Sec. 03.06.01.11. Printing

A. Charges for Printing and Sales of Printed Material.

(1) Charges for the printing of tangible personal property by special order and sales of printed material by special order when made to ultimate consumers are subject to tax.

(2) Charges for printing and sales of printed material for the purpose of resale in unchanged form or incorporation into a product which is to be sold are not subject to the tax. Examples of nontaxable charges are as follows:

(a) Charges for the printing and sale of labels or name plates to a person who will affix them to a product intended for sale;

(b) Charges for the printing and sale of tangible personal property used to package products held for sale where the packaging is nonreturnable;

(c) Charges for the printing and sale of direction sheets, instruction books, warranties, and other printed matter packaged with or obtainable only with the purchase of products held for sale.

(3) If the charges for printing or a sale of printed material is subject to the tax, the tax applies to the total charge without deduction for separately itemized charges for property or services required to bring the printed matter to its completed state. Separately itemized delivery charges, including charges for postage, addressing, stamping, sealing, inserting, or wrapping, may be excluded from the charges subject to the tax.

B. Sales to a Person Engaged in Printing and Sales of Photographic Materials.

(1) Tangible personal property which will be incorporated into printed material which is to be resold, such as ink, paper, staples, stapling wire, and binding materials, or which will be consumed in manufacturing printed material which is to be resold, may be purchased free of tax through the issuance of resale certificates.

(2) The sale of photographic material to any person for the production of an item used in composition or printing or in the production of another item used in printing is not subject to tax. Photographic material includes radiant energy sensitive material susceptible of accepting a photographic or similar image, such as film, a negative, or a presensitized plate, a substance which causes other material to have this property, such as a sensitizer, a substance which, when applied to material which has been exposed to radiant energy, causes a further change to that material, such as developer, and a substance which causes a stabilization of that material, such as gum lacquer.

(3) A sale of art work, hand or machine compositions, lithographic plates or negatives, or typographies to a person engaged in the printing of tangible personal property for sale and for direct use by the person to produce that property for sale is exempt from the tax. The following apply:

(a) A person selling any item referred to above, other than an item which is photographic in nature, shall pay the tax on all materials purchased to produce this item. A printer who produces an exempt item for self use is required to pay the tax on purchases of material used to produce that item.

(b) This exemption does not apply to a sale of a described item to a person who will not use it to produce tangible personal property for sale. A person making a taxable sale of this item may buy material which is to be resold, consumed directly and predominantly in production activities, or incorporated in the finished item free of tax through the issuance of resale certificates.