Search Category: Sales Tax

Introduction to Medical Products Exemption

This guide explains Idaho sales and use tax laws for buying and selling medical supplies and prescriptions. It describes who can buy which kinds of medical supplies and prescriptions without tax.

Buyers that qualify for the exemption

Medical equipment and supplies listed in Idaho Code section  63-3622N are exempt from sales tax when bought by:

  • A practitioner who’ll administer or distribute the items to patients. Learn who’s a “practitioner.”
  • A patient (or someone for a patient) with a practitioner’s prescription or work order.
  • An entity that can buy everything exempt.
  • A for-profit hospital or other health-care provider that will administer to patients under a practitioner’s prescription or work order.

Items that can qualify for the exemption

  • Drugs
  • Hypodermic syringes, insulin, insulin syringes
  • Artificial eyes, eyeglasses, eyeglass component parts, contact lenses
  • Hearing aids, hearing aid parts and accessories
  • Drugs and supplies used in hemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis
  • Braces and other orthopedic appliances
  • Dental prostheses and other orthodontic appliances, including fillings
  • Catheters, urinary accessories, colostomy supplies
  • Prosthetic devices
  • Equipment, devices, or chemical reagents used to test or monitor blood or urine of a diabetic
  • Durable medical equipment (see description in Definitions)

This list isn’t all-inclusive. See Idaho Code section  63-3622N for a full list of items that can qualify for the exemption.

Exempt Buyers for Medical Products Exemption

See the Definitions section for definitions of some terms on this page. 

Practitioner

A practitioner who’ll administer or distribute medical supplies and drugs under a work order or prescription can buy them exempt.

Seller’s responsibility

Keep on file a completed pdf Form ST-101 – Sales Tax Resale or Exemption Certificate, showing the reason for the exemption. Don’t charge tax on future exempt purchases.

Patients

Patients of hospitals and of qualifying practitioners can buy medical supplies and drugs exempt with a prescription or work order.

Seller’s responsibility

Keep on file the prescription or work order from a practitioner.

Exempt entities

Certain entities, including nonprofit hospitals, can buy all goods exempt from sales tax. This exemption includes all medical products, no matter who administers or distributes them or how they are used. In addition to nonprofit hospitals, the exempt health care entities are:

  • Nonprofit hospitals
  • Health facilities operated by an Idaho state agency or by a political subdivision of the state
  • American Red Cross
  • U.S. federal government
  • Nonprofit children’s free dental-service clinics
  • Emergency medical service agencies
  • Centers for independent living
  • Qualifying senior citizen centers
  • Volunteer fire departments
  • Health-related entities
    • American Cancer Society
    • American Diabetes Association
    • American Heart Association
    • Arc, Inc., The
    • Arthritis Foundation
    • Camp Rainbow Gold
    • Children’s Home Society of Idaho
    • Easter Seals
    • Family Services Alliance of Southeast Idaho
    • Idaho Association of Free and Charitable Clinics and its member clinics
    • Idaho Community Action Agency
    • Idaho Cystic Fibrosis Foundation
    • Idaho Diabetes Youth Programs
    • Idaho Epilepsy League
    • Idaho Lung Association
    • Idaho Primary Care Association and its community health centers
    • Idaho Ronald McDonald House
    • Idaho Women’s and Children’s Alliance
    • March of Dimes
    • Mental Health Association
    • Muscular Dystrophy Foundation
    • National Multiple Sclerosis Society
    • Rocky Mountain Kidney Association
    • Special Olympics Idaho
    • United Cerebral Palsy

Seller’s responsibility

Keep on file a completed pdf Form ST-101 – Sales Tax Resale or Exemption Certificate, showing the reason for the exemption. Don’t charge tax on future exempt purchases.

Certain other health care providers

Health care providers other than nonprofit hospitals and other exempt entities can buy qualifying medical supplies and prescriptions if one of the following applies:

  • They are for a patient with a prescription or work order from a practitioner licensed to prescribe such items.
  • They will administer or distribute the items under the work order or a prescription of a practitioner.

These providers include:

  • For-profit hospitals
  • Clinics
  • Nursing homes
  • Drug and alcohol rehabilitation hospitals
  • Dentists

Seller’s responsibility

Keep on file a completed pdf Form ST-101 – Sales Tax Resale or Exemption Certificate, showing the reason for the exemption. Don’t charge tax on future exempt purchases.

