OAR 150-314-0429: Sales Factor; Sales of Tangible Personal Property in this State

The rule adopts provisions of a model regulation recommended by the Multistate Tax Commission to promote uniform treatment of this item by the states. (1) For purposes of ORS 314.665 and the rules thereunder, “tangible personal property” means personal property that can be seen, weighed, measured, felt, or touched, or that is in any other manner perceptible to the senses. “Tangible personal property” includes electricity, water, gas, steam, and prewritten computer software. (2) For purposes of apportioning income under ORS 314.665 and this rule, gross receipts from the sales of tangible personal property except sales to the United States Government; see OAR 150-314-0431 are in this state: (a) If the property is delivered or shipped to a purchaser within this state (Oregon) regardless of the f.o.b. point or other conditions of sale; whether transported by seller, purchaser, or common carrier; or (b) If the property is shipped from an office, store, warehouse, factory, or other place of storage in this state and the taxpayer is not taxable in the state of the purchaser. Example 1: A seller with a place of business in State A is a distributor of merchandise to retail outlets in multiple states. A purchaser with retail outlets in several states, including Oregon, makes arrangements to hire a common carrier to pick up merchandise, f.o.b. plant, at the seller’s place of business and have it delivered to the purchaser’s outlet in Oregon. The seller, who is subject to Oregon excise tax, must treat this as a sale of property delivered or shipped to a purchaser in Oregon. Example 2: A seller with a place of business in Oregon is a distributor of merchandise to retail outlets in multiple states. A purchaser with retail outlets in several states, including State A, sends its own truck to pick up the merchandise at the seller’s place of business and have it transported to the purchaser’s outlet in State A. The seller is taxable in State A. The seller must treat this as a sale of property delivered or shipped to a purchaser in State A. (c) Notwithstanding subsection (2)(b) of this rule, for tax years beginning on or after January 1, 2006, the sale of goods from a public warehouse is not considered to take place in Oregon if: (A) The taxpayer’s only activity in Oregon is the storage of the goods in a public warehouse prior to shipment; or (B) The taxpayer’s only activities in Oregon are the storage of the goods in the public warehouse prior to shipment and the presence of employees within this state solely for purposes of soliciting sales of the taxpayer’s products. (3) Property is deemed to be delivered or shipped to a purchaser within this state if the recipient is located in this state, even though the property is ordered from outside this state. Example 3: The taxpayer, with inventory in State A, sold $100,000 of its products to a purchaser having branch stores in several states including Oregon. The order for the purchase was placed by the purchaser’s central purchasing department located in State B. $25,000 of the purchase order was shipped directly to purchaser’s branch store in Oregon. The branch store in this state is the “purchaser within this state” with respect to $25,000 of the taxpayer’s sales. (4) Property is delivered or shipped to a purchaser within this state if the shipment terminates in this state, even though the property is subsequently transferred by the purchaser to another state. Example 4: The taxpayer makes a sale to a purchaser who maintains a central warehouse in Oregon at which all merchandise purchases are received. The purchaser reships the goods to its branch stores in other states for sale. All of taxpayer’s products shipped to the purchaser’s warehouse in Oregon is property “delivered or shipped to a purchaser within this state.” (5) The term “purchaser within this state” includes the ultimate recipient of the property if the taxpayer in Oregon, at the designation of the purchaser, delivers to or has the property shipped to the ultimate recipient within Oregon. Example 5: A taxpayer in Oregon sold merchandise to a purchaser in State A. Taxpayer directed the manufacturer or supplier of the merchandise in State B to ship the merchandise to the purchaser’s customer in Oregon pursuant to purchaser’s instructions. The sale by the taxpayer is in Oregon. (6) When property being shipped by a seller from the state of origin to a purchaser in another state is diverted while enroute to a purchaser in Oregon, the sales are in Oregon. Example 6: The taxpayer, a produce grower in State A, begins shipment of perishable produce to the purchaser’s place of business in State B. While enroute the produce is diverted to the purchaser’s place of business in Oregon, in which state the taxpayer is subject to tax. The sale by the taxpayer is attributed to Oregon. (7) If the taxpayer is not taxable in the state of the purchaser, the sale is attributed to Oregon if the property is shipped from an office, store, warehouse, factory, or other place of storage in Oregon. (a) Sales to a purchaser in a state other than Oregon will not be attributed to Oregon if the other