§ 57-39.2-04 — Exemptions

North Dakota § 57-39.2-04

• Jurisdiction: North Dakota
• Title 57: Taxation
• Ch. 57-39.2: Sales Tax

Text

There are specifically exempted from the provisions of this chapter and from computation of
the amount of tax imposed by it the following:
1. Gross receipts from sales of tangible personal property which this state is prohibited
from taxing under the Constitution or laws of the United States or under the
Constitution of North Dakota.
2. Gross receipts from the sales, furnishing, or service of passenger transportation
service and gross receipts from the sales, furnishing, or service of freight
transportation service when provided by a common carrier.
3. Repealed by S.L. 1971, ch. 567, § 1.
4. a. Gross receipts from sales of tickets, or admissions to state, county, district, and
local fairs.
b. Gross receipts from educational, religious, or charitable activities when the entire
amount of net receipts is expended for educational, religious, or charitable
purposes. The exemption in this subdivision does not apply to:
(1) Gross receipts from taxable sales in excess of ten thousand dollars for an
event not otherwise exempt under subdivision c, d, or e if the activities are
held in a publicly owned facility for which fair market rent has not been paid;
or
(2) Gross receipts from activities if the seller competes with retailers by
maintaining inventory, conducting retail sales on a regular basis from a
permanent or seasonal location, or soliciting sales from a website prepared
for or maintained by the seller.
c. Gross receipts derived by an institution of higher education located in this state
from tickets or admissions to athletic, musical, dramatic, or scholastic events
held, sponsored, hosted, or controlled by the institution of higher education, in
which the primary performers or participants consist of students of an institution
of higher education.
d. Gross receipts derived by any public school district if such receipts are expended
in accordance with section 15.1-07-10 or 15.1-07-11.
e. Gross receipts of a nonprofit music or dramatic arts organization that is exempt
from federal income taxation and is organized and operated for the presentation
of live public performances of musical or theatrical works on a regular basis.
5. Gross receipts from sales of textbooks to regularly enrolled students of a private or
public school and from sales of textbooks, yearbooks, and school supplies purchased
by a private nonprofit elementary school, secondary school, or any other nonprofit
institution of higher learning conducting courses of study similar to those conducted by
public schools in this state.
6. Gross receipts from all sales otherwise taxable under this chapter made to the United
States, an Indian tribe, or to any state, including the state of North Dakota, or any of
the subdivisions, departments, agencies, or institutions of any state. A political
subdivision of another state is exempt under this subsection only if a sale to a North
Dakota political subdivision is treated as an exempt sale in that state. The
governmental units exempted by this subsection must be issued a certificate of
exemption by the commissioner and the certificate must be presented to each retailer
whenever this exemption is claimed. For purposes of this subsection, an Indian tribe
means a tribal government agency, instrumentality, or political subdivision that
performs essential government functions and does not include business entities or
agencies the primary purpose of which is to operate a business enterprise.

