Terms Used In Minnesota Statutes > Chapter 297A - General Sales and Use Taxes

• Accommodations intermediary: means any person or entity, other than an accommodations provider, that facilitates the sale of lodging as defined in subdivision 3, paragraph (g), clause (2), and that charges a room charge to a customer. See Minnesota Statutes 297A.61
• Accommodations provider: means any person or entity that furnishes lodging as defined in subdivision 3, paragraph (g), clause (2), to the general public for compensation. See Minnesota Statutes 297A.61
• Adult: means an individual 18 years of age or older. See Minnesota Statutes 645.451
• Affidavit: A written statement of facts confirmed by the oath of the party making it, before a notary or officer having authority to administer oaths.
• affiliated group of corporations: means those entities that would be classified as members of an affiliated group as defined under United States Code, title 26, § 1504, disregarding the exclusions in section 1504(b). See Minnesota Statutes 297A.61
• Agricultural production: includes , but is not limited to, horticulture, silviculture, floriculture, maple syrup harvesting, and the raising of pets, livestock as defined in section 17A. See Minnesota Statutes 297A.61
• Ancillary services: means services that are associated with or incidental to the provision of telecommunications services, including, but not limited to, conference bridging service, detailed telecommunications billing, directory assistance, vertical service, and voice mail services. See Minnesota Statutes 297A.61
• Appeal: A request made after a trial, asking another court (usually the court of appeals) to decide whether the trial was conducted properly. To make such a request is "to appeal" or "to take an appeal." One who appeals is called the appellant.
• Appropriation: The provision of funds, through an annual appropriations act or a permanent law, for federal agencies to make payments out of the Treasury for specified purposes. The formal federal spending process consists of two sequential steps: authorization
• Aquaculture production equipment: means new or used machinery, equipment, implements, accessories, and contrivances used directly and principally in aquaculture production. See Minnesota Statutes 297A.61
• Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
• Attachment: A procedure by which a person's property is seized to pay judgments levied by the court.
• Beneficiary: A person who is entitled to receive the benefits or proceeds of a will, trust, insurance policy, retirement plan, annuity, or other contract. ^{Source: OCC}
• Bundled transaction: means the retail sale of two or more products when the products are otherwise distinct and identifiable, and the products are sold for one nonitemized price. See Minnesota Statutes 297A.61
• Candy: means a preparation of sugar, honey, or other natural or artificial sweeteners in combination with chocolate, fruits, nuts, or other ingredients or flavorings in the form of bars, drops, or pieces. See Minnesota Statutes 297A.61
• Chair: includes chairman, chairwoman, and chairperson. See Minnesota Statutes 645.44
• children: includes children by birth or adoption;

  (9) "day" comprises the time from midnight to the next midnight;

  (10) "fiscal year" means the year by or for which accounts are reckoned;

  (11) "hereafter" means a reference to the time after the time when the law containing such word takes effect;

  (12) "heretofore" means a reference to the time previous to the time when the law containing such word takes effect;

  (13) "judicial sale" means a sale conducted by an officer or person authorized for the purpose by some competent tribunal;

  (14) "minor" means an individual under the age of 18 years;

  (15) "money" means lawful money of the United States;

  (16) "night time" means the time from sunset to sunrise;

  (17) "non compos mentis" refers to an individual of unsound mind;

  (18) "notary" means a notary public;

  (19) "now" in any provision of a law referring to other laws in force, or to persons in office, or to any facts or circumstances as existing, relates to the laws in force, or to the persons in office, or to the facts or circumstances existing, respectively, on the effective date of such provision;

  (20) "verified" when used in reference to writings, means supported by oath or affirmation. See Minnesota Statutes 645.45

