BILL REQ. #:  H-5607.1 

READ FIRST TIME 02/12/08.   

     AN ACT Relating to the sourcing, for sales and use tax purposes, of sales of tangible personal property by florists; amending RCW 82.32.730; and providing an effective date.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

Sec. 1   RCW 82.32.730 and 2007 c 6 s 501 are each amended to read as follows:
     (1) Except as provided in subsections (5) through (7) of this section, for purposes of collecting or paying sales or use taxes to the appropriate jurisdictions, all sales at retail shall be sourced in accordance with this subsection and subsections (2) through (4) of this section.
     (a) When tangible personal property, an extended warranty, or a service defined as a retail sale under RCW 82.04.050 is received by the purchaser at a business location of the seller, the sale is sourced to that business location.
     (b) When the tangible personal property, extended warranty, or a service defined as a retail sale under RCW 82.04.050 is not received by the purchaser at a business location of the seller, the sale is sourced to the location where receipt by the purchaser or the purchaser's donee, designated as such by the purchaser, occurs, including the location indicated by instructions for delivery to the purchaser or donee, known to the seller.
     (c) When (a) and (b) of this subsection do not apply, the sale is sourced to the location indicated by an address for the purchaser that is available from the business records of the seller that are maintained in the ordinary course of the seller's business when use of this address does not constitute bad faith.
     (d) When (a), (b), and (c) of this subsection do not apply, the sale is sourced to the location indicated by an address for the purchaser obtained during the consummation of the sale, including the address of a purchaser's payment instrument, if no other address is available, when use of this address does not constitute bad faith.
     (e) When (a), (b), (c), or (d) of this subsection do not apply, including the circumstance where the seller is without sufficient information to apply those provisions, then the location shall be determined by the address from which tangible personal property was shipped, from which the digital good or the computer software delivered electronically was first available for transmission by the seller, or from which the extended warranty or service defined as a retail sale under RCW 82.04.050 was provided, disregarding for these purposes any location that merely provided the digital transfer of the product sold.
     (2) The lease or rental of tangible personal property, other than property identified in subsection (3) or (4) of this section, shall be sourced as provided in this subsection.
     (a) For a lease or rental that requires recurring periodic payments, the first periodic payment is sourced the same as a retail sale in accordance with subsection (1) of this section. Periodic payments made subsequent to the first payment are sourced to the primary property location for each period covered by the payment. The primary property location shall be as indicated by an address for the property provided by the lessee that is available to the lessor from its records maintained in the ordinary course of business, when use of this address does not constitute bad faith. The property location is not altered by intermittent use at different locations, such as use of business property that accompanies employees on business trips and service calls.
     (b) For a lease or rental that does not require recurring periodic payments, the payment is sourced the same as a retail sale in accordance with subsection (1) of this section.
     (c) This subsection (2) does not affect the imposition or computation of sales or use tax on leases or rentals based on a lump sum or accelerated basis, or on the acquisition of property for lease.
     (3) The lease or rental of motor vehicles, trailers, semitrailers, or aircraft that do not qualify as transportation equipment shall be sourced as provided in this subsection.
     (a) For a lease or rental that requires recurring periodic payments, each periodic payment is sourced to the primary property location. The primary property location is as indicated by an address for the property provided by the lessee that is available to the lessor from its records maintained in the ordinary course of business, when use of this address does not constitute bad faith. This location is not altered by intermittent use at different locations.
     (b) For a lease or rental that does not require recurring periodic payments, the payment is sourced the same as a retail sale in accordance with subsection (1) of this section.
     (c) This subsection does not affect the imposition or computation of sales or use tax on leases or rentals based on a lump sum or accelerated basis, or on the acquisition of property for lease.
     (4) The retail sale, including lease or rental, of transportation equipment shall be sourced the same as a retail sale in accordance with subsection (1) of this section.
     (5)(a) A purchaser of direct mail that is not a holder of a direct pay permit shall provide to the seller in conjunction with the purchase either a direct mail form or information that shows the jurisdictions to which the direct mail is delivered to recipients.