7. Gross receipts from the sale of drugs sold under a doctor's prescription.
8. Gross receipts from sales of adjuvants, agrichemical tank cleaners and foam markers,
commercial fertilizers, fungicides, seed treatments, inoculants and fumigants,
herbicides, and insecticides to agricultural or commercial vegetable producers and
commercial applicators; chemicals used to preserve agricultural crops being stored;
and seeds, roots, bulbs, and small plants to commercial users or consumers for
planting or transplanting for commercial vegetable gardens or agricultural purposes.
9. Gross receipts from sales of oxygen sold to any person who purchases it upon the
written order of a doctor for the person's own use for medical purposes.
10. Gross receipts from the sale of motor vehicles, farm machinery, alcoholic beverages,
gasoline, insurance premiums, gaming tickets, or any other article or product, except
as otherwise provided, upon which the state of North Dakota imposes a special tax.
11. Gross receipts from the sale of feed which is fed to poultry or livestock, including
breeding stock and wool-bearing stock, for the purpose of producing eggs, milk, meat,
fibers, or other products for human consumption and the gross receipts from the sale
of feed purchased for the purpose of being fed to draft or fur-bearing animals. The
word "feed" as used herein shall be construed to mean and include only salt, grains,
hays, tankage, oyster shells, mineral supplements, limestone, molasses, beet pulp,
meat and bone scraps, meal, drugs to be used as part of a feed ration, and other
generally recognized animal feeds. The term "feed" includes drugs used as part of a
feed ration, medicants, disinfectants, wormers, tonics, and like items.
12. Gross receipts from a sale otherwise taxable under this chapter made to a person from
an adjoining state which does not impose or levy a retail sales tax, under the following
conditions:
a. The person is in the state of North Dakota for the express purpose of making a
purchase.
b. The person furnishes to the North Dakota retailer a certificate signed by the
person in a form as the commissioner may prescribe reciting sufficient facts
establishing the exempt status of the sale. Unless the certificate is furnished it
must be presumed, until the contrary is shown, that the person was not in the
state of North Dakota for the express purpose of making a purchase.
c. The sale is fifty dollars or more.
13. Gross receipts from the sale of any motor vehicle taxable under the provisions of the
motor vehicle excise tax laws of North Dakota. However, gross receipts from the rental
of any motor vehicle for fewer than thirty days are not exempt but taxes imposed under
home rule authority do not apply to such rentals.
14. Repealed by S.L. 1969, ch. 528, § 24.
15. Gross receipts from sales in which a contractor furnishes to the retailer a certificate
which includes the contractor's license number assigned to the contractor under the
provisions of chapter 43-07. Such certificate shall be in the form prescribed by the
commissioner and shall be furnished by the contractor to the retailer each calendar
year prior to the making of any purchases during such calendar year from the retailer
without liability for paying the tax to the retailer. Any contractor furnishing such
certificate must report and remit the tax to the commissioner on purchases taxable
under this chapter made by the contractor in the same manner as retailers remit such
tax under this chapter.
16. Gross receipts from the sale of newsprint and ink used in the publication of a
newspaper.
17. Gross receipts from the sale of all services furnished by any hospital, infirmary,
sanatorium, nursing home, basic care facility, or similar institution to any patient or
occupant.
18. Repealed by S.L. 1973, ch. 480, § 6.
19. Repealed by S.L. 1971, ch. 555, § 3.
20. Gross receipts from the sale of food supplies to any public school, to any parochial or
private nonprofit school conducting courses of study similar to those conducted by
public schools in this state, or to any nonprofit organization, for use by the public,

