Combs v. Entertainment Publications, Inc.

292 S.W.3d 712, 2009 WL 1657564
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedAugust 27, 2009
Docket03-08-00474-CV
StatusPublished
Cited by83 cases

This text of 292 S.W.3d 712 (Combs v. Entertainment Publications, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Combs v. Entertainment Publications, Inc., 292 S.W.3d 712, 2009 WL 1657564 (Tex. Ct. App. 2009).

Opinions

[715]*715 OPINION

J. WOODFIN JONES, Chief Justice.

Appellee Entertainment Publications, Inc. (“Entertainment”) sued Susan Combs, Comptroller of Public Accounts of the State of Texas (the “Comptroller”), for declaratory and injunctive relief to prevent the Comptroller from implementing a new rule that would require Entertainment to collect and remit tax on the sales of products sold through school fundraising activities. The trial court denied the Comptroller’s plea to the jurisdiction and granted a temporary injunction in favor of Entertainment, enjoining the Comptroller from implementing and enforcing a new rule governing the tax treatment of fundraising sales. In this interlocutory appeal, the Comptroller complains of the denial of her plea to the jurisdiction, see Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem.Code Ann. § 51.014(a)(8) (West 2008), and the grant of the temporary injunction, see id. § 51.014(a)(4). The Comptroller argues that the policy statement Entertainment complains of is not a “rule” that may be challenged under the Administrative Procedures Act (“APA”), see Tex. Gov’t Code Ann. §§ 2001.021-.041 (West 2008); that the court lacked jurisdiction to grant declaratory relief under the Uniform Declaratory Judgments Act (“UDJA”), see Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem.Code Ann. §§ 37.001-.011 (West 2008); and that injunctive relief is improper. We will affirm the orders of the district court.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

Entertainment is a brochure-fundraising firm that contracts with schools and related organizations, some tax-exempt, to sell merchandise and food products in order to raise funds for student groups. The fund-raising products are sold by the school groups to third-party consumers using Entertainment’s brochures and order forms at retail prices suggested by Entertainment in its catalogs. According to Entertainment, its initial sales to the school groups are separate transactions from the ultimate sales of items by the school groups to the end consumers. In Entertainment’s view, this “two-sale transaction” system dictates that the school groups themselves are the actual “sellers” of goods for the following reasons:

The school [group] purchases sales inventory from a vendor [such as Entertainment] for a certain price (first transaction) and then resells the taxable items at its own profit or loss for a price the organization determines (second transaction).
The school [group] assumes the responsibility and risk.
The school [group] does not receive a commission on sales, nor does it share or split the proceeds with the vendor in any way.

Thus, Entertainment argues that the school groups, not Entertainment, are the “sellers” and therefore are responsible for collecting and remitting any sales tax due on the items sold to the end consumers. See Tex. Tax Code Ann. § 151.052(a)-(b) (West 2008) (requiring that “seller” of taxable item collect sales tax). Furthermore, when the school groups claim an intention to resell the fundraising products, Entertainment maintains that, based on the “sale for resale” exemption in section 151.302 of the tax code, it is not responsible for collecting sales tax on its initial sales to the school groups. See id. § 151.302(a) (providing that “sale for resale” of taxable item is exempted from sales tax); see also id. § 151.006(a)(1) (defining “sale for resale” of tangible personal property). Accordingly, Entertainment asserts that it accepts resale or exemption certificates in lieu of charging sales tax to schools that claim an intention to resell the [716]*716fundraising products. Only when schools do not provide a resale or exemption certificate does Entertainment charge sales tax, based on the “wholesale” price that schools pay Entertainment for the products.

In marketing itself to school groups, Entertainment relies on a further exemption in the tax code, which provides that a tax-exempt organization such as a school may hold two one-day, tax-free sales per year, at which the sale of an item priced $5,000 or less is exempted from sales tax. See id. § 151.310; 34 Tex. Admin. Code § 3.322(h)(2) (2008). Such sales are permissible, however, only if the school — not Entertainment — is regarded as the actual “seller” of the fundraising products. According to Entertainment, its business model “allows schools to utilize the tax advantages of the two-sale scenario” because the schools can resell the fundraising products without having to calculate the sales tax due on the items or collect sales tax from the end consumers.

The alternative to viewing these types of transactions as two distinct sales is to characterize them as a single sale, wherein the fundraising firm is the seller and the school or school group acts as the seller’s agent. In these circumstances, the fund-raising firm bears the responsibility of collecting and remitting sales tax on the products, which may not be sold tax-free during one of the school’s tax-free sales days.

Entertainment asserts that it developed its understanding that the transactions at issue were two distinct sales from what it refers to as the Comptroller’s “long-standing rule” stated in a 2007 letter ruling identified as Accession No. 200704926L. The so-called Factual Criteria Rule, as described in that letter,1 provided tlie following guidelines for determining whether the fundraising firm or the school organization was the “seller” for purposes of collecting sales tax:

The PTA is the seller when it purchases sales inventory from a vendor for a certain price (first transaction) and then resells the taxable items at its own profit or loss for a price the PTA determines (second transaction). The PTA assumes all responsibility and risk.
The PTA is the seller when it does not share/split the proceeds with the vendor/distributor.
The PTA is not the seller when it takes orders for the vendor and receives a commission from the vendor, such as a share or split of the proceeds. This is true regardless of who is setting the sales price.
Whether the payment, such as a check, is made to the PTA or the vendor may not be an indicator of the seller. For example, a check could be made to the PTA, but if the PTA is receiving a commission from a vendor, the PTA is not the seller.2

[717]*717According to the testimony of the Comptroller’s representative, this letter accurately stated, at that time, the Comptroller’s policy as to brochure fundraising.

On March 18, 2008, the Comptroller sent a letter to the Executive Director of the Association of Fundraising Distributors and Suppliers (the “March 2008 letter”), stating the following:

The Comptroller’s office has consistently held that sales will not qualify as one of a non-profit organization’s tax-free sales days when a school group raises funds by acting as sales representatives or agent for a for-profit retailer. In these cases, the retailer is the seller of the goods.

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Bluebook (online)
292 S.W.3d 712, 2009 WL 1657564, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/combs-v-entertainment-publications-inc-texapp-2009.