American Moving and Storage of Leesville, Inc. v. Bridges

53 So. 3d 581, 10 La.App. 3 Cir. 825, 2010 La. App. LEXIS 1681, 2010 WL 4967983
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedDecember 8, 2010
DocketNo. 10-825
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 53 So. 3d 581 (American Moving and Storage of Leesville, Inc. v. Bridges) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Louisiana Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
American Moving and Storage of Leesville, Inc. v. Bridges, 53 So. 3d 581, 10 La.App. 3 Cir. 825, 2010 La. App. LEXIS 1681, 2010 WL 4967983 (La. Ct. App. 2010).

Opinion

GENOVESE, Judge.

[,The Department of Revenue, State of Louisiana (Department), appeals the trial court’s affirmation of a decision of the Board of Tax Appeals which concluded that no tax was due by American Moving and Storage of Leesville, Inc. (American). For the following reasons, we affirm.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

American is engaged in the business of packing the personal goods of military personnel for shipment and shipping them to other bases from Fort Polk, Louisiana. American purchases raw materials, such as corrugated cardboard, lumber, nails, and tape, to construct the crates and boxes that it uses to ship the goods.

The Department conducted an audit of American’s financial records for the tax period of January 1, 2004, through December 31, 2006. In May of 2007, the Department sent a notice to American stating that it owed sales tax in the amount of $23,999.00, plus interest. American contested the Department’s assessment of the tax owed by filing a petition with the Board of Tax Appeals (Board).1

A hearing was held on August 11, 2009, after which the Board took the matter under advisement. On September 9, 2009, the Board issued a written judgment wherein it declared:

It is the ruling of the Board that all of the purchases made by [American] of corrugated cardboard, lumber, nails, tape[,] and other materials used by [American] to construct boxes and crates to ship articles outside of, the state were articles of tangible personal property produced or manufactured in this state for export and/or are in interstate |2commerce as contemplated by [La.]R.S. 47:305(E) and are therefore excluded from the Louisiana sales tax.

The Board found in favor of American and vacated the Department’s tax assessment.

The Department filed a Petition for Judicial Review of a Decision of the Louisiana Board of Tax Appeals with the trial court pursuant to the provisions of La.R.S. 47:1434.2 The Department’s petition to the trial court asserted:

[583]*5831. The Board erred in ruling that all of the purchases made by [American] of corrugated cardboard, lumber, nails, tape[,] and other materials used by [American] to construct boxes and crates to ship articles outside the state were tangible personal property purchased or manufactured in this state for export and/or are in interstate commerce as contemplated by [La.]R.S. 47:305(E) and are therefore excluded from the Louisiana sales tax.
2. The Board erred in not applying the correct principal [sic] of law to the fact[s] of the case.
|.c,3. The Board erred in vacating and setting aside the assessment issued by the Department.

The trial court affirmed the decision of the Board. In its Written Reasons, the trial court stated:

This review is limited to a review of the facts in the record and to the question of whether the Board correctly applied ... Louisiana law to these facts. This [e]ourt can only set aside the Board’s ruling if it is manifestly erroneous based on the facts of the entire record or if the Board has incorrectly applied the existing relevant law concerning this issue.
A review of the record in this matter reveals that the facts of this matter are not in question. All of the materials in question were purchased by American Moving for their use in building crates to ship goods out of the State of Louisiana. The Board’s factual findings are supported by the evidence in the record, accordingly there [is] no error in the Board’s application of the facts.

The Board, further, correctly, [sic] applied the Louisiana Revised Statutes 47:305(E) which provides [in pertinent part]:

It is not the intention of [any taxing authority] to levy a tax upon articles of tangible personal property imported into this state, or produced or manufactured in this state, for export; nor is it the intention of [any taxing authority] to levy a tax on bona fide interstate commerce ... [.]
This application followed the ruling in a similar factual case, [International Export Packers of Louisiana, Inc. v. Louisiana, 422 So.2d 1361 (La.App. 1 Cir.1982) ]. Therein[,] tangible personal property used to build crates for exporting items outside of Louisiana were excluded from Louisiana sale taxes. The Board found no distinction between that case and the activities of American Moving [and] Storage of Leesville, Inc.

The trial court signed a judgment to this effect on April 14, 2010. It is from this judgment that the Department appeals.

[584]*584ASSIGNMENTS OF ERROR

On appeal, the Department raises the following assignments of error:

The Board of Tax Appeals and the [trial court] erred by failing to rule that a use tax is due on American Moving’s storage, use and ^consumption of the corrugated cardboard, lumber, nails[,] and tape within this state as required under La.R.S. 47:301(19).
The Board of Tax Appeals erred by ruling that all of the purchases made by American Moving of corrugated cardboard, lumber, nails, tape, and other materials used by American Moving to construct boxes and crates to ship articles outside of the state were articles of tangible personal property produced or manufactured in this state for export and/or are in interstate commerce as contemplated by [LaJR.S. 47:305(E) and are therefore excluded from the Louisiana sales tax.
The [trial court] erred by upholding a judgment of the Board of Tax Appeals, which is clearly contrary to law and evidence and[,] therefore[,] manifestly erroneous.

STANDARD OF REVIEW

In reviewing the trial court’s affirmation of the Board’s decision, we are mindful of the standard of review as explained by this court in Hanover Compressor Co. v. Department of Revenue, State of Louisiana, 02-925, pp. 5-6 (La.App. 3 Cir. 2/5/03), 838 So.2d 876, 879-80:

The scope of the judicial review of the Board of Tax Appeals is not controlled by the administrative procedure law found at La.R.S. 49:951, el seq. Instead, it is exempted from those provisions by La.R.S. 49:967. In Collector of Revenue v. Murphy Oil Co., 351 So.2d 1234 (La.App. 4 Cir.1977), the Board of Tax Appeals was described as acting as a trial court. A trial court’s jurisdiction to review a decision of the Board is provided by La.R.S. 47:1435, as follows:
The district courts shall have exclusive jurisdiction to review the decisions or judgments of the board, and the judgment of any such court shall be subject to further appeal, suspen-sive only, in accordance with law. If a suspensive appeal is taken from a judgment' of the district court[,] no further bond need be posted and the bond originally posted remains in full force and effect to guarantee the payment of any tax, interest, and penalty until final decision of the court.
Upon such review, such courts shall have the power to affirm or, if the decision of the judgment of the board is not in accordance with law, to modify, or to reverse the decision or judgment of the board, with or without | sremanding the case for further proceedings as justice may require.

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53 So. 3d 581, 10 La.App. 3 Cir. 825, 2010 La. App. LEXIS 1681, 2010 WL 4967983, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/american-moving-and-storage-of-leesville-inc-v-bridges-lactapp-2010.