Sales “In Commerce” Between Missouri and Other States

(Rescinded July 30, 2011)
AUTHORITY: section 144.270, RSMo 1994. Original rule filed Jan.
31, 1992, effective Sept. 6, 1992. Rescinded: Filed Jan. 24, 2011, effective July 30, 2011.
Amoco Oil Company v. Director of Revenue, Case No. 89-001011RS (A.H.C. 01/07/91). Sales of goods were exempt as in commerce where title passed to the buyer upon delivery in Missouri to a carrier, common or contract, for shipment out-of-state. In order for a Missouri retail sale to be exempt as being “in commerce,” a component of the sales transaction must depend upon the importation or the exportation of the goods from or to another state.
Western Trailer Service, Inc. v. Lepage, 575 SW2d 173 (Mo. banc 1978). Under contract, employees of a trailer company went to Kansas, picked up trailers and brought them into the state and, after repairs were made and repair parts installed, the trailers were returned under contract to Kansas by trailer company employees. Importation of the trailers from Kansas to Missouri was a component part of the transaction. The retail sales were made in commerce between Missouri and Kansas.
Overland Steel, Inc. v. Director of Revenue, 647 SW2d 535 (Mo.
banc 1983). Overland Steel was both a retailer and a contractor.
Overland purchased materials which were ultimately installed for effective March 30, 2001.
Kansas customers. These materials were not resold by Overland but were consumed by the corporation in its capacity as a contractor.
The sale of materials from the manufacturer to Overland was complete before Overland entered into the Kansas construction contracts. There was no evidence indicating transportation of the goods to Kansas was an integral part of the sale.
Bratton Corporation v. Director of Revenue, 783 SW2d 891 (Mo.
banc 1990). Goods delivered to a corporation in Missouri upon purchase from Missouri vendors were not “in commerce” and could not avoid the sales tax, despite buyer’s intention of shipping the goods out-of-state shortly after delivery.
Metro Crown International, Inc. v. Director of Revenue, Case
No. 89-000904RS, (A.H.C. 04/20/90). Sales were Missouri retail sales where buyer took possession of goods from seller in Missouri, despite contract provision that title would not pass until arrival out-of-state. Tax liability depends on the economic reality of the transaction, not on the legal fictions of boilerplate contract provisions.