state imposes a net income tax on the seller. (b) Sales to a purchaser in a state other than Oregon will not be attributed to Oregon if the other state would have jurisdiction to tax the seller on net income under the constitution of the United States and federal Public Law (P.L.) 86-272. (c) OAR 150-314-0369 provides that sales and activities in a foreign country will be treated the same as those in another U.S. state for determining if the foreign country has jurisdiction to tax the seller on net income. (d) The guidelines provided by federal P.L. 86-272 apply equally to activities regarding sales to unrelated parties and sales to affiliated corporations. (e) The immunity provided by P.L. 86-272 is not lost when a business engages in de minimis activities unrelated to the solicitation of orders in a state or foreign country where its only other activities are those protected by P.L. 86-272. Examples of such immune activities include the following: (A) The board of directors of a corporation based in Oregon holds a meeting at a hotel in another state or in a foreign country, (B) The president of a parent corporation based in Oregon meets with the managers of a subsidiary in a foreign country to discuss the subsidiary’s five-year plan and capital acquisitions budget. (C) The controller of a parent corporation based in Oregon meets with the accounting staff of a subsidiary in a foreign country to discuss federal financial reporting requirements. Example 7: The taxpayer has its head office and factory in State A. It maintains a branch office and inventory in Oregon. Taxpayer’s only activity in State B is the solicitation of orders by a resident salesman. All orders by the State B salesman are sent to the branch office in Oregon for approval and are filled by shipment from the inventory in Oregon. Since taxpayer is immune under Public Law 86-272 from tax in State B, all sales of merchandise to purchasers in State B are attributed to Oregon, the state from which the merchandise was shipped. Example 8: A parent company sells its product to a subsidiary, organized in a foreign country, that uses the parent’s product in manufacturing its product. Because of the parent-subsidiary relationship, orders are not solicited in the same way as sales to unrelated customers. Instead, the products are shipped as needed to the subsidiary. Officials from the parent company maintain a close liaison with the foreign subsidiary on the planning and design of the items sold. After the parties agreed on a contract in which the parent would manufacture and sell certain items to the subsidiary, the close working relationship continued between the technicians of both companies. Many of the parent’s employees made regular trips to the subsidiary after the contract was signed, to take care of such items as manufacturing problems, installation problems, repair work, redesign discussions, and/or production problems. Parent’s production engineers, production workers, metallurgists, quality control managers, and assembly supervisors were some of the personnel who spent several weeks of the year working closely with the foreign subsidiary. The foreign country does not impose an income tax on the parent corporation. Based upon the above facts, the parent is not considered to be protected under P.L. 86-272 and therefore is not required to attribute sales to Oregon. Example 9: A subsidiary organized in a foreign country purchases products from its parent, a manufacturing company in Oregon. The subsidiary places a purchase order with the parent on an “as needed” basis. The parent, upon receipt of the purchase order, makes shipment to the subsidiary. The subsidiary, upon receipt of the product, makes payment to the parent. The parent has a relationship with its foreign subsidiary that is unrelated to the sale of its product. Officials from the parent company occasionally visit the foreign subsidiary to discuss matters unrelated to the sale of its product, including: (1) public relations, (2) personnel matters, and (3) government relations. The foreign country does not impose an income tax on the parent corporation. Based upon the above facts, the parent is considered to be protected under P.L. 86-272 and is required to attribute the sales to Oregon. (8) If a taxpayer whose salesman operates from an office located in Oregon makes a sale to a purchaser in another state in which the taxpayer is not taxable and the property is shipped directly by a third party to the purchaser, the following rules apply, under authority of ORS 314.667: (a) If the taxpayer is taxable in the state from which the third party ships the property, then the sale is in such state. (b) If the taxpayer is not taxable in the state from which the property is shipped, then the sale is in Oregon. Example 10: The taxpayer in Oregon sold merchandise to a purchaser in State A. Taxpayer is not taxable in State A. Upon direction of the taxpayer, the merchandise was shipped directly to the purchaser by the manufacturer in State B. If the taxpayer is taxable in State B, the sale is in State B. If the taxpayer is not taxable in State B, the sale is in Oregon. Publications: Publications referenced are available from the Agency