Resale certificates

(a) The burden of proving that the sale, lease or rental of tangible personal property pursuant to Regulation 12-426-25 or a sale of a service taxable pursuant to Regulations 12-426-26 and 12-426-27 is not a sale at retail is upon the seller/lessor unless he takes a certificate from the purchaser that the property or service is purchased for resale. The certificate shall be taken in good faith from a person engaged in selling or leasing tangible personal property or taxable services who, at the time of purchase, intends to sell the property or services in the regular course of business or cannot then ascertain whether it will be so sold or not. The certificate shall be substantially in the form prescribed in subsection (b). It shall in all cases be signed by the purchaser, bear his name and address and indicate the general character of the property or service sold by the purchaser in the regular course of his business. It shall also bear the number of the seller’s permit held by the purchaser, but, if he is not required to hold a permit because he sells only property of a kind the sale of which is not taxable, e.g., food products for human consumption, or because he makes no sales in this state, he should make an appropriate notation to that effect on the certificate in lieu of his seller’s permit number. (b) The following form of resale certificate is prescribed by the commissioner of revenue services and copies of the same may be made and used by any seller of tangible personal property or services in accordance with this section: Under "General Description of products to be purchased from the seller" there may appear (1) Either an itemized list of the particular property/service(s) to be purchased or leased for resale or (2) A general description of the kind of property to be purchased for resale. This certificate may be used for the purpose of a single purchase of commodities/services for resale; in such case (1) above applies, or it may be used as a blanket certificate for the purpose of a continuing line of purchases of commodities for resale in the regular course of business; in the latter case (2) above applies, and the certificate should be plainly marked "Blanket Certificate." (c) The good faith of the seller will be questioned if he has knowledge of facts which give rise to a reasonable inference that the purchaser does not intend to resell the property, as, for example, knowledge that a purchaser of particular merchandise is not engaged in the business of selling that kind of merchandise. (d) Resale certificates shall be valid only for the period in which the purchaser is a reseller of the items covered in such certificates but should be renewed at least every three years from the date of issue. (e) The terms "selling" and "purchasing" of tangible personal property or commodities also encompass leases or rentals of tangible personal property or commodities. (f) Services may only be "sold" or "purchased" and not rented or leased.