parochial, or private school or nonprofit organization in sponsoring or conducting a
lunch program or programs in and for any such public, parochial, or private nonprofit
school.
21. Gross receipts from the leasing or renting of motion picture film to motion picture
exhibitors for exhibition if the sale of tickets or admissions to the exhibition of the film is
subject to the sales tax imposed by this chapter.
22. Gross receipts from the leasing or renting of manufactured homes, modular living
units, or sectional homes, whether or not placed on a permanent foundation, for
residential housing for periods of thirty or more consecutive days and the gross
receipts from the leasing or renting of a hotel or motel room or other accommodations
occupied by the same person or persons for residential housing for periods of thirty or
more consecutive days.
23. Food purchased by a student under a boarding contract with a college, university,
fraternity, or sorority.
24. Gross receipts from all sales when made to an eligible facility or emergency medical
services provider for the use or benefit of its patient or occupant. For the purposes of
this subsection:
a. "Eligible facility" means any hospital, skilled nursing facility, intermediate care
facility, residential end-of-life facility, basic care facility, or any assisted living
facility licensed by the department of health and human services; and
b. "Emergency medical services provider" means an emergency medical services
operation licensed by the department of health and human services under
chapter 23-27.
25. Gross receipts from the sale of Bibles, hymnals, textbooks, and prayerbooks sold to
nonprofit religious organizations.
26. Gross receipts from sales of prosthetic devices, durable medical equipment,
mobility-enhancing equipment, or supplies for ostomy care or bladder dysfunction. For
purposes of this subsection:
a. "Durable medical equipment" means equipment, not including mobility-enhancing
equipment, for home use, including repair and replacement parts for such
equipment, which:
(1) Can withstand repeated use;
(2) Is primarily and customarily used to serve a medical purpose;
(3) Generally is not useful to a person in the absence of illness or injury; and
(4) Is not worn in or on the body.
"Durable medical equipment" includes equipment and devices designed or
intended for ostomy care and management and equipment and devices used
exclusively for a person with bladder dysfunction. An exemption certificate is not
required to obtain exemption. Repair and replacement parts as used in this
definition include all components or attachments used in conjunction with the
durable medical equipment. Repair and replacement parts do not include items
which are for single patient use only.
b. "Mobility-enhancing equipment" means equipment, not including durable medical
equipment sold under a doctor's written prescription, including repair and
replacement parts for mobility-enhancing equipment, which:
(1) Is primarily and customarily used to provide or increase the ability to move
from one place to another and which is appropriate for use either at home or
in a motor vehicle;
(2) Is not generally used by persons with normal mobility; and
(3) Does not include any motor vehicle or equipment on a motor vehicle
normally provided by a motor vehicle manufacturer.
"Mobility-enhancing equipment" includes crutches and wheelchairs for the use of
disabled persons, equipment, including manual control units, van lifts, van door
opening units, and raised roofs for attaching to or modifying a motor vehicle for
use by a permanently physically disabled person, equipment, including elevators,
dumbwaiters, chair lifts, and bedroom or bathroom lifts, whether or not sold for

attaching to real property, for use by a permanently physically disabled person in
that person's principal dwelling, and equipment, including manual control units,
for attaching to or modifying motorized implements of husbandry for use by a
permanently physically disabled person.
c. "Prosthetic device" means a replacement, corrective, or supportive device sold
under a doctor's written prescription, including repair and replacement parts for
such a device, worn on or in the body to:
(1) Artificially replace a missing portion of the body;
(2) Prevent or correct a physical deformity or malfunction; or
(3) Support a weak or deformed portion of the body.
"Prosthetic device" includes artificial devices individually designed, constructed,
or altered solely for the use of a particular disabled person so as to become a
brace, support, supplement, correction, or substitute for the bodily structure,
including the extremities of the individual, artificial limbs, artificial eyes, hearing
aids, and other equipment worn as a correction or substitute for any functioning
portion of the body, artificial teeth sold by a dentist, and eyeglasses when
especially designed or prescribed by an ophthalmologist, physician, oculist, or
optometrist for the personal use of the owner or purchaser.
d. "Supplies for ostomy care or bladder dysfunction" includes:
(1) Supplies designed or intended for ostomy care and management, including
collection devices, colostomy irrigation equipment and supplies, skin
barriers or skin protectors, and other supplies especially designed for use of
ostomates.
(2) Supplies to be used exclusively by a person with bladder dysfunction,
including catheters, collection devices, incontinent pads and pants, adult
diapers, and other items used for the care and management of bladder
dysfunction. For the purposes of this paragraph:
(a) "Adult diapers" means diapers other than children's diapers.
(b) "Children's diapers" means diapers marketed to be worn by children.
(c) "Diaper" means an absorbent garment worn by humans who are
incapable of, or have difficulty, controlling their bladder or bowel
movements.
27. Gross receipts from the sale of electricity.
28. Gross receipts from the leasing or renting of any tangible personal property upon
which a North Dakota sales tax or use tax has been paid or is payable and the retailer
has separately indicated on an invoice, contract, lease agreement, or other supporting
sale document that the retailer paid sales or use tax on the retailer's purchase of the
tangible personal property.
29. Gross receipts from all sales otherwise taxable under this chapter when made to any
nonprofit organization for meals, including the containers, packages, and materials
used for wrapping food items, for delivery to persons who are confined to their homes
by illness or incapacity, including senior citizens and disabled persons, for
consumption by such shut-ins in their homes.
30. Gross receipts from all sales of recreational travel trailers not exceeding eight feet
[2.44 meters] in width or thirty-two feet [9.75 meters] in length which are designed to
be principally used as temporary vacation dwellings when made to persons who are
residents of other states which impose excise taxes upon registration of such
recreational travel trailers.
31. Gross receipts from the sale of money, including all legal tender coins and currency,
and from the sale of precious metal bullion that has been refined to a purity of not less
than nine hundred ninety-nine parts per one thousand and is in such form or condition
that its value depends upon its precious metal content and not its form.
32. Gross receipts from sales to nonprofit voluntary health associations which are exempt
from federal income tax under section 501(c)(3) of the United States Internal Revenue
Code [26 U.S.C. 501(c)(3)]. As used in this subsection, a voluntary health association
is an organization recognized by the internal revenue service, the national health

