Judge Probes Washington Over Sales Tax Regulation Interpretation

A Washington Court of Appeals judge during oral arguments Thursday pressed the government over its changes to a regulation that expressly prevented a concrete company from being exempt from sales tax on its stand-alone concrete pumping services.

Brundage-Bone Concrete Pumping Inc. alleged in its lawsuit that the Washington Department of Revenue improperly amended Washington Administrative Code 458-20-211, otherwise known as Rule 211, by designating sales of stand-alone concrete pumping services as solely retail transactions, subject to sales tax. Rule 211 governs how entities that rent equipment with operators are taxed and says that wholesale—also known as resale—transactions are exempt, ...