Taxpayer did not furnish Accurint or LexisNexis the
"case law and other legal materials and publications and/or background
information." Rather, that information came from those vendors' databases
and compilations. The data resulting from Taxpayer's use consists of standard
information furnished to other customers. Taxpayer did not present any
documents or other evidence to counter the audit's determination that Taxpayer
retrieved information "compiled by a computer [and] sold or reproduced for
sale in substantially the same form as it is so produced...." Therefore,
pursuant to Sales Tax Information Bulletin 8 (May 2002), 25 Ind. Reg. 3934, the
results–by whatever means transmitted–constitute "tangible personal
property" obtained in a retail transaction.
Thursday, May 17, 2012
Revenue Finds On-Line Database Service Subject to Tax
A taxpayer purchases a service when a service
provider takes the taxpayer's information, reorganizes it into a new format,
and returns the newly organized information to the taxpayer. However, a
taxpayer purchases tangible personal property from a vendor when the vendor
compiles or packages the vendor's own information for sale to the general
public. Any transfer of this type of property in any format, electronic or
otherwise, is subject to sales and use tax.