council, the state tax commissioner, and the North Dakota secretary of state as a
nonprofit organization that is exempt under section 501(c)(3) of the United States
Internal Revenue Code and meets the following requirements: It has been organized
and operated exclusively in providing services for the purposes of preventing and
alleviating human illness and injury. Methods used to obtain these goals would include
education, research, community service, and direct patient services, income being
derived solely from private donations with some exceptions of a minimal membership
fee. Its members are not limited to only individuals, who themselves are licensed or
otherwise legally authorized to render the same professional services as the
organization. The disbursement of funds within a volunteer health association is to be
controlled by a board of directors who work voluntarily and without pay.
33. Repealed by S.L. 2005, ch. 580, § 19.
34. Gross receipts from the sale of byproducts, arising from the processing of agricultural
products, for use in the manufacture or generation of steam or electricity.
35. Gross receipts from the sale of a manufactured home that has been sold, bargained,
exchanged, given away, or transferred by the person who first acquired it from a
retailer in a sale at retail and upon which the North Dakota sales tax has previously
been imposed.
36. Gross receipts from all sales of insulin in all its forms dispensed pursuant to the
direction of a licensed physician, all sales of glucose usable for treatment of insulin
reactions, all sales of urine and blood testing kits and materials, and all sales of insulin
measuring and injecting devices, including insulin syringes and hypodermic needles.
37. Gross receipts from the sale of any aircraft taxable under the provisions of chapter
57-40.5.
38. Gross receipts from all sales of air carrier transportation property subject to ad valorem
property taxation pursuant to the provisions of chapters 57-06, 57-07, 57-08, 57-13,
and 57-32.
39. Gross receipts from sales of tangible personal property consisting of flight simulators
or mechanical or electronic equipment for use in association with a flight simulator.
40. Gross receipts from sales of tickets or admissions to, or sales made at, an annual
church supper or bazaar held in a publicly owned facility. For purposes of this
subsection, "annual" means occurring not more than once in any calendar year.
41. Gross receipts from the initial sale of beneficiated coal.
42. Gross receipts from electronic gaming devices licensed by the attorney general under
chapter 53-06.1.
43. Gross receipts from all sales made to a nonprofit medical research institute. For
purposes of this subsection, "nonprofit medical research institute" means an institute
that is a member of the association of independent research institutes, which is not a
private foundation, and which is recognized by the internal revenue service as having
exempt status under 26 U.S.C. 501(c)(3).
44. Gross receipts from all sales of coal that is exempt from the coal severance tax.
45. Gross receipts from the sale or lease of farm machinery, farm machinery repair parts,
irrigation equipment, or irrigation equipment repair parts used exclusively for
agricultural purposes.
46. Gross receipts from sales of tangible personal property purchased by a charitable
organization to be awarded as a prize in a raffle conducted in accordance with law if
the winner of the tangible personal property will be subject to sales or use taxes upon
receiving the property.
47. Gross receipts from the sale of lottery tickets under chapter 53-12.1.
48. Gross receipts from all sales of tangible personal property purchased by a commerce
authority and made a part of the infrastructure of a commerce authority, otherwise
taxable under this chapter, if the personal property is placed within the geographic
boundaries of the political subdivisions that created the commerce authority and is
necessary and directly services infrastructure needs of the commerce authority. The
commissioner shall issue a certificate of exemption to a political subdivision exempted

