Volk v. Evatt

45 Ohio Law. Abs. 135
CourtUnited States Board of Tax Appeals
DecidedJune 2, 1943
DocketNo. 5157
StatusPublished

This text of 45 Ohio Law. Abs. 135 (Volk v. Evatt) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Board of Tax Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Volk v. Evatt, 45 Ohio Law. Abs. 135 (bta 1943).

Opinion

ENTRY

This cause and matter came on for hearing before the Board of Tax Appeals upon an appeal filed herein by the appellant, above named, from an order made by the tax commissioner confirming a deficiency sales tax assessment theretofore made by the tax commissioner against the appellant. Said cause was submitted to the Board of Tax Appeals upon said appeal, upon a transcript of the proceedings of the tax commissioner relating to said sales tax assessment, upon a stipulation of the facts entered into by counsel on the hearing of the case and upon other evidence adduced at such hearing, and upon the arguments and briefs of counsel. The cause [137]*137was likewise submitted to the Board upon, a motion filed by the appellant for an order of the Board sustaining said appeal and setting aside said deficiency tax assessment for the stated reason “that §5546-1 GC, and Rules Nos. 25, 27 and 90 of‘the Tax Commission of Ohio are in conflict with and prohibited by Article II, Sec. 26, Article XII, Sec. 2 and Article XII, Sec. 5 of the Constitution of the State of Ohio, and are in conflict with and prohibited by Section I of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, which provides that no State shall deprive any person of life, liberty or property without due process of law, nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws”.

The Board of Tax Appeals is unable to perceive any merit in appellant’s motion on the grounds therein stated, and said motion is hereby overruled.

The Board of Tax Appeals upon further consideration of the case as the same was submitted to it, finds that on or about August 29,1941, the tax commissioner, acting through his agents and representatives in the Sales Tax Division of the Department of Taxation, made’ an audit of the business of the appellant who, as an individual, was doing business under the name of Volk’s Sheet Metal Company with his office and place of business in the city of Lakewood, Ohio. Pursuant to this audit, which covered the period of time from January 1, 1938, to June 30, 1941, a deficiency sales tax assessment in the sum of $590.13, together with an added penalty of $88.52 amounting in all to the sum of $678.65, was made against the appellant as a purchaser or “consumer”, on and with respect to items of tangible personal property, to wit, furnace parts,, connections, equipment and other materials which were sold to appellant from time to time during the period of said audit, and which were used by him in his business as a subcontractor in assembling and installing such items of property as completed heating units in newly constructed dwellings and other buildings under contracts between himself as such subcontractor and general contractors engaged in the construction and erection of such buildings; and that such heating units were installed by the appellant under lump sum contracts which did not by their terms provide for a separation of the charge for labor and other services from the charge for materials necessary in fulfilling such contracts. It further appears from the facts as they were stipulated by the parties on the hearing of this case, that the appellant did not sell at retail any of the items of personal property purchased by him as aforesaid, but that all of such items were used by him in the assembly and installation of heating units under contract [138]*138in manner as above stated; which heating units, upon the installation thereof, became a part of the several buildings in which they were installed and, as stipulated by the parties herein, became a part of the real property comprising such several buildings and the lots or lands upon which the same were located. See Holland Furnace Company v The Trumbull Savings and Loan Co., 135 Oh St 48.

No claim is made by appellant that any sales taxes were paid on the sales to him of such items of personal property which he had purchased for the purposes above stated; nor is any question here made as to the correctness of the amount of this deficiency assessment and penalty, if the several sales to appellant of the items of property here in question for the purposes above stated were taxable sales under the provisions of §5546-1 et seq., GC.

The question as to whether the sales made to appellant of the items of tangible personal property, as aforesaid, which were used by him in his business as a subcontractor for the purposes hereinbefore mentioned, were “retail sales” and taxable against him as a purchaser or “consumer”, requires a consideration of the pertinent provisions of §§5546-1 and 5546-3 GC, and of other related provisions of the Sales Tax Act in the light of general principles of law applicable in cases of this kind. Sec. 5546-1 GC, as the same read at the time of the sales here in question, provided: “ ‘Sale’ and ‘selling’ include all transactions whereby 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 granted, for a consideration in any manner, whether absolutely or conditionally, whether for a price or rental, in money or by exchange or barter, or by any means whatsoever.” As a matter which is pertinent, perhaps, in the consideration of the ques-r tion here presented, it is noted that this section further provides as follows: “A construction contract, pursuant to which tangible personal property is or is to be incorporated into a structure or improvement on and becoming a part of real property shall, if the consideration for such incorporation is agreed upon, charged or paid separately from the consideration for the performance of the other obligations of such construction contract, constitute a sale of such tangible personal property for the purpose of this act.” By this section the term “vendor” is defined to mean the person by whom the transfer effected by a sale is or is to be’ ma'de; and by this section the term “consumer” is defined to mean the person to whom the transfer effected by a sale is or is to be made.

[139]*139Sec. 5546-3 GC, provides that for the.purposes therein stated, and at the graduated rates therein specifiéd-, “An excise tax is hereby levied on each retail sale made in this state of tangible personal property on and after the first day of January, 1935, with the exceptions hereinafter mentioned.” It is thus seen that under the provisions of this section, the taxes therein provided for are not levied on all sales but only on such as are “retail sales” under the definitive provisions set out in §5546-1 GC. By this section, retail sales are defined as follows: “ ‘Retail sale’ and ‘sales at retail’ include all sales excepting those in which the purpose of the consumer is (a) to resell the thing transferred in the form in which the same is, or is to be, received by him; or (b) to incorporate the thing transferred as a material or a part, into tangible personal property to bé produced for sale by manufacturing, assembling, processing or refining, or to use or 'consume the thing transferred directly in the production of tangible personal property for sale by manufacturing, processing, refining, mining, production of crude oil and natural gas, farming, horticulture, or floriculture * * *. In this connection it is proper to note that in and by §5546-2 GC, it is further provided that “for the purpose of the proper administration of this act and to prevent the evasion of the tax hereby levied, it shall be presumed that all sales made in this state are subject to the tax hereby levied until the contrary is established”.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
45 Ohio Law. Abs. 135, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/volk-v-evatt-bta-1943.