Taxpayer is an Indiana business. As the result of an investigation, the Indiana Department of Revenue ("Department") determined that Taxpayer had not paid sales tax on some taxable purchases of tangible personal property during the tax year 2010. The Department therefore issued proposed assessments for tax and interest.
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Taxpayer protests the imposition of tax on four crushed rock purchases during the tax year 2010. Taxpayer argues that the rock was used in the construction of a cellular tower site and should therefore be exempt under IC § 6-2.5-5-13.
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Taxpayer argues that the rock is necessary to be able to create an access road and parking lot for the telecommunication tower site. The materials may be necessary to access the site, but the rock does not fall into any of the categories listed in the telecommunications exemption statute.
Taxpayer also argues that its customer is in the telecommunications industry and that the telecommunications site in question was to be used for both intrastate and interstate calls. The Department notes that, even if Taxpayer's customer had purchased the rock instead of Taxpayer, the rock is not one of the listed categories of exempt equipment found under IC § 6-2.5-5-13.
Taxpayer also argues that the use of the rock is absolutely required by its customer and that the rock is an integral part of the overall project. Additionally, Taxpayer argues that it has been audited twice before and that the issue of sales and use tax on the rock has never been an issue. The Department notes that the requirement by a customer and the necessity of using the rock to access the site are not factors found under IC § 6-2.5-5-13. Only the listed categories of tangible personal property are relevant to exempt status. Also, the fact that the Department may not have imposed sales and use tax on the purchase of rock in previous audits does not infer exempt status on such purchases. As a result the Taxpayer has not met its burden to prove proposed assessments wrong, as provided by IC § 6-8.1-5-1(c).