     (i) Upon receipt of the direct mail form, the seller is relieved of all obligations to collect, pay, or remit the applicable tax and the purchaser is obligated to pay or remit the applicable tax on a direct pay basis. A direct mail form shall remain in effect for all future sales of direct mail by the seller to the purchaser until it is revoked in writing.
     (ii) Upon receipt of information from the purchaser showing the jurisdictions to which the direct mail is delivered to recipients, the seller shall collect the tax according to the delivery information provided by the purchaser. In the absence of bad faith, the seller is relieved of any further obligation to collect tax on any transaction where the seller has collected tax pursuant to the delivery information provided by the purchaser.
     (b) If the purchaser of direct mail does not have a direct pay permit and does not provide the seller with either a direct mail form or delivery information as required by (a) of this subsection, the seller shall collect the tax according to subsection (1)(e) of this section. This subsection does not limit a purchaser's obligation for sales or use tax to any state to which the direct mail is delivered.
     (c) If a purchaser of direct mail provides the seller with documentation of direct pay authority, the purchaser is not required to provide a direct mail form or delivery information to the seller.
     (6) The following are sourced to the location at or from which delivery is made to the consumer:
     (a) A retail sale of watercraft;
     (b) A retail sale of a modular home, manufactured home, or mobile home; ((and))
     (c) A retail sale, excluding the lease and rental, of a motor vehicle, trailer, semitrailer, or aircraft, that do not qualify as transportation equipment; and
     (d) Florist sales. In the case of a sale in which one florist takes an order from a customer and then communicates that order to another florist who delivers the items purchased to the place designated by the customer, the location at or from which delivery is made to the consumer is deemed to be the location of the florist originally taking the order.
     (7) A retail sale of the providing of telecommunications services or ancillary services, as those terms are defined in RCW 82.04.065, shall be sourced in accordance with RCW 82.32.520.
     (8) The definitions in this subsection apply throughout this section.
     (a) "Delivered electronically" means delivered to the purchaser by means other than tangible storage media.
     (b) "Direct mail" means printed material delivered or distributed by United States mail or other delivery service to a mass audience or to addressees on a mailing list provided by the purchaser or at the direction of the purchaser when the cost of the items are not billed directly to the recipients. "Direct mail" includes tangible personal property supplied directly or indirectly by the purchaser to the direct mail seller for inclusion in the package containing the printed material. "Direct mail" does not include multiple items of printed material delivered to a single address.
     (c) "Florist sales" means the retail sale of tangible personal property by a florist. For purposes of this subsection (8)(c), "florist" means a person whose primary business activity is the retail sale of fresh cut flowers, potted ornamental plants, floral arrangements, floral bouquets, wreaths, or any similar products, used for decorative and not landscaping purposes.
     (d) "Receive" and "receipt" mean taking possession of tangible personal property, making first use of services, or taking possession or making first use of digital goods, whichever comes first. "Receive" and "receipt" do not include possession by a shipping company on behalf of the purchaser.
     (((d))) (e) "Transportation equipment" means:
     (i) Locomotives and railcars that are used for the carriage of persons or property in interstate commerce;
     (ii) Trucks and truck tractors with a gross vehicle weight rating of ten thousand one pounds or greater, trailers, semitrailers, or passenger buses that are:
     (A) Registered through the international registration plan; and
     (B) Operated under authority of a carrier authorized and certificated by the United States department of transportation or another federal authority to engage in the carriage of persons or property in interstate commerce;
     (iii) Aircraft that are operated by air carriers authorized and certificated by the United States department of transportation or another federal or foreign authority to engage in the carriage of persons or property in interstate or foreign commerce; or
     (iv) Containers designed for use on and component parts attached or secured on the items described in (((d))) (e)(i) through (iii) of this subsection.
     (9) In those instances where there is no obligation on the part of a seller to collect or remit this state's sales or use tax, the use of tangible personal property or of a service, subject to use tax, is sourced to the place of first use in this state. The definition of use in RCW 82.12.010 applies to this subsection.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 2   This act takes effect July 1, 2008.