Launderer’s chemicals taxable in New Jersey.

A linen supply company that provides laundry services to many hotels, casinos, restaurants, and nursing homes in Atlantic City contested that the chemicals and detergents they use in providing their services should be exempt from sales tax under a manufacturing exemption for “refining or chemical processes.” Although the company met four of the five elements required to qualify for the exemption, the appeal was rejected becausethe judge did not believe they met the fifth element. This element states that the process must result in a finished product, different in quality from the raw material with which the process began. The company was providing purely a laundry service. (New Jersey Superior Court, Appellate Division, NJ, Docket No. A-5146-01T1, November 6, 2003.)

Posted on December 15, 2003