We are a small company in Wisconsin that manufacturers laboratory
instruments. We sell to numerous states and have not charged sales or
use tax to these customers in the past because we did not know that we
had to. We had assumed that most states, like NJ and MA, tax exempt
purchases used in R&D (which is the typical use by most of our
customers, who tend to be pharmaceutical companies). Further, our reps
do not always (or regularly) visit some of the states of the customers
that we've sold to. Unfortunately, we've discovered recently that some
states do not have this exemption.
Recently, a customer in California notified us that we should be
charging them for use tax. This raised the issue of what other states
should we be charging the customers a use tax.
Here's the question: which states DO provide tax exemption for
products purchased and used in research and development? Our products
are used in early laboratory purification processes. So far, I've
found that NJ and MA exempt purchases made for these purposes.
Thanks for your help! |
