of the gross sales attributable to Location 2 were from sales of widgets to distributors. With respect to Location 1, the outcome is the same as in Example 1A. Because less than half of the sales attributable to Location 1 during the 12-month period after the molding machine was used at Location 1 were generated from retail sales sourced to Location 1, Location 1 is not primarily used to make retail sales. However, Location 2 is presumed to be primarily used to make retail sales because more than half of the gross sales attributable to Location 2 are from retail sales sourced to Location 2. Example 2C: Same facts as in Example 2B. Company A decides to purchase new molding machines for both Location 1 and Location 2. Relying on the exemption determinations for the prior year, Company A pays sales tax on the purchase price of the molding machine for Location 2 but tenders an exemption certificate for the purchase of the molding machine for Location 1 and does not pay sales tax on that transaction. Twelve months pass since the new molding machines were used at their respective locations. At Location 1, the gross sales attributable to the premises and retail sales sourced to the premises remained the same. However, at Location 2, Company A experienced a decrease in on-site retail sales and an increase in distribution sales. Because of a shift in sales, 45 percent of the gross sales attributable to Location 2 were retail sales sourced to Location 2, and 55 percent of the gross sales attributable to Location 2 were from sales of widgets to distributors. Therefore, this year, Location 2 is no longer presumed to be primarily used to make retail sales because in the 12 months after the machine was used at Location 2, less than half of the gross sales attributable to Location 2 were from retail sales sourced to Location 2. Example 3A: Company A owns a premises on which it makes baseball bats. A portion of the premises is leased to Company B, which operates a retail store on the premises that sells clothing and is not commonly understood to be a manufacturer. Company A and Company B are unaffiliated entities. Company A is seeking to purchase several new lathes to use in its bat production. In the last year, 95 percent of Company A’s gross sales attributable to the premises came from selling bats to distributors, and 5 percent of Company A’s gross sales attributable to the premises were from retail sales at a small on-site location. Also in the last year, 100 percent of Company B’s gross sales attributable to the premises were from on-site retail sales. Because Company A and Company B are not affiliated in any way, none of Company B’s sales are attributable to Company A. Therefore, for purposes of Company A’s determining its eligibility to claim the exemption, Company A’s premises are not primarily used to make retail sales because less than half of its gross sales attributable to the premises are from retail sales sourced to the premises. Example 3B: Same facts as in Example 3A, except that Company B is an affiliate of Company A. The result is the same; while Company B is an affiliate of Company A, the premises are not being operated for a common business purpose because Company B is not selling any of the bats manufactured by Company A. Therefore, none of Company B’s business is attributable to Company A. For purposes of Company A’s determining its eligibility to claim the exemption, Company A’s premises are not primarily used to make retail sales because less than half of its gross sales attributable to the premises are from retail sales sourced to the premises. Revenue[701]Ch 215, p.16 IAC 2/5/25 Example 3C: Same facts as in Example 3A, except that Company B is an affiliate of Company A and instead of operating a clothing store, Company B operates a sporting goods store where it sells some of the bats manufactured by Company A. In this case, Company B’s sales are attributable to Company A because both companies use the premises for a common business purpose: the sale of baseball bats manufactured by Company A. Therefore, the gross sales attributable to the premises of both Company A and Company B must be included in Company A’s gross sales attributable to the premises. The premises will be presumed to be primarily used to make retail sales if the combined retail sales by Company A and Company B that are sourced to the premises exceed 50 percent of the gross sales attributable to the premises. Example 4: Company A owns premises not included in the list above at which it makes widgets. Company A sells 15 percent of its widgets by delivery to customers’ homes, 30 percent to wholesalers, and the remaining 55 percent directly to customers who pick up widgets at the premises. Company A’s premises is presumed to be primarily used to make retail sales. Company A dedicates 75 percent of the square footage of the premises to the production of widgets, 20 percent to storage, and 5 percent to a loading dock. Company A employs a total of 50 people, 40 of whom work on the production floor making widgets. Company A’s production staff accounts for 80 percent of its total wages and salaries paid to all employees. The cost of operating the widget production area accounts for 90 percent of Company A’s total expenses. Upon claiming this exemption, Company A provides information satisfactory to the department to demonstrate these facts. Company A qualifies for the exemption. 215.15(6) Replacement parts and supplies. a. Replacement parts. To qualify for exemption under this rule, replacement parts must satisfy the definition contained in Iowa Code section 423.3(47)“d.” In addition to the other requirements, an exempt replacement part must replace a component of a computer, computer peripheral, machinery, or equipment that is directly and primarily used in processing by a manufacturer. Tangible personal property is not an exempt replacement part under this rule if the property exclusively replaces a component of a computer, computer peripheral, machinery, or equipment that is not directly and primarily used in processing by a manufacturer. b. Supplies. To qualify for exemption under this rule, supplies must satisfy the definition contained in Iowa Code section 423.3(47)“d.” In addition to the other requirements, an exempt supply must be connected to, be used in conjunction with, or come into physical contact with a computer, computer peripheral, machinery, or equipment that is directly and primarily used in processing by a manufacturer, or an exempt supply must itself be directly and primarily used in processing by a manufacturer. Tangible personal property is not an exempt supply under this rule if the property exclusively is connected to, is used in conjunction with, or comes into physical contact with a computer, computer peripheral, machinery, or equipment that is not directly and primarily used in processing by a manufacturer.