There is hereby levied an excise tax on the use in this State of tangible personal property which is imported by a taxpayer in this State whether owned, purchased from an unlicensed seller, or however acquired for use in this State. The tax imposed by this chapter shall accrue when the property is acquired by the importer or purchaser and becomes subject to the taxing jurisdiction of the State. The rates of the tax hereby imposed and the exemptions thereof are as follows:

(1) If the importer or purchaser is licensed under chapter 237 and is:

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Terms Used In Hawaii Revised Statutes 238-2

  • Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
  • Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
  • Personal property: All property that is not real property.
  • Price: means the total amount for which property, services, or contracting are purchased, valued in money, whether paid in money or otherwise, and wheresoever paid; provided that cash discounts allowed and taken on sales shall not be included. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 238-1
  • Property: means tangible personal property, intangible property, and prepaid telephone calling services but does not include:

    (1) Newspapers or other periodical publications purchased on the subscription plan, issued at stated intervals as frequently as four times a year, and of the class admitted to the United States mails as second class matter under the laws and regulations governing the postal service on January 1, 1965;

    (2) Securities as defined in title 15 United States Code § 78c or similar laws of jurisdictions outside the United States;

    (3) Commodities for future delivery and other agreements, options, and rights as defined in title 7 United States Code § 2 that are permitted to be traded on a board of trade designated by the Commodities Futures Trading Commission under the Commodity Exchange Act;

    (4) Evidence of indebtedness;

    (5) Interest in land; or

    (6) Dividends as defined by chapter 235. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 238-1

  • Purchaser: means any person purchasing property, services, or contracting and "importer" means any person importing property, services, or contracting, regardless if at the time of importation, the property, services, or contracting is owned by the importer, purchased from an unlicensed seller, or however acquired; provided that the terms "purchaser" and "importer" shall not include the State, its political subdivisions, or wholly owned agencies or instrumentalities of the State or a political subdivision; or the United States, its wholly owned agencies or instrumentalities, or any person immune from the tax imposed by this chapter under the Constitution and laws of the United States but the terms shall include national banks. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 238-1
  • sale: means any transfer, exchange, or barter, conditional or otherwise, in any manner or by any means, wheresoever consummated, of property, services, or contracting for a consideration. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 238-1
  • Seller: means any person engaged in the business of selling property, services, or contracting, wheresoever engaged, but does not include the United States or its wholly owned agencies or instrumentalities other than national banks, the State or a political subdivision thereof, or wholly owned agencies or instrumentalities of the State or a political subdivision. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 238-1
  • Service business or calling: includes all activities engaged in for other persons for a consideration that involve the rendering of a service as distinguished from the sale of property or the production and sale of property. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 238-1
  • Value: means fair and reasonable cash value at the time of accrual of the tax. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 238-1
(A) A wholesaler or jobber importing or purchasing for purposes of sale or resale; or
(B) A manufacturer importing or purchasing material or commodities which are to be incorporated by the manufacturer into a finished or saleable product (including the container or package in which the product is contained) wherein it will remain in such form as to be perceptible to the senses, and which finished or saleable product is to be sold in such manner as to result in a further tax on the activity of the manufacturer as the manufacturer or as a wholesaler, and not as a retailer,

there shall be no tax; provided that if the wholesaler, jobber, or manufacturer is also engaged in business as a retailer (so classed under chapter 237), paragraph (2) shall apply to the wholesaler, jobber, or manufacturer, but the director of taxation shall refund to the wholesaler, jobber, or manufacturer, in the manner provided under section 231-23(c) such amount of tax as the wholesaler, jobber, or manufacturer shall, to the satisfaction of the director, establish to have been paid by the wholesaler, jobber, or manufacturer to the director with respect to property which has been used by the wholesaler, jobber, or manufacturer for the purposes stated in this paragraph;

(2) If the importer or purchaser is licensed under chapter 237 and is:

(A) A retailer or other person importing or purchasing for purposes of sale or resale, not exempted by paragraph (1);
(B) A manufacturer importing or purchasing material or commodities which are to be incorporated by the manufacturer into a finished or saleable product (including the container or package in which the product is contained) wherein it will remain in such form as to be perceptible to the senses, and which finished or saleable product is to be sold at retail in this State, in such manner as to result in a further tax on the activity of the manufacturer in selling such products at retail;
(C) A contractor importing or purchasing material or commodities which are to be incorporated by the contractor into the finished work or project required by the contract and which will remain in such finished work or project in such form as to be perceptible to the senses;
(D) A person engaged in a service business or calling as defined in section 237-7, or a person furnishing transient accommodations subject to the tax imposed by § 237D-2, in which the import or purchase of tangible personal property would have qualified as a sale at wholesale as defined in section 237-4(a)(8) had the seller of the property been subject to the tax in chapter 237; or
(E) A publisher of magazines or similar printed materials containing advertisements, when the publisher is under contract with the advertisers to distribute a minimum number of magazines or similar printed materials to the public or defined segment of the public, whether or not there is a charge to the persons who actually receive the magazines or similar printed materials,

the tax shall be one-half of one per cent of the purchase price of the property, if the purchase and sale are consummated in Hawaii; or, if there is no purchase price applicable thereto, or if the purchase or sale is consummated outside of Hawaii, then one-half of one per cent of the value of such property; and

(3) In all other cases, four per cent of the value of the property.

For purposes of this section, tangible personal property is property that is imported by the taxpayer for use in this State, notwithstanding the fact that title to the property, or the risk of loss to the property, passes to the purchaser of the property at a location outside this State.

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