by this subsection, and the political subdivision shall present the certificate of
exemption to each retailer whenever the exemption is claimed.
49. Gross receipts from sales of carbon dioxide used for enhanced recovery of oil or
natural gas or secure geologic storage.
50. Gross receipts from the sale at retail of hydrogen to power an internal combustion
engine or fuel cell and equipment used directly and exclusively in production and
storage of the hydrogen by a hydrogen generation facility in this state. For purposes of
this subsection, "storage" means stationary and portable hydrogen containers or
pressure vessels, piping, tubing, fittings, gaskets, controls, valves, gauges, pressure
regulators, safety relief devices, and other accessories intended for hydrogen storage
containers or pressure vessels.
51. Gross receipts from the sale of equipment to a facility, licensed under section
57-43.2-05, to enable the facility to sell diesel fuel containing at least two percent
biodiesel or green diesel fuel as defined under section 57-43.2-01 by volume.
52. Gross receipts from sales within the boundaries of any reservation in this state to an
individual who resides within the boundaries of any reservation in this state and who is
an enrolled member of a federally recognized Indian tribe.
53. Gross receipts from sales of natural gas or sales of fuels used for heating purposes.
54. Gross receipts from the sale of items delivered electronically, including specified digital
products. For purposes of this subsection:
a. "Specified digital products" means:
(1) "Digital audio-visual works" which means a series of related images which,
when shown in succession, impart an impression of motion, together with
accompanying sounds, if any;
(2) "Digital audio works" which means works that result from the fixation of a
series of musical, spoken, or other sounds, including ringtones; and
(3) "Digital books" which means works that are generally recognized in the
ordinary and usual sense as books.
b. For purposes of the definition of "specified digital products", "transferred
electronically" means obtained by the purchaser by means other than tangible
storage media.
c. For purposes of the definition of "digital audio work", "ringtones" means digitized
sound files that are downloaded onto a device and which may be used to alert the
customer with respect to a communication.
d. "Specified digital products" may not be construed to include prewritten computer
software as that term is defined in subdivision g of subsection 1 of section
57-39.2-02.1.
55. Gross receipts from memberships, admissions, and entrance fees to activities and
events organized and operated by nonprofit social and recreation clubs organized
under section 501(c)(7) of the Internal Revenue Code [26 U.S.C. 501(c)(7)] and
operated solely by nonsalaried officers and staff.
56. Gross receipts from the sale of any potash or byproducts taxable under chapter 57-65.
57. Gross receipts from coin-operated amusement or entertainment machines.
58. (Contingent effective date - See note) Gross receipts from sales of liquefied natural
gas used for agricultural, industrial, or railroad purposes as defined in section
57-43.2-01.
59. Gross receipts from all sales of commemorative memorial coins under section
37-18-15.
60. a. Gross receipts from sales to a senior citizen organization that provides
informational, health, welfare, counseling, and referral services for senior citizens
in this state if the senior citizen organization:
(1) Is recognized by the internal revenue service as having exempt status under
26 U.S.C.501(c)(3);
(2) Is recognized by the secretary of state as a charitable organization; and
(3) Either:

(a) Provides services through the aging services division of the
department of health and human services;
(b) Receives grant funds through the department of transportation which
are used for enhanced mobility of seniors and individuals with
disabilities; or
(c) Provides services through a contract with the department of health
and human services as a program of all-inclusive care for the elderly.
b. The department of health and human services and the department of
transportation shall notify the tax commissioner if a senior citizen organization no
longer meets the criteria in paragraph 3 of subdivision a.
61. Gross receipts from sales of children's diapers as defined in subdivision d of
subsection 26 of section 57-39.2-04.
62. Gross receipts from sales when made to a fire department for the purpose of providing
fire protection services. For purposes of this subsection, "fire department" means a fire
department or fire district that has filed a certificate of existence under section
18-04-02 which has been approved.