House of Lloyd v. Commonwealth

694 A.2d 375, 1997 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 229, 1997 WL 268543
CourtCommonwealth Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedMay 22, 1997
DocketNo. 36 F.R. 1991
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 694 A.2d 375 (House of Lloyd v. Commonwealth) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
House of Lloyd v. Commonwealth, 694 A.2d 375, 1997 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 229, 1997 WL 268543 (Pa. Ct. App. 1997).

Opinion

COLINS, President Judge.

House of Lloyd, Inc. filed exceptions to the October 28, 1996 opinion and order of the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania. House of Lloyd v. Commonwealth, 684 A.2d 213 (Pa.Cmwlth.1996). In that opinion, we affirmed the Department of Revenue’s (Revenue) assessment of use tax deficiencies pursuant to Section 202(b) of the Tax Reform Code of 1971 (Code).1

The facts underlying this controversy, as set forth in our opinion, follow:

House of Lloyd is a Missouri corporation with its principal place of business in Grandview, Missouri. House of Lloyd sells its products in Pennsylvania through a network of home party hostesses. The House of Lloyd sales distribution system consists of a hierarchy of district managers, supervisors, demonstrators, and hostesses. House of Lloyd contracts with district managers, who are recruited from the top selling supervisors.
District managers sign a District Manager Agreement with House of Lloyd in which they agree to recruit and train supervisors and demonstrators. Each district manager receives commissions on all sales attributable to her supervisors, and each district manager generally also works as supervisor and demonstrator, for which she receives regular commissions (i.e., no district manager level commissions).
Supervisors sign a Supervisor Agreement (form supplied by House of Lloyd) with a district manager in which they agree to recruit and train demonstrators in exchange for commissions based on demonstrator sales. Supervisors generally also act as demonstrators, for which they receive regular commissions.
Demonstrators sign a Demonstrator Agreement (form supplied by House of Lloyd) with a supervisor in which they agree to demonstrate and sell House of Lloyd products and recruit hostesses. Each demonstrator receives commissions on her party and nonparty sales. The party hostess makes her home available for a sales demonstration to which she invites interested members of her family and community. For each home party, the hostess receives a free gift (a dollar amount to spend on House of Lloyd products).
Each district manager, supervisor, and demonstrator receives a sample kit from the House of Lloyd to be used in promoting and selling House of Lloyd products. A sample kit consists of a selection of products, a bundle of about fifty catalogs, and order forms and has a retail value of $300. A district manager is entitled to keep the kit when the required demonstrator sales are met. A supervisor is entitled to keep a kit at no charge when her demonstrator sales reach $1,500. A demonstrator is entitled to keep the kit when her personal sales reach $1,500; however, House of Lloyd retains the first $75 in commissions as a deposit. Sample kits must be returned in saleable condition upon request, if not “earned,” or they may be purchased for $150 each.
District managers, supervisors, and demonstrators are eligible for House of Lloyd’s incentive program. Demonstra[377]*377tors, supervisors, and district managers earn incentive points based on meeting sales goals and participation in sales and recruitment programs; points can be redeemed for non-House of Lloyd merchandise.

Id. at 215 (footnote omitted).

In our October 28, 1996 opinion, we affirmed the Commonwealth’s assessment of use tax against the taxpayer’s use of sample kits, incentive prizes, and hostess free goods after concluding: 1) the tax does not violate Commerce Clause restrictions as embodied in the four-part test set forth in Complete Auto Transit, Inc. v. Brady, 430 U.S. 274, 97 S.Ct. 1076, 51 L.Ed.2d 326 (1977); and 2) the taxpayer uses the taxed items within the Commonwealth as “use” is defined in Section 201 (o) of the Code, 72 P.S. § 7201(o). The Taxpayer filed timely exceptions, which are now before us.

The Taxpayer asserts that we erred in “relying upon Scripto v. Carson, 362 U.S. 207, 80 S.Ct. 619, 4 L.Ed.2d 660 (1960), the factual circumstances of which diverge widely from the facts of this case.” (Petitioner’s Exceptions at p. 4.) According to the Taxpayer, “[t]he Scripto issue was whether an out-of-state retailer was liable to collect sales tax upon goods sold through in-state independent contractor salesmen.” (Petitioner’s Brief, dated February 14, 1997, at p. 6.)

First, we note that Scripto had absolutely nothing to do with a sales tax. Scripto involved Florida’s application of its use tax in connection with a Georgia corporation’s sales to Florida residents. The present case involves the Commonwealth’s application of its use tax in connection with the Taxpayer’s sales to Pennsylvania residents. More important, the issue in both cases was whether a sufficient nexus existed between the out-of-state corporation and the taxing state to subject the corporation to the taxing state’s exaction. The issue is “whether [Pennsylvania], in the light of [petitioner’s] operations there, may collect the State’s use tax from it on the basis of property ... shipped from its home office to ... [Pennsylvania] for use there.” Id. at 210, 80 S.Ct. at 621.

Second, we cited Scripto as an extreme example of the physical presence held adequate to constitute the required nexus under the Commerce Clause, and for the opinion’s language refuting the Taxpayer’s contention that its district managers, supervisors, and demonstrators are independent contractors rather than employees. In this case, as in Scripto, the Taxpayer’s “contractual tagging of the salesperson] as ‘independent’ neither results in changing [her] local function of solicitation nor bears upon its effectiveness in securing a substantial flow of goods into [Pennsylvania].” Id. at 211, 80 S.Ct. at 621-22. The nexus in the instant case is far more substantial than in Scripto: the Taxpayer has over 50,000 (compared with 10 in Scripto) such “independent contractors” dedicated to promoting and selling House of Lloyd products, to recruiting and training salespeople, and to securing a substantial flow of goods into the Commonwealth.

The presence in the Commonwealth of the Taxpayer’s “independent contractors” acting as a very large, organized, and Taxpayer-directed sales force and constantly recruiting more salespeople, constitutes a physical presence satisfying the bright-line test for substantial nexus approved in Quill Corporation v. North Dakota, 504 U.S. 298, 112 S.Ct. 1904, 119 L.Ed.2d 91 (1992) (citing National Bellas Hess, Inc. v. Department of Revenue of Illinois, 386 U.S. 753, 87 S.Ct. 1389, 18 L.Ed.2d 505 (1967)). House of Lloyd’s activities, its use of sample kits, incentive prizes, and hostess free goods in the Commonwealth to promote and sell its products, take it outside the safe harbor created for vendors whose only connection with the taxing state is by mail or common carrier. Id.

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Bluebook (online)
694 A.2d 375, 1997 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 229, 1997 WL 268543, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/house-of-lloyd-v-commonwealth-pacommwct-1997.