LR 8237
Taxability of Audiometers
May 04, 2023
Dear Applicant:
This is a letter ruling issued by the Director of Revenue under Section 536.021.10, RSMo, and Missouri Code of State Regulations 12 CSR 10-1.020, in response to your letter dated December 20, 2022.
The facts as presented in your letter ruling request are summarized as follows:
Applicant uses items called "audiometers" in their business to test patients for possible hearing aids. Sales of hearing aids and hearing aid supplies are exempt from Missouri sales tax per section 144.030.2(18), RSMo. Applicant is unclear on whether or not audiometers are covered under the same exemption. An audiometer is 'an instrument used in measuring the acuity of hearing in the individual ear for sounds of various frequencies especially with a view to detecting departures from normal hearing.' Meriam Webster's Collegiate Dictionary 142-143, (10th ed. 1993).
ISSUE:
Does the sales tax exemption found in section 144.030.2(18) for hearing aids and hearing aid supplies include "audiometers?"
RESPONSE:
No. Audiometers do not qualify for the sales tax exemption found in 144.030.2(18).
Section 144.020.1, RSMo, provides:
A tax is hereby levied and imposed...upon all sellers for the privilege of engaging in the business of selling tangible personal property or rendering taxable service at retail in this state.
However section 144.030.2(18), RSMo, exempts:
All sales of insulin, and all sales, rentals, repairs, and parts of durable medical equipment, prosthetic devices [...] as defined on January 1, 1980, by the federal Medicare program pursuant to Title XVIII of the Social Security Act of 1965, including the items specified in Section 1862(a)(12) of that act, and also specifically including hearing aids and hearing aid supplies[.]
Audiometers are not hearing aids, or supplies for hearing aids, therefore they do not qualify for the exemption under section 144.030.2(18), RSMo, for transactions in Missouri.
Additionally, section 144.610, RSMo, provides:
A tax is imposed for the privilege of storing, using or consuming within this state any article of tangible personal property, excluding motor vehicles, trailers, motorcycles, mopeds, motortricycles, boats, and outboard motors required to be titled under the laws of the state of Missouri and subject to tax under subdivision (9) of subsection 1 of section 144.020, purchased on or after the effective date of sections 144.600 to 144.745 in an amount equivalent to the percentage imposed on the sales price in the sales tax law in section 144.020.
Therefore, audiometers purchased from out-of-state vendors are subject to the compensating use tax law imposed under section 144.610, RSMo.
This letter ruling is binding upon the Department of Revenue with respect to the Applicant for three (3) years from the date of this letter and is subject only to statutory changes by the General Assembly and to changes in the interpretation of law by the courts or administrative tribunals. If a change occurs, the taxpayer who relies upon an outdated interpretation may be subject to additional taxes, interest and penalties, which may be imposed prospectively from the date of the change. For this reason, the interpretation set forth above should be reviewed on a regular basis. Please note that any change in or deviation from the facts as presented will render this ruling inapplicable.
Should additional information be needed, please contact Legal Counsel Ross Shelton, General Counsel's Office, Post Office Box 475, Jefferson City, Missouri 65105-0475, phone (573) 751-0961.
Sincerely,
Wayne Wallingford