Texas Court of Appeals Affirms Sales Tax Exemption for Chemical Manufacturing Containers

The Texas Court of Appeals affirmed the trial court’s judgment that the taxpayer’s purchases of containers and related services were exempt from sales taxes. The dispute centered on whether the taxpayer’s returnable containers used to transport chemicals qualified for the manufacturing exemption or were barred by the more specific container exemption. The court concluded that the two exemptions were not irreconcilable and that the containers met the requirements for the manufacturing exemption, as they were necessary to the manufacturing process. Additionally, the court found that related cleaning and transportation services remained exempt even when performed on empty containers. [ChampionX, LLC ...