Illinois Administrative Code › Title 86 - REVENUE › Part 130 - RETAILERS' OCCUPATION TAX › Subpart S - SPECIFIC APPLICATIONS › Section 130.2105 - Sellers of Newspapers, Magazines, Books, Sheet Music and Musical Recordings, and Their Suppliers; Transfers of Data Downloaded Electronically

Current through Register Vol. 48, No. 28, July 12, 2024
a) Sellers of
				Newspapers, Magazines, Books, Sheet Music and Musical Recordings
1) Sellers of books, sheet music and musical
				recordings, including phonograph records, incur Retailers' Occupation Tax
				liability when they sell any of these items to purchasers for use or
				consumption and not for resale.
2)
				Sales of newspapers and magazines are not subject to the tax because of the
				newsprint and ink exemption (see Section 1 of the Act). In determining whether
				a publication qualifies as a magazine for the purpose of the newsprint and ink
				exemption, there is one test that must be met and several other factors to be
				considered. The test that must be met for a publication to qualify as a
				magazine is that it must be published periodically in the form of newsprint and
				ink. Periodically means at least two times per year. The other factors to be
				considered are whether a member of the public can subscribe to the publication,
				whether the publication is one that has the basic format of a magazine,
				including soft covers, individual pages and indexed articles, whether it
				contains articles and items that have value to the general public, and whether
				it contains general advertising. A publication that has one or more of these
				characteristics would be considered to be a magazine, assuming the initial test
				of periodic publication is met. Tangible personal property that conveys news by
				media other than newsprint and ink does not qualify for the exemption because
				Section 1 of the Retailers' Occupation Tax Act limits the exemption to news and
				information conveyed only by means of newsprint and ink. For example, the
				exemption does not extend to the transfer of news by film, microfilm or CD-Rom
				discs.
3) Information or data that
				is downloaded electronically, such as downloaded books, musical recordings,
				newspapers or magazines, does not constitute the transfer of tangible personal
				property. These types of transactions represent the transfer of intangibles and
				are thus not subject to Retailers' Occupation and Use Tax. However, downloads
				of canned software, as defined more fully in Section
				130.1935 of
				this Part, are subject to Retailers' Occupation and Use Tax.
4) Sales by exclusively religious, charitable
				or educational organizations of books or other items containing such
				organizations' own individualized literature which cannot be bought from
				persons who are engaged in business are not subject to the Retailers'
				Occupation Tax even if such sales are made to the public because such sales are
				not competitive with retailers.
5)
				Sales of school books by schools to their students are not considered to be
				sales that are made "primarily for the purpose" of the school and so are
				subject to the Retailers' Occupation Tax.