• Commissioner: means the commissioner of revenue of the state of Minnesota. See Minnesota Statutes 297A.61
• Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
• Computer: means an electronic device that accepts information in digital or similar form and manipulates it for a result based on a sequence of instructions. See Minnesota Statutes 297A.61
• Computer software: means a set of coded instructions designed to cause a computer or automatic data processing equipment to perform a task. See Minnesota Statutes 297A.61
• Conference bridging service: means an ancillary service that links two or more participants of an audio or video conference call and may include the provision of a telephone number. See Minnesota Statutes 297A.61
• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
• court administrator: means the court administrator of the court in which the action or proceeding is pending, and "court administrator's office" means that court administrator's office. See Minnesota Statutes 645.44
• Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
• Delivered electronically: means delivered to the purchaser by means other than tangible storage media. See Minnesota Statutes 297A.61
• Delivery charges: means charges by the seller of personal property or services for preparation and delivery to a location designated by the purchaser of personal property or services including, but not limited to, transportation, shipping, postage, handling, crating, and packing. See Minnesota Statutes 297A.61
• Digital audio works: means works that result from a fixation of a series of musical, spoken, or other sounds, that are transferred electronically. See Minnesota Statutes 297A.61
• Digital audiovisual works: means a series of related images which, when shown in succession, impart an impression of motion, together with accompanying sounds, if any, that are transferred electronically. See Minnesota Statutes 297A.61
• Digital books: means any literary works, other than digital audiovisual works or digital audio works, expressed in words, numbers, or other verbal or numerical symbols or indicia so long as the product is generally recognized in the ordinary and usual sense as a "book. See Minnesota Statutes 297A.61
• Digital code: means a code which provides a purchaser with a right to obtain one or more specified digital products or other digital products. See Minnesota Statutes 297A.61
• Direct mail: includes tangible personal property supplied directly or indirectly by the purchaser to the direct mail seller for inclusion in the package containing the printed material. See Minnesota Statutes 297A.61
• Directory assistance: means an ancillary service of providing telephone number information or address information, or both. See Minnesota Statutes 297A.61
• Donee: The recipient of a gift.
• Electronic: means relating to technology having electrical, digital, magnetic, wireless, optical, electromagnetic, or similar capabilities. See Minnesota Statutes 297A.61
• Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
• facilitates the sale: includes brokering, coordinating, or in any way arranging for the purchase of or the right to use accommodations by a customer. See Minnesota Statutes 297A.61
• Farm machinery: means new or used machinery, equipment, implements, accessories, and contrivances used directly and principally in agricultural production of tangible personal property intended to be sold ultimately at retail including, but not limited to:

  (1) machinery for the preparation, seeding, or cultivation of soil for growing agricultural crops;

  (2) barn cleaners, milking systems, grain dryers, feeding systems including stationary feed bunks, and similar installations, whether or not the equipment is installed by the seller and becomes part of the real property; and

  (3) irrigation equipment sold for exclusively agricultural use, including pumps, pipe fittings, valves, sprinklers, and other equipment necessary to the operation of an irrigation system when sold as part of an irrigation system, whether or not the equipment is installed by the seller and becomes part of the real property. See Minnesota Statutes 297A.61

• Fiscal year: The fiscal year is the accounting period for the government. For the federal government, this begins on October 1 and ends on September 30. The fiscal year is designated by the calendar year in which it ends; for example, fiscal year 2006 begins on October 1, 2005 and ends on September 30, 2006.
• For-hire carrier: means a person engaged in transportation for hire of tangible personal property. See Minnesota Statutes 297A.61
• Fraud: Intentional deception resulting in injury to another.
• fur: means any animal skin or part of an animal skin with hair, fleece, or fur fibers attached to it, either in its raw or processed state, but does not include animal skins that have been converted into leather or suede, or from which the hair, fleece, or fur fiber has been completely removed in processing the skins. See Minnesota Statutes 297A.61
• Fur clothing: means human wearing apparel that is required by the Federal Fur Products Labeling Act, United States Code, title 15, § 69, to be labeled as a fur product, and the value of the fur components in the product is more than three times the value of the next most valuable tangible component. See Minnesota Statutes 297A.61
• furnishes: includes the sale of use or possession, or the sale of the right to use or possess. See Minnesota Statutes 297A.61
• Gift: A voluntary transfer or conveyance of property without consideration, or for less than full and adequate consideration based on fair market value.
• Gross receipts: means the total amount received, in money or by barter or exchange, for all sales at retail as measured by the sales price. See Minnesota Statutes 297A.61
• In forma pauperis: In the manner of a pauper. Permission given to a person to sue without payment of court fees on claim of indigence or poverty.
• Interest rate: The amount paid by a borrower to a lender in exchange for the use of the lender's money for a certain period of time. Interest is paid on loans or on debt instruments, such as notes or bonds, either at regular intervals or as part of a lump sum payment when the issue matures. ^{Source: OCC}
• Internal Revenue Code: means the Internal Revenue Code as defined in section 289A. See Minnesota Statutes 297A.61
• 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.
• Lease: A contract transferring the use of property or occupancy of land, space, structures, or equipment in consideration of a payment (e.g., rent). ^{Source: OCC}
• Lease or rental: means any transfer of possession or control of tangible personal property for a fixed or indeterminate term for consideration. See Minnesota Statutes 297A.61
• Liabilities: The aggregate of all debts and other legal obligations of a particular person or legal entity.
• Lien: A claim against real or personal property in satisfaction of a debt.
• Load and leave: means delivered to the purchaser by use of a tangible storage media where the tangible storage media is not physically transferred to the purchaser. See Minnesota Statutes 297A.61
• Logging equipment: means new or used machinery, equipment, implements, accessories, and contrivances used directly and principally in the commercial cutting or removal or both of timber or other solid wood forest products intended to be sold ultimately at retail, including, but not limited to:

  (1) machinery used for bucking, bunching, debarking, delimbing, felling, forwarding, loading, piling, skidding, topping, and yarding operations performed on timber; and

  (2) chain saws. See Minnesota Statutes 297A.61

• Majority: means with respect to an individual the period of time after the individual reaches the age of 18. See Minnesota Statutes 645.451
• Minority: means with respect to an individual the period of time during which the individual is a minor. See Minnesota Statutes 645.451
• Month: means a calendar month and "year" means a calendar year, unless otherwise expressed; and "year" is equivalent to the expression "year of our Lord. See Minnesota Statutes 645.44
• Mortgage: The written agreement pledging property to a creditor as collateral for a loan.
• Motor vehicle repair materials: means items, other than motor vehicle repair paint or motor vehicle parts, that become a part of a repaired motor vehicle or are consumed in repairing the motor vehicle at retail, and include abrasives, battery water, body filler or putty, bolts and nuts, brake fluid, buffing pads, chamois, cleaning compounds, degreasing compounds, glaze, grease, grinding discs, hydraulic jack oil, lubricants, masking tape, oxygen and acetylene, polishes, rags, razor blades, sandpaper, sanding discs, scuff pads, sealer, solder, solvents, striping tape, tack cloth, thinner, waxes, and welding rods. See Minnesota Statutes 297A.61
• Motor vehicle repair paint: means a substance composed of solid matter suspended in a liquid medium and applied as a protective or decorative coating to the surface of a motor vehicle in order to restore the motor vehicle to its original condition, and includes primer, body paint, clear coat, and paint thinner used to paint motor vehicles, as defined in section 297B. See Minnesota Statutes 297A.61
• Normal course of business: means activities that demonstrate a commercial continuity or consistency of making sales or performing services for the purposes of attaining profit or producing income. See Minnesota Statutes 297A.61
• Obligation: An order placed, contract awarded, service received, or similar transaction during a given period that will require payments during the same or a future period.
• Other digital products: means the following items when transferred electronically:

  (1) greeting cards; and

  (2) online video or electronic games. See Minnesota Statutes 297A.61

• Partnership: A voluntary contract between two or more persons to pool some or all of their assets into a business, with the agreement that there will be a proportional sharing of profits and losses.
• Person: includes any individual or group and any combination of individuals, groups, or individuals and groups acting as a unit. See Minnesota Statutes 297A.61
• Person: may extend and be applied to bodies politic and corporate, and to partnerships and other unincorporated associations. See Minnesota Statutes 645.44
• Person with a disability: means an individual who has a permanent and total disability as defined in section 273. See Minnesota Statutes 297A.61
• Personal property: All property that is not real property.
• Plaintiff: The person who files the complaint in a civil lawsuit.
• Prepared food: means food that meets either of the following conditions:

  (1) the food is sold with eating utensils provided by the seller, including plates, knives, forks, spoons, glasses, cups, napkins, or straws; or

  (2) the food is sold in a heated state or heated by the seller or two or more food ingredients are mixed or combined by the seller for sale as a single item, except for:

  (i) bakery items, including, but not limited to, bread, rolls, buns, biscuits, bagels, croissants, pastries, donuts, danish, cakes, tortes, pies, tarts, muffins, bars, cookies, tortillas;

  (ii) ready-to-eat meat and seafood in an unheated state sold by weight;

  (iii) eggs, fish, meat, poultry, and foods containing these raw animal foods requiring cooking by the consumer as recommended by the Food and Drug Administration in chapter 3, part 401. See Minnesota Statutes 297A.61

• Prewritten computer software: includes software designed and developed by the author or other creator to the specifications of a specific purchaser when it is sold to a person other than the specific purchaser. See Minnesota Statutes 297A.61
• Private communication service: means a telecommunication service that entitles the customer to exclusive or priority use of a communication channel or group of channels between or among termination points, regardless of the manner in which the channel or channels are connected, and includes switching capacity, extension lines, stations, and any other associated services that are provided in connection with the use of the channel or channels. See Minnesota Statutes 297A.61
• Probable cause: A reasonable ground for belief that the offender violated a specific law.
• Probate: Proving a will
• product: includes tangible personal property, services, intangibles, and digital goods, including specified digital products or other digital products, but does not include real property or services to real property. See Minnesota Statutes 297A.61
• Public law: A public bill or joint resolution that has passed both chambers and been enacted into law. Public laws have general applicability nationwide.
• purchase: include , but are not limited to, each of the transactions listed in this subdivision. See Minnesota Statutes 297A.61
• Purchase price: means the measure subject to the use tax and has the same meaning as "sales price. See Minnesota Statutes 297A.61
• Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
• Real property: includes :

  (1) the land itself;

  (2) buildings and structures constructed or erected on the land and intended to be permanent; and

