California Code of Regulations › Title 18 - Public Revenues › Division 2 - California Department of Tax and Fee Administration- Business Taxes (State Board of Equalization- Business Taxes, See Ch. 6 and 9.9) › Chapter 2 - Use Fuel Tax › Article 2 - Imposition of Tax › Section 1316 - Exempt Uses of Fuel in Motor Vehicle

Current through Register 2024 Notice Reg. No. 28, July 12, 2024
The tax does not apply with respect to that fuel which the
					 user establishes to the satisfaction of the Board is used:
(a) In the operation of a motor vehicle off
				  the highway. "Off the highway" includes private property, a way or place
				  permanently or temporarily closed to public use for the purpose of vehicular
				  travel, or any way or place used for vehicular travel which is not a highway as
				  defined in Regulation 1303.
A vehicle is operated upon a highway if it moves any
					 distance in the general direction of the highway, whether upon the paved or
					 unpaved portion thereof. An operation is not conducted upon a highway when a
					 vehicle is operated thereon only for the purpose of crossing the highway from
					 private property on one side to private property directly on the other and the
					 vehicle is not operated for any distance in the general direction of the
					 highway in making the crossing.
(b) In the operation of a motor vehicle on
				  any highway which is under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of
				  Agriculture and with respect to the use of such highway the user pays, or
				  contributes to, the cost of construction or maintenance thereof pursuant to an
				  agreement with, or permission of, that agency. "Highway which is under the
				  jurisdiction of the United States Department of Agriculture" (hereafter
				  referred to as U.S.D.A.) includes a way or place in the Forest Service road
				  system within a National Forest, or partly within the National Forest and
				  partly on private property, but does not include a state or county highway
				  traversing the National Forest.
A user who "pays, or contributes to the cost of
					 construction or maintenance" includes any user who shares in the cost of
					 construction or maintenance of a highway with respect to the use of which the
					 exemption is claimed, either directly as a party to a joint construction or
					 maintenance agreement with U.S.D.A., or indirectly through any person who is a
					 party to such an agreement. "Pays or contributes," in addition to monetary
					 payments or contributions, includes:
(1) the bearing in whole or in part of the
				  cost of construction or maintenance by the user who performs the work himself
				  or by his employment of others to perform the work; or
(2) the sharing of the cost of construction
				  or maintenance indirectly by any person who contracts with a party to such an
				  agreement to perform transportation by motor vehicle upon such U.S.D.A.
				  highway, or any subcontractor of such contractor who makes a like use of the
				  highway, when the share amount of the contribution is specified in the contract
				  between the respective contracting parties, notwithstanding that such amount
				  may be reflected in a lump sum rate of compensation for the transportation
				  service or transportation and logging or other services.
Any user claiming exemption from tax with respect to fuel
					 used on a highway which is under the jurisdiction of the U.S.D.A. shall also
					 keep records to show a description of the highway and route traveled thereon,
					 and the amounts paid or contributed directly or indirectly for the cost of
					 construction or maintenance of the highway pursuant to an agreement with the
					 U.S.D.A. When a motor vehicle is operated partly on such highway and partly on
					 a highway of this state or any political subdivision thereof, the gallonage of
					 fuel used in operations on the U.S.D.A. highway for which exemption is claimed
					 may be determined:
(1) in the
				  proportion that the miles operated on such highway bears to the sum of the
				  miles operated thereon and the miles operated upon any other highway;
				  or
(2) by computing the gallonage of
				  fuel used on the U.S.D.A. highway by dividing a miles per gallon rate into the
				  total miles operated on the U.S.D.A. highway. The miles per gallon rate shall
				  be determined by a fuel consumption test made under typical operating
				  conditions and subject to approval of the Board.