Laciny Bros., Inc. v. Director of Revenue

869 S.W.2d 761, 1994 Mo. LEXIS 17, 1994 WL 20966
CourtSupreme Court of Missouri
DecidedJanuary 25, 1994
DocketNo. 76080
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 869 S.W.2d 761 (Laciny Bros., Inc. v. Director of Revenue) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Missouri primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Laciny Bros., Inc. v. Director of Revenue, 869 S.W.2d 761, 1994 Mo. LEXIS 17, 1994 WL 20966 (Mo. 1994).

Opinion

HOLSTEIN, Judge.

Appellant Laciny Brothers, Inc., seeks review of a decision of the Administrative Hearing Commission (AHC) assessing sales tax liability on labor and supply charges separately stated on invoices for the years 1988, 1989, and 1990. The AHC upheld all assessments but disallowed an addition, finding that the failure to pay the tax was “not the result of willful neglect, evasion or fraudulent intent.” See § 144.250.2.1 Because this case involves construction of the revenue laws, this Court has jurisdiction. Mo. Const, art. V, § 3. Because the decision of the AHC is “unexpected” pursuant to § 143.903, RSMo Supp.1992, the decision assessing additional taxes for labor is reversed. The remainder of the decision is affirmed.

AHC decisions are reviewed to determine whether the decision is authorized by law and whether there is competent and substantial evidence on the record as a whole to support the factual findings. Mo. Const. art. V, § 18. This Court gives due deference to the commission’s ability to assess the credibility of witnesses. St. Louis County v. State Tax Com’n, 406 S.W.2d 644, 649 (Mo. banc 1966). Where the administrative action involves only the application by the agency of the law to the facts, the court may weigh the evidence itself and determine the facts accordingly. Sections 536.140.3 and 621.145.

[763]*763FACTS

Laciny Brothers custom builds metal equipment used by processors of food, chemicals and pharmaceuticals. After conferring with the customer and observing the customer’s process, Laciny Brothers makes recommendations to the customer. The customer then orders custom-made tanks, hoppers, conveyors, pans, ovens, and the like, that are deemed necessary for use in the customer’s process. In addition, Laciny Brothers performs repairs on metal equipment. All work is done according to customer specifications. The billing practice is the same for both fabrication and repair of equipment for customers. Charges for 1990 and prior years were broken down into three categories: má-terials, supplies and labor. Sales taxes were only collected and remitted on the materials component until mid-1990. The invoice was prepared in duplicate with both invoices stating the correct amount of sales tax calculated on materials. The invoice retained by Laci-ny Brothers included the breakdown of supplies, labor, and materials. These entries on Laciny’s duplicate original invoice were made contemporaneously with preparation of the customer’s invoice.2 On advice of an accountant, they changed their practice in mid-1990 and began charging sales tax on all three components.

Arlene Laciny Ulz is the president of Laci-ny Brothers. She has been employed in the business for over fifty years preparing Laci-ny Brothers’ tax returns and managing the office. Specifically, she prepared the sales tax returns for the years currently under audit and also prepared the sales tax returns for 1981 and 1982. Laciny Brothers was audited in 1983 for tax years 1981 and 1982. As in later years, charges were invoiced as labor, materials or supplies. During the 1983 audit, the director did not assess any sales tax on the labor and supply components of Laciny Brothers’ sales. The department of revenue auditor told Mrs. Ulz that as long as labor and supplies were stated separately in the invoice, no tax was due. It is conceded by all parties that the statutes and regulations relevant to the tax in this case remained unchanged in substance from 1981 through 1990.

I.

Sales tax is imposed on all sales at retail of tangible personal property.- Sections ⅜⅜.-020(1) and Ui-021. The department of revenue publishes regulations designed to inform taxpayers as to the interpretation which the department of revenue places upon the statutes in the course of its administration and enforcement of the sales tax law. 12 CSR 10-3.002. The regulations provide that one who purchases material and supplies for use in fabrication of tangible personal property for others is subject to sales tax on the full sales price of the completed or fabricated product. 12 CSR 10-3.032(2). The regulations further provide that the sales price includes charges for labor if such charges are incorporated into the agreed selling price of the property, but “labor charges are not taxable if they are separately stated on the billing invoice.” 12 CSR 10-3.044.

Department of revenue sales tax return forms provide a blank under a column marked “Deductions” to enter an amount for “Labor or service charges when billed separately.” Thus, the forms indicate that to the extent labor is billed separately, it is to be deducted from gross sales.

Notwithstanding these regulations, department of revenue forms which provide for deduction of separate charges for labor and services, the 1982 and 1983 audits in which no additional assessment was made for labor and supplies, and the representations of the department’s auditor in 1983, the department in the 1991 audit assessed sales taxes for labor and supplies although those charges [764]*764were separately stated. Those assessments were affirmed by the AHC.

Before the AHC and here, Laciny Brothers argues that the assessments by the AHC were unexpected. An unexpected decision of the AHC “shall only apply after the most recently ended tax period of the particular class of persons subject to such tax imposed by Chapters 148 and 144, RSMo_” Section 14-3.903.1, RSMo Supp.1992. A decision is “unexpected” if “a reasonable person would not have expected the decision or order based on prior law, previous policy or regulation of the department of revenue.” Section 143.903.2, RSMo Supp.1992. Laciny Brothers seeks relief from these unexpected assessments.

The department of revenue argues that 12 CSR 10-3.032(2), noted above, makes labor changes subject to sales tax. This regulation makes no reference to the tax treatment of separately stated labor charges. That subject is directly addressed by 12 CSR 10-3.044, which states that labor charges are not taxable if separately stated on the billing invoice. In any event, the 1983 audit and tax return forms are strong indicators of the department of revenue’s policy with regard to any arguable conflicts between its two regulations.

The director argues that the decision in this case is consistent with decisions of this Court dating prior to 1988. The pre-1988 caselaw to which we are directed is Kilbane v. Director of Revenue, 544 S.W.2d 9 (Mo. banc 1976). That case held that sales tax was not dependent upon the respective percentages of labor and material' used in a product sold. Id. at 12. It did not say that sales tax was due on labor where labor and materials for custom work are invoiced separately. By contrast, that issue is directly addressed by 12 CSR 10-3.044(1).

The director of revenue finally makes the dubious argument that Howard Buick Oldsmobile, Inc. v. Director of Revenue, 89-001 766 RS (AHC 1991), holding that 12 CSR 10-3.044 and 12 CSR 10-3.0723 are incorrect statements of the law, establishes that the decision in this case was not unexpected. That decision is obviously inapposite to the instant case because the last year of the Laciny Brothers audit was 1990.

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869 S.W.2d 761, 1994 Mo. LEXIS 17, 1994 WL 20966, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/laciny-bros-inc-v-director-of-revenue-mo-1994.