Iowa Administrative Code › Agency 701 - Revenue Department › Title III - Sales, Use, and Excise Tax › Chapter 285 - Taxable and Exempt Sales Determined by Method of Transaction or Usage › Rule 701-285.59 - Exempt Sales to Nonprofit Hospitals

Current through Register Vol. 47, No. 3, July 24, 2024
On and after July 1, 1998, the gross receipts from sales or
				  rentals of tangible personal property to and from the rendering, furnishing, or
				  performing of services for a nonprofit hospital licensed under Iowa Code
				  chapter 135B are exempt from tax if the property or service purchased is used
				  in the operation of the hospital. A hospital is not entitled to claim a refund
				  for tax paid by a contractor on the sale or use of tangible personal property
				  or the performance of services in the fulfillment of a written construction
				  contract with the hospital. However, see the circumstances set out below in
				  which sales of goods, wares or merchandise, or taxable services to a hospital
				  for use in the fulfillment of a construction contract, are exempt from Iowa
				  tax.
For the purposes of this rule, the word "hospital" means a
				  place which is devoted primarily to the maintenance and operation of facilities
				  for diagnosis, treatment, or care, over a period exceeding 24 hours, of two or
				  more nonrelated individuals suffering from illness, injury, or a medical
				  condition (such as pregnancy). The word "hospital" includes general hospitals,
				  specialized hospitals (e.g., pediatric, mental, and orthopedic hospitals, and
				  cancer treatment centers), sanatoriums, and other hospitals licensed under Iowa
				  Code chapter 135B. Also included are institutions, places, buildings, or
				  agencies in which any accommodation is primarily maintained, furnished, or
				  offered for the care, over a period exceeding 24 hours, of two or more
				  nonrelated aged or infirm persons requiring or receiving chronic or
				  convalescent care. Excluded from the meaning of the term "hospital" are
				  institutions for well children; day nursery and child care centers; foster
				  boarding homes and houses; homes for handicapped children; homes, houses, or
				  institutions for aged persons which limit their function to providing food,
				  lodging, and provide no medical or nursing care, and house no bedridden person;
				  dispensaries or first-aid stations maintained for the care of employees,
				  students, customers, members of any commercial or industrial plan, educational
				  institution, or convent; freestanding hospice facilities which operate a
				  hospice program in accordance with
				  42 CFR § 418 and freestanding clinics which do not
				  provide diagnosis, treatment, or care for periods exceeding 24 hours. This list
				  of inclusions and exclusions is not exclusive. For additional information see
				  481-Chapter 51.
Ordinarily, goods, wares, or merchandise (such as building
				  materials, supplies, and equipment; see rule
				  701-19.3 (422,423) for
				  definitions) which is purchased by a hospital and used by a contractor in the
				  fulfillment of a written contract with the hospital cannot be purchased exempt
				  from Iowa tax. The goods, wares, and merchandise used in the fulfillment of
				  these construction contracts are not used in the "operation" of a hospital but
				  in activities at least one step removed from that operation. See
Polich
				  v. Anderson-Robinson Coal Co.,
227 Iowa 553, 288 N.W. 650
				  (1939).
However, for a limited period, the gross receipts from all
				  sales of goods, wares, or merchandise or from services rendered, furnished, or
				  performed are exempt from tax (or a claim for refund may be filed for tax paid)
				  if the tangible personal property or the taxable service is used in the
				  fulfillment of a written construction contract with a hospital and all of the
				  following circumstances exist:
1.
				Deliveries under contracts of sale of the goods, wares, or merchandise occurred
				or the taxable services were rendered, furnished, or performed between July 1,
				1998, and December 31, 2001, inclusive. A claim for refund may be filed for any
				tax paid for this period, so long as the claim is filed prior to April 1, 2002,
				and the requirements of "2" and "3" below are also met. Claims for refunds of
				tax, interest, or penalty paid for the period of July 1, 1998, to December 31,
				2001, are limited to $25,000 in the aggregate. If the amount of the claimed
				refunds for this period totals more than $25,000, the department must prorate
				the $25,000 among all claimants in relation to the amounts of the claimants'
				valid claims.
2. The written
				construction contract was entered into prior to December 31, 1999, or bonds to
				fund the construction were issued prior to December 31, 1999.
3. The property or services were purchased
				directly by the hospital or by a contractor as an agent of the hospital. For
				the purposes of this exemption, no hospital can retroactively designate a
				contractor to be its agent and by this means transform a contractor's purchases
				of goods, wares, merchandise, or services into its own. Upon the department's
				request, a hospital claiming that a contractor is or has been its purchasing
				agent must present suitable evidence of a principal-agent relationship between
				itself and the contractor during any period for which exempt sales or a refund
				is claimed. The best evidence of a principal and purchasing agent relationship
				is a written document setting out the terms of the relationship and the period
				for which the agency is in effect; however, other evidence, which is the
				equivalent of a written document in reliability, will be considered by the
				department when necessary.
This rule is intended to implement Iowa Code Supplement
				  section 422.45 as amended by 2000 Iowa
				  Acts, chapter 1207.