skip navigation

Search Help
Navigation Help

Topic Index

Tax Topic Index

Affordable Care Act
Tax Topic Index

Tax Topics

About Tax Map Website
Current Year Tax Map
Publication 510

Chapter 5
Manufacturers Taxes(p29)

The following discussion of manufacturers taxes applies to the tax on:


The term "manufacturer" includes a producer or importer. A manufacturer is any person who produces a taxable article from new or raw material, or from scrap, salvage, or junk material, by processing or changing the form of an article or by combining or assembling two or more articles. If you furnish the materials and keep title to those materials and to the finished article, you are considered the manufacturer even though another person actually manufactures the taxable article.
A manufacturer who sells a taxable article in knockdown (unassembled) condition is liable for the tax. The person who buys these component parts and assembles a taxable article may also be liable for tax as a further manufacturer depending on the labor, material, and overhead required to assemble the completed article if the article is assembled for business use.
An importer is a person who brings a taxable article into the United States, or withdraws a taxable article from a customs bonded warehouse for sale or use in the United States.


A sale is the transfer of the title to, or the substantial incidents of ownership in, an article to a buyer for consideration that may consist of money, services, or other things.
Use considered sale.(p30)
A manufacturer who uses a taxable article is liable for the tax in the same manner as if it were sold.
Lease considered sale.(p30)
The lease of an article (including any renewal or extension of the lease) by the manufacturer is generally considered a taxable sale. However, for the gas guzzler tax, only the first lease (excluding any renewal or extension) of the automobile by the manufacturer is considered a sale.

Manufacturers taxes based on sale price.(p30)

The manufacturers taxes imposed on the sale of sport fishing equipment, electric outboard motors, and bows are based on the sale price of the article. The taxes imposed on coal are based either on the sale price or the weight.
The price for which an article is sold includes the total consideration paid for the article, whether that consideration is in the form of money, services, or other things. However, you include certain charges made when a taxable article is sold and you exclude others. To figure the price on which you base the tax, use the following rules.
  1. Include both the following charges in the price.
    1. Any charge for coverings or containers (regardless of their nature).
    2. Any charge incident to placing the article in a condition packed ready for shipment.
  2. Exclude all the following amounts from the price.
    1. The manufacturers excise tax, whether or not it is stated as a separate charge.
    2. The transportation charges pursuant to the sale. The cost of transportation of goods to a warehouse before their bona fide sale is not excludable.
    3. Delivery, insurance, installation, retail dealer preparation charges, and other charges you incur in placing the article in the hands of the purchaser under a bona fide sale.
    4. Discounts, rebates, and similar allowances actually granted to the purchaser.
    5. Local advertising charges. A charge made separately when the article is sold and that qualifies as a charge for "local advertising" may, within certain limits, be excluded from the sale price.
    6. Charges for warranty paid at the purchaser's option. However, a charge for a warranty of an article that the manufacturer requires the purchaser to pay to obtain the article is included in the sale price on which the tax is figured.
Bonus goods.(p30)
Allocate the sale price if you give free nontaxable goods with the purchase of taxable merchandise. Figure the tax only on the sale price attributable to the taxable articles.


A manufacturer sells a quantity of taxable articles and gives the purchaser certain nontaxable articles as a bonus. The sale price of the shipment is $1,500. The normal sale price is $2,000: $1,500 for the taxable articles and $500 for the nontaxable articles. Since the taxable items represent 75% of the normal sale price, the tax is based on 75% of the actual sale price, or $1,125 (75% of $1,500). The remaining $375 is allocated to the nontaxable articles.

Taxable Event(p30)

Tax attaches when the title to the article sold passes from the manufacturer to the buyer. When the title passes depends on the intention of the parties as gathered from the contract of sale. In the absence of expressed intention, the legal rules of presumption followed in the jurisdiction where the sale occurs determine when title passes.
If the taxable article is used by the manufacturer, the tax attaches at the time use begins.
The manufacturer is liable for the tax.

Partial payments.(p30)

The tax applies to each partial payment received when taxable articles are: To figure the tax, multiply the partial payment by the tax rate in effect at the time of the payment.