California Food Combination Packages Taxability Discussed

In a California Tax Information Bulletin, the state explains the taxability for food packaged to include both food and non-food items – combination packages. Effective April 2007, pursuant to Regulation 1602, Food Products, which was recently amended to include combination packages, non-food items are taxable if they constitute more than 10% of the retail value of the package (excluding the container) and the retailer has records verifying the cost of the individual items in the package. If there are no records to establish the cost of the individual items and the non-food items exceed 10% of the cost of the entire package (excluding the container), the retail sales price of the entire package is taxable. The sale price of the package is nontaxable if the retail value of the nonfood products is 10% or less (excluding the container) and the container’s retail value is at most 50% of the entire package value. (Tax Information Bulletin, California State Board of Equalization, June 2007)

Posted on January 4, 2008