The California Department of Tax and Fee Administration (CDTFA) has released sales tax guidance for taxpayers who offer cooking classes to the public. How tax is applied depends on the nature of the class and how students are charged. This guidance also highlights other areas for consideration.
When determining if the event is taxable, the main consideration is what the customer (student) is actually paying for. If the main purpose is to provide the instruction, where food is used incidentally, a lump sum charge for the class is considered non-taxable. In this scenario, the food purchased was used for human consumption, which is generally exempt from sales tax in California. If students are charged separately for the instruction and the meal, however, the instruction charge would remain exempt since it is an educational service, but the meal charge would be subject to sales tax as a prepared meal would be. If the intent of the event is the food, such as a cooking demonstration by a chef rather than instruction with student participation or if the event is at a restaurant during business hours where receiving the food is reasonable considered to be the primary objective, all charges become taxable, regardless whether the demonstration and the meal are separately stated on the bill or not. Cooking class providers who offer additional items or services need to be aware these extra items are generally taxable, such as pre-prepared foods, alcohol, carbonated beverages, corkage fees, or cookbooks.
Taxpayers in California who provide these types of events will want to confirm they are charging (or not charging) the correct amount of sales tax on their events. To ensure compliance, providers will need to verify they are correctly describing and billing their classes and products for both nontaxable and taxable sales. For taxpayers outside of California, local tax authorities should be consulted to ensure compliance with the jurisdictions where they are doing business. (“Let’s Get Cooking! Sales of Certain Cooking Classes Are Nontaxable” California Department of Tax and Fee Administration Special Notice L-930, released September 2025 https://cdtfa.ca.gov/formspubs/L930.pdf)