North Carolina Administrative Code › Title 17 - REVENUE › Chapter 07 - SALES AND USE TAX › Subchapter B - STATE SALES AND USE TAX › Section .2200 - FOOD AND FOOD PRODUCTS FOR HUMAN CONSUMPTION › Section 07B .2205 - CATERING

Current through Register Vol. 39, No. 2, July 15, 2024
(a) Catering is the retail
											  sale of food, prepared food, beverages, and other tangible personal property or services at a location
											  designated by the customer or another person. A person engaged in the catering business, including a personal
											  chef that provides and prepares food for consumers, is a retailer. A location may include the caterer's
											  banquet facility, a hotel, a restaurant, the customer's home, or any other location. All charges connected
											  with the furnishing, preparing or serving of food, prepared food, beverages, and other tangible personal
											  property or services to consumers are part of the sales price subject to sales and use tax, pursuant to
											  G.S.
											  105-164.4.
(b) Charges for
											  services, including bartending or carving services, connected with the sale of catered food or drink are part
											  of the sales price subject to sales tax, pursuant to
											  G.S.
											  105-164.4, even if the charges for the services are separately stated on an
											  invoice or similar billing document. Separately stated bartending charges, including corkage fees, for
											  service of beverages owned or provided by the caterer's customer are not part of the sales price subject to
											  sales tax under G.S.
											  105-164.4.
(c) Charges for a
											  venue by a caterer that are connected with the furnishing, preparing, and serving food or drink are part of
											  the sales price subject to sales and use tax, pursuant to
											  G.S.
											  105-164.4, even if the charges are separately stated on the invoice or
											  similar billing document.
(d) Charges by a caterer for chairs,
											  linens, tables, flatware, and similar items used to provide catering are subject to sales and use tax,
											  pursuant to G.S.
											  105-164.4, even if the charges are separately stated on the invoice or
											  similar billing document. In addition, a caterer shall pay sales and use tax on the purchase price of such
											  items as they are not resold to their customers.
(e) Charges for
											  nontaxable services that are not a part of the sales price and are not connected with the furnishing,
											  preparing, or serving of food, prepared food, beverages, and other tangible personal property are not subject
											  to sales tax, pursuant to G.S.
											  105-164.4, provided the charges are separately stated on the invoice or
											  similar billing document given to the customer at the time of the sale and in the catering business' records;
											  otherwise, the non-separately stated charges are part of the sales price and is subject to sales tax under
											  G.S.
											  105-164.4.
Authority
													 G.S.
													 105-164.4;
													 105-164.6;
													 105-262; Article 39; Article 40; Article 42; Article 43;
													 Article 44; Article 46;
Eff. February 1, 1976;
Amended Eff. May 1, 2009; October 1,
													 1993; October 1, 1991; July 5, 1980.