ST 2006-01 - Sales and Use Tax: Funeral Transactions -
Issued October, 2006
The Ohio Department of Taxation has adopted an amendment to
rule 5703-9-32 of the Ohio Administrative Code dealing with
the application of the Ohio sales and use tax to funeral
transactions. This rule is now final and
effective.
Reason for rule. The Tax Commissioner has
taken this action to modernize the existing rule to more
accurately reflect current funeral practices and to revise
the treatment of limousine service provided as part of a
funeral transaction to more accurately reflect the fact that
tax is imposed on the intrastate transportation of persons.
Rule 5703-9-32 Sales and Use Tax:
Funeral Transactions
(A) Morticians and funeral directors are the retailers
of all items of tangible personal property and taxable
services which must be separately stated in the billing and
tax collected on the full selling price. Examples of such
tangible personal property and services include, but are not
limited to:
(1) Clothing
(2) Vaults – all kinds
(3) Outside containers (except pine box furnished with
casket)
(4) Flowers
(5) Caskets
(6) Urns or other containers for ashes from cremation
(7) Limousine service if entirely within Ohio
(8) Guest books and prayer cards
(B) Personal and professional services that are not subject
to tax should be stated separately from the taxable tangible
personal property and services in the billing. Examples
of nontaxable personal or professional services include, but
are not limited to:
(1) Funeral notices
(2) Gratuities to clergyman and pallbearers, churches, etc.
(3) Cash advances
(4) Embalming and care of the remains
(5) Transportation of the remains
(6) Cremation
(7) Use of the funeral home or chapel for showing or services
(8) Counseling or other professional services
(C) Morticians and funeral directors are the consumers of all
items of tangible personal property or taxable services used
in performing their personal or professional services and
shall pay the tax on the purchase of such articles.
Examples of such items include, but are not limited to:
(1) Embalming fluids, cosmetics, and instruments used in
preparation of the remains
(2) Crematory equipment and supplies
(3) Funeral home or chapel furnishings
(4) Motor vehicles used for transporting the remains
(D) Cemetery associations are vendors of all items of
tangible personal property sold such as vaults and markers,
including grave and lot markers, and are responsible for the
collection of the tax on taxable transactions.
(E) If the casket and remains are to be shipped to a point
outside the State, no Ohio tax shall be collected by the Ohio
mortician or funeral director for the tangible personal
property shipped.