There is hereby levied an excise tax on the value of services or contracting as defined in section 237-6 that are performed by an unlicensed seller at a point outside the State and imported or purchased for use in this State. The tax imposed by this chapter shall accrue when the service or contracting as defined in section 237-6 is received 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 from the tax 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 238-2.3

  • 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.
  • Overhead: means continuous or general costs occurring in the normal course of a business, including but not limited to costs for labor, rent, taxes, royalties, interest, discounts paid, insurance, lighting, heating, cooling, accounting, legal fees, equipment and facilities, telephone systems, depreciation, and amortization. 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
  • 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) Engaged in a service business or calling in which the imported or purchased services or contracting become identifiable elements, excluding overhead, of the services rendered by the importer or purchaser, and the gross income of the importer or purchaser is subject to the tax imposed under chapter 237 on services at the rate of one-half of one per cent;
(B) A manufacturer importing or purchasing services or contracting that become identifiable elements, excluding overhead, of a finished or saleable product (including the container or package in which the product is contained) and the finished or saleable product is to be sold in a manner that results in a further tax on the manufacturer as a wholesaler, and not a retailer; or
(C) A contractor importing or purchasing contracting that become identifiable elements, excluding overhead, of the finished work or project required under the contract; provided that:

(i) The gross proceeds derived by the contractor are subject to the tax under section 237-13(3) as a contractor; and
(ii) The contractor could have deducted amounts paid to the subcontractor under section 237-13(3)(B) if the subcontractor was subject to general excise tax under chapter 237;

there shall be no tax imposed on the value of the imported or purchased services or contracting; provided that if the manufacturer is also engaged in business as a retailer as classified under chapter 237, paragraph (2) shall apply to the manufacturer, but the director of taxation shall refund to the manufacturer, in the manner provided under section 231-23(c), that amount of tax that the manufacturer, to the satisfaction of the director, shall establish to have been paid by the manufacturer to the director with respect to services that have been used by the manufacturer for the purposes stated in this paragraph.

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

(A) Engaged in a service business or calling in which the imported or purchased services or contracting become identifiable elements, excluding overhead, of the services rendered by the importer or purchaser, and the gross income from those services when sold by the importer or purchaser is subject to the tax imposed under chapter 237 at the highest rate;
(B) A manufacturer importing or purchasing services or contracting that become identifiable elements, excluding overhead, of the finished or saleable manufactured product (including the container or package in which the product is contained) and the finished or saleable product is to be sold in a manner that results in a further tax under chapter 237 on the activity of the manufacturer as a retailer; or
(C) A contractor importing or purchasing services that become identifiable elements, excluding overhead, of the finished work or project required, under the contract, and where the gross proceeds derived by the contractor are subject to the tax under section 237-13(3) as a contractor,

the tax shall be one-half of one per cent of the value of the imported or purchased services or contracting; and

(3) In all other cases, the importer or purchaser is subject to the tax at the rate of four per cent on the value of the imported or purchased services or contracting.

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