  (3) improvements and fixtures if incorporated into and intended to be of a permanent benefit to a building or structure given its present use, and that cannot be removed without causing substantial damage to the building or structure. See Minnesota Statutes 297A.61

• Remainder: An interest in property that takes effect in the future at a specified time or after the occurrence of some event, such as the death of a life tenant.
• Reporter: Makes a record of court proceedings and prepares a transcript, and also publishes the court's opinions or decisions (in the courts of appeals).
• retail sale: include the taxable services listed in paragraph (g), clause (6), items (i) to (vi) and (viii), and the provision of these taxable services, unless specifically provided otherwise. See Minnesota Statutes 297A.61
• Ring tone: means a digitized sound file that is downloaded onto a device and that may be used to alert the customer with respect to a communication. See Minnesota Statutes 297A.61
• road construction: means construction of:

  (i) public roads;

  (ii) cartways; and

  (iii) private roads in townships located outside of the seven-county metropolitan area up to the point of the emergency response location sign; and

  (6) services as provided in this clause:

  (i) laundry and dry cleaning services including cleaning, pressing, repairing, altering, and storing clothes, linen services and supply, cleaning and blocking hats, and carpet, drapery, upholstery, and industrial cleaning. See Minnesota Statutes 297A.61

• Sales price: means the measure subject to sales tax, and means the total amount of consideration, including cash, credit, personal property, and services, for which personal property or services are sold, leased, or rented, valued in money, whether received in money or otherwise, without any deduction for the following:

  (1) the seller's cost of the property sold;

  (2) the cost of materials used, labor or service cost, interest, losses, all costs of transportation to the seller, all taxes imposed on the seller, and any other expenses of the seller;

  (3) charges by the seller for any services necessary to complete the sale, other than delivery and installation charges;

  (4) delivery charges, except the percentage of the delivery charge allocated to delivery of tax exempt property, when the delivery charge is allocated by using either (i) a percentage based on the total sales price of the taxable property compared to the total sales price of all property in the shipment, or (ii) a percentage based on the total weight of the taxable property compared to the total weight of all property in the shipment; and

  (5) installation charges. See Minnesota Statutes 297A.61

• seller: means any person making sales, leases, or rentals of personal property or services. See Minnesota Statutes 297A.61
• Soft drinks: means nonalcoholic beverages that contain natural or artificial sweeteners. See Minnesota Statutes 297A.61
• Specified digital products: means digital audio works, digital audiovisual works, and digital books that are transferred electronically to a customer. See Minnesota Statutes 297A.61
• state: means any state of the United States, the District of Columbia, and any territory of the United States, including American Samoa, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the U. See Minnesota Statutes 297A.61
• state: extends to and includes the District of Columbia and the several territories. See Minnesota Statutes 645.44
• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• Storage: includes keeping or retaining tangible personal property in Minnesota for any purpose except sale in the regular course of business. See Minnesota Statutes 297A.61
• Summons: Another word for subpoena used by the criminal justice system.
• Tangible personal property: includes , but is not limited to, electricity, water, gas, steam, and prewritten computer software. See Minnesota Statutes 297A.61
• Tax: means any fee, charge, exaction, or assessment imposed by a governmental entity on an individual, person, entity, transaction, good, service, or other thing. See Minnesota Statutes 645.44
• Taxable food sold through vending machines: means taxable food under section 297A. See Minnesota Statutes 297A.61
• Telecommunications services: means the electronic transmission, conveyance, or routing of voice, data, audio, video, or any other information or signals to a point, or between or among points. See Minnesota Statutes 297A.61
• Testimony: Evidence presented orally by witnesses during trials or before grand juries.
• Transcript: A written, word-for-word record of what was said, either in a proceeding such as a trial or during some other conversation, as in a transcript of a hearing or oral deposition.
• Transferred electronically: means obtained by the purchaser by means other than tangible storage media. See Minnesota Statutes 297A.61
• Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
• United States Code: means the United States Code as amended through December 31, 2000. See Minnesota Statutes 297A.61
• Use: includes the exercise of a right or power incident to the ownership of any interest in tangible personal property, or services, purchased from a retailer, other than the sale of that property in the regular course of business. See Minnesota Statutes 297A.61
• Variable Rate: Having a "variable" rate means that the APR changes from time to time based on fluctuations in an external rate, normally the Prime Rate. This external rate is known as the "index." If the index changes, the variable rate normally changes. Also see Fixed Rate.
• Vertical service: means an ancillary service that is offered in connection with one or more telecommunications services and which offers advanced calling features that allow customers to identify callers and to manage multiple calls and call connections, including conference bridging services. See Minnesota Statutes 297A.61
• Voice mail service: means an ancillary service that enables the customer to store, send, or receive recorded messages. See Minnesota Statutes 297A.61