§ 144.526 RSMo — Show Me Green sales tax holiday — sales tax exemption for energy star certified new appliances — layaway sales, discounted sale price, delayed delivery, exchanges and returns, how treated

1. This section shall be known and may be cited as the "Show Me Green Sales Tax Holiday".

2. For purposes of this section, the following terms mean:

(1) "Appliance" , clothes washers and dryers, water heaters, trash compactors, dishwashers, conventional ovens, ranges, stoves, air conditioners, furnaces, refrigerators and freezers; and

(2) "Energy star certified" , any appliance approved by both the United States Environmental Protection Agency and the United States Department of Energy as eligible to display the energy star label, as amended from time to time.

3. In each year beginning on or after January 1, 2009, there is hereby specifically exempted from state sales tax law and all local sales and use taxes all retail sales of any energy star certified new appliance, up to one thousand five hundred dollars per appliance during a seven-day period beginning at 12:01 a.m. on April nineteenth and ending at midnight on April twenty-fifth. Where a purchaser and seller are located in two different time zones, the time zone of the purchaser's location shall determine the authorized exemption period.

4. A sale of property that is eligible for an exemption under subsection 3 of this section but is purchased under a layaway sale shall only qualify for an exemption if:

(1) Final payment on a layaway order is made by, and the property is given to, the purchaser during the exemption period; or

(2) The purchaser selects the property and the seller accepts the order for the property during the exemption period, for immediate delivery upon full payment, even if delivery is made after the exemption period.

5. (1) For any discount offered by a seller that is a reduction of the sales price of the product, the discounted sales price shall determine whether the sales price falls below the price threshold provided in subsection 3 of this section. A coupon that reduces the sales price shall be treated as a discount only if the seller is not reimbursed for the coupon amount by a third party.

(2) If a discount applies to the total amount paid by a purchaser rather than to the sales price of a particular product and the purchaser has purchased both exempt property and taxable property, the seller shall allocate the discount based on the total sales prices of the taxable property compared to the total sales prices of all property sold in the same transaction.

6. Items that are normally sold as a single unit shall continue to be sold in that manner and shall not be priced separately and sold as individual items.

7. Items that are purchased during an exemption period but that are not delivered to the purchaser until after the exemption period due to the item not being in stock shall qualify for an exemption. The provisions of this subsection shall not apply to an item that was delivered during an exemption period but was purchased prior to or after the exemption period.

8. (1) If a purchaser purchases an item of eligible property during an exemption period but later exchanges the item for a similar eligible item after the exemption period, no additional tax shall be due on the new item.

(2) If a purchaser purchases an item of eligible property during an exemption period but later returns the item after the exemption period and receives credit on the purchase of a different nonexempt item, the appropriate sales tax shall be due on the sale of the newly purchased item.

(3) If a purchaser purchases an item of eligible property before an exemption period but during the exemption period returns the item and receives credit on the purchase of a different item of eligible property, no sales tax shall be due on the sale of the new item if the new item is purchased during the exemption period.

(4) For a sixty-day period immediately following the end of the exemption period, if a purchaser returns an exempt item, no credit for or refund of sales tax shall be given unless the purchaser provides a receipt or invoice that shows tax was paid or the seller has sufficient documentation to show that tax was paid on the item being returned.