Coca-Cola Bottling Corp. v. Kosydar

331 N.E.2d 440, 43 Ohio St. 2d 186, 72 Ohio Op. 2d 104, 1975 Ohio LEXIS 560
CourtOhio Supreme Court
DecidedJuly 16, 1975
DocketNo. 74-1039
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 331 N.E.2d 440 (Coca-Cola Bottling Corp. v. Kosydar) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Ohio Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Coca-Cola Bottling Corp. v. Kosydar, 331 N.E.2d 440, 43 Ohio St. 2d 186, 72 Ohio Op. 2d 104, 1975 Ohio LEXIS 560 (Ohio 1975).

Opinion

Corrigan, J.

The assessment on the purchases in issue will be treated as a sales tax assessment, since R. C. 5741.02 (C)(2) incorporates the sales tax exceptions into the Ohio use tax levied in R. C. 5741.02.

The record indicates that the premix dispensing 'equipment consisted of carbon dioxide cylinders, 608:ounce beverage tanks, tubing, dispensing heads, and cold plates^ All, the items are found at dispensing stations in drug .'stores, soda fountains and other locations where premix Coca-Cola and related products are sold. All the; equipment in issue is purchased by the appellant corporation.; ' '<= . •

[188]*188The items are installed at the customer’s dispensing location by appellant’s service staff. Each customer-retailer must use an average of four tanks of premix beverage per week. This requirement, however, is not contained in a written contract nor is it manifest in any written form. There is no charge for the use of premix equipment installed in a customer’s dispensing locations. A customer who buys 100 cylinders of premix beverage per week pays the same price per cylinder as a customer who buys ten cylinders per week. Appellant reserves the right to remove equipment if a customer-retailer fails to average four cylinders per week or if the customer-retailer uses the equipment for any purpose other than dispensing appellant’s products.

The “special events” equipment consists of concession stands, trailers, coolers, and other dispensing items. The appellant “loans” the equipment to customers, and makes no charge for the use and possession thereof. Appellant makes periodic checks of the equipment to ensure it is used exclusively to dispense appellant’s products.

The beverage coolers are also “loaned” to customers for use at special events, fairs, socials, and similar events. The coolers are to be used exclusively by appellant’s customers for dispensing appellant’s products and are checked by appellant to ensure exclusive use.

The record indicates that customers of appellant are not prohibited from dispensing other products but only from dispensing other products through the use of appellant’s equipment.

Appellant maintains that this equipment is excepted from the definition of a “retail sale” contained in R. C. 5739.01 because appellant’s purpose in purchasing the equipment is to: (1) Use or consume the transferred equipment directly in making retail sales, pursuant to R. C. 5739.01(E) (2); and (2) resell the equipment transferred in the same form that it is received by appellant, pursuant to R. C. 5739.01(E) (1).

I.

Appellant’s first contention is without merit. Numerous decisions of this court have established that in order [189]*189for a consumer to have a purpose that transferred equipment be used or consumed directly in making; retail sales the consumer of the transferred goods must, himself, make retail sales. H. J. Heinz Co. v. Bowers (1960), 170 Ohio St. 423; Coca Cola Bottling Co. of Youngstown v. Bowers (1960), 171 Ohio St. 26; San-A-Pure Dairy Co. v. Bowers (1962), 173 Ohio St. 469.

The San-A-Pure Dairy case is factually similar to the case at bar. The consumer of the assessed refrigerated cabinets in that case was a manufacturer and wholesaler of ice cream. The consumer retained ownership of the purchased cases but furnished them to retailers of his product for the display and sale of the same without making a direct charge for such use or increasing the cost of the ice cream to such retailers above the prevailing wholesale price. In denying the appellant’s contention that it was entitled to an exception from sales and use taxes because it had the purpose “to use or consume the thing transferred directly in making retail sales,” the court stated, at page 472:

“ * * * although the refrigerated cases or cabinets in issue were ultimately used in connection with making retail sales, it was the retailer and not the appellant who used them for that purpose, and the appellant, a separate entity, may not place itself in the retailer’s shoes.”

In the present case, the appellant-consumer manufactures and wholesales soft drink products. Although appellant may have the purpose that the dispensing equipment in issue be used or consumed in making retail sales, appellant does not directly use or consume it in making retail sales. Appellant is a wholesale distributor. Only those retailers who make use of appellant’s dispensing equipment in making retail sales use that equipment directly in the manner contemplated by R. C. 5739.01(E)(2). Appellant makes no retail sales and cannot stand in their shoes.

II.

Appellant’s second contention is that purchases of dispensing equipment are excepted from Ohio sales and use taxes, pursuant to R. C. 5739.01(E)(1), where a soft drink bottler purchases soft drink dispensing equipment with the [190]*190purpose of loaning such equipment to customers under agreements which require those customers to usé that equipment to dispense exclusively the soft drink products sold to them by the bottler and, in some instances, require those customers to maintain certain specified levels of sales in order to retain the use of that equipment, and such transactions constitute resales of the dispensing equipment to those customers, supported by a consideration paid by those customers, consisting of promises amounting to the level of legal detriments, in exchange for the rent-free use of the equipment.

The Tax Commissioner and the Board of Tax Appeals, in denying the appellant an exception under R. C. 5739.01 (E)(1) and assessing the equipment in issue, relied on the decision of this court in San-A-Pure Dairy Co. v. Bowers, supra (173 Ohio St. 469). The San-A-Pure, Dairy decision is factually similar to the present case and, we think, controlling.

In the present case, it is undisputed that Coca-Cola retained ownership of the dispensing equipment in question while transferring said equipment to customer-retailers. The only issue requiring resolution is whether the transferred equipment was acquired by appellant’s customer-retailers for a consideration, thus constituting a resale of the equipment under R. C. 5739.01(E)(1).

R. C. 5739.01(B) defines “sale” and “selling” to include “ * * * all transactions by which title or possession, or both, of tangible personal property, is or is to be transferred, or a license to use or consume tangible personal property is or is to be granted * * * for a consideration in any manner, whether absolutely or conditionally, whether for a price or rental, in money or by exchange, and by any means whatsoever * * *.”

The record indicates that appellant made no direct charge for the premix dispensing equipment but, rather, billed customer-retailers for the amount of premix beverage which they purchased. The price per cylinder of premix [191]*191beverage was the same for all of appellant’s customer-retailers. Appellant also had available to customers a post-mix beverage requiring none of the premix dispensing equipment. The postmix beverage is dispensed through dispensing heads or taps, along with other products. Apparently, these “regular” heads are purchased or rented from a manufacturer. Postmix beverage, appellant’s witness testified, is considerably cheaper than premix beverage.

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Bluebook (online)
331 N.E.2d 440, 43 Ohio St. 2d 186, 72 Ohio Op. 2d 104, 1975 Ohio LEXIS 560, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/coca-cola-bottling-corp-v-kosydar-ohio-1975.