Permanent Resident Defined (Rescinded March 30, 2001)

AUTHORITY: section 144.270, RSMo 1994. S.T. regulation 020-4 was last filed Dec. 31, 1975, effective Jan. 10, 1976. Refiled March 30, 1976. Amended: Filed Aug. 13, 1980, effective Jan. 1, 1981. Rescinded: Filed Sept. 27, 2000, effective March 30, 2001. National Land Management, Inc., v. Director of Revenue, Case No. RS-81-0639 (A.H.C. 6/6/84). The issue in this case was whether time sharing arrangements at resorts are subject to sales tax. The commission initially found that the receipts in question were not taxable pursuant to section 144.020.1(2), which provides for imposition of tax on—a) sums paid for admission to places of amusement, b) sums paid for seating accommodations therein and c) all fees paid to or in place of amusement. Regarding the first provision, the commission found that the sums in question were not paid for admission as that term is commonly understood. The commission also found that accommodations were not the subject for which the sums were paid. With respect to the third provision, the commission found that the assessments did not apply to any separate fees charged for the use of petitioner’s amenities but were based on charges for the time share occupancies. Next, the commission found that section 144.020.1(6) was inapplicable, because the payments in question did not constitute charges for rooms furnished in any hotel, motel, inn, tourist camp or tourist cabin. Arriving at this conclusion the commission held, “If the relationship is that of innkeeper and guest, then petitioner is providing a taxable service; if not, then petitioner’s time share activities are not taxable under section 144.020.1.” Looking at the law from various states, the commission held that the agreements in question constituted vacation leases creating an assignable interest in real property. Because of the thirty-year lease, the occupants are not transitory in the sense that travelers or tourists are. Rooms in petitioner’s resort are not regularly rented because they are only open to the general public when they are not already reserved pursuant to one of the previously mentioned agreements. Thus, the director of revenue failed to meet his burden of proof by establishing that the agreements in question constituted taxable service in the form of a room furnished at a hotel, motel, tourist camp or tourist cabin by an innkeeper.