Medtronic Cardiac Monitors Liable for Sales Tax, California Says

Implanted devices used to detect irregular heartbeats are not eligible for a California sales-and-use tax exemption for medicines, a state tax collection agency told an appeals court.

Medtronic USA Inc.’s implantable cardiac monitors—referred to as RICM—don’t enable the function of organs, so the devices don’t qualify as medicine under state law, the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration said in a July 26 brief.

“In order to qualify, the device must also ‘give support or aid’ to the function of an organ, artery, vein, or limb,” the agency told the California Court of Appeal, First District. “Because RICM ...