INTERPRETIVE STATEMENT
The Department of Revenue repealed the following excise tax advisories effective June 17, 2000:
ETA 025.04.136 Manufacturing and what constitutes taxable activity.
ETA 029.04.136 Cooking crabs as manufacturing within the state.
ETA 075.04.136 Mixing of ingredients as "manufacturing."
ETA 172.04.136 Staining of lumber constitutes manufacturing.
ETA 241.04.136 Cherry processing which includes brine curing, washing, pitting, sizing and sorting.
ETA 401.04.135 Oyster string production.
ETA 465.04.136 Shearing steel sheets and slitting steel coils as manufacturing.
ETA 469.04.136 Rerolling paper rolls, cutting paper into specific lengths, embossing, folding, and packaging as manufacturing.
These documents all identify specific activities that are considered manufacturing activities. A number of these activities have been incorporated as examples of manufacturing activities in the revised WAC 458-20-135 Extracting natural products or 458-20-136 Manufacturing, processing for hire, fabricating, as adopted on May 17, 2000. These examples and the information provided elsewhere in the revised rules provide sufficient guidance to allow the repeal of all of the listed ETAs.
ETA 398.04.136 Combining items to achieve a special purpose product is manufacturing.
ETA 466.04.136 Assembly of fruit bins as manufacturing.
WAC 458-20-136 has been revised to address the issue of when the combining or assembly of items is a manufacturing activity.
ETA 081.04.136 Manufacturing where plant and materials used are owned by another.
The information provided in this document was incorporated into a revised WAC 458-20-136.
Questions regarding the repeal of these bulletins may be directed to Alan R. Lynn, Legislation and Policy, P.O. Box 47467, Olympia, WA 98504-7467, phone (360) 586-9040, fax (360) 664-0693, Internet alanl@dor.wa.gov.
Claire Hesselholt
Policy Counsel