Definitions for Medical Products Exemption

Practitioner

  • Audiologist
  • Chiropractor
  • Dentist
  • Denturist
  • Nurse practitioner
  • Ophthalmologist
  • Optometrist
  • Orthodontist
  • Physician
  • Physician assistant
  • Podiatrist
  • Psychologist
  • Surgeon

OR any person licensed under Title 54 Idaho Code to prescribe, administer or distribute the medical products listed in this guide.

Drug

To be defined as a drug, and article must meet at least one of these conditions:

  • An article recognized as a drug in an official drug reference or its supplement
  • An article intended for use in the diagnosis, cure, mitigation, treatment or prevention of disease in humans
  • An article, other than food, used to affect the structure or any function of the human body
  • An article intended for use as a component of any of the three articles above

…and at least one of these conditions:

  • Is listed in a drug reference that the Idaho State Board of Pharmacy requires Idaho licensed pharmacies to maintain
  • U.S. federal or Idaho law requires that its use be by prescription only

Drugs for animals

The exemption doesn’t cover drugs used in the treatment, diagnosis, cure, mitigation or prevention of disease in nonhumans. This includes drugs a veterinarian administers to both farm animals and pets.

Note: Drugs a farmer or rancher administers to farm animals can qualify for the production exemption. (See Farming and Ranching: Production Exemption.)

Durable medical equipment (DME)

  • Can withstand repeated use
  • Is primarily and typically used for a medical reason
  • Isn’t generally useful to a person who doesn’t have an illness or injury
  • Can be used in the home

Examples:

  • Hospital beds
  • Oxygen equipment
  • Nebulizers
  • Wheelchairs
  • Other aids for the impaired

Note: Prescribed items (such as hot tubs) that are useful to people who aren’t ill or injured aren’t exempt.

Prosthetic devices

  • Replace a missing part or function of the human body
  • Include supplies physically connected to the device

Examples:

  • Artificial limbs
  • Heart valves
  • Voice boxes

Orthopedic appliances

These are products that correct or relieve the impact of defects, diseases or injuries to bones or joints.

Examples:

  • Arch supports
  • Crutches
  • Braces
  • External supports

Giving Away Free Medical Products and Prescriptions

Companies often give free medical products or drugs to practitioners, entities or individuals. This donor company giving the items away is the user of the items. As the user, the donor company owes tax on the items. The recipient does not owe use tax on the items received.

Giver’s responsibility:

You must pay Idaho use tax on the value of medical products or drugs you give away if you didn’t pay tax on the items when you bought them. Retailers or wholesalers giving away items owe use tax on the price they paid. Manufacturers owe use tax on the fabricated value.

Learn more about use tax 

Laws and Rules for Medical Products and Prescriptions

Learn more about medical products and prescriptions:

Learn more about Idaho tax statutes 

Learn more about our Rules 

Nonprofits Buying Exempt

Idaho law allows certain nonprofits to buy everything exempt and allows other nonprofits to buy specific items exempt.

Nonprofit groups that can buy everything exempt

There might be additional conditions. Read Idaho Code section 63-3622O for more detail or contact us with your question.

  • Advocates for Survivors of Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault, Inc.
  • American Red Cross
  • Blind Services Foundation, Inc.
  • Canal companies — Nonprofit only
  • Centers for Independent Living — Nonresidential, nonprofit, run by disabled persons and provide independent living programs to people with various disabilities.
  • Children’s free dental service clinics — Nonprofit only
  • Emergency Medical Service Agencies — Nonprofit only
  • Forest protective associations
  • Hospitals — Only licensed nonprofit hospitals qualify. Nursing homes or similar institutions don’t.
  • Idaho Foodbank Warehouse, Inc.
  • Museums — Nonprofit only
  • Qualified health organizations
    • American Cancer Society
    • American Diabetes Association
    • American Heart Association
    • American Lung Association of Idaho
    • Arc, Inc., The
    • Arthritis Foundation
    • Camp Rainbow Gold
    • Children’s Home Society of Idaho
    • Easter Seals
    • Family Services Alliance of Southeast Idaho
    • Idaho Association of Free and Charitable Clinics and its Member Clinics
    • Idaho Community Action Agencies
    • Idaho Cystic Fibrosis Foundation
    • Idaho Diabetes Youth Programs
    • Idaho Epilepsy League
    • Idaho Primary Care Association and its Community Health Centers
    • Idaho Ronald McDonald House
    • Idaho Women’s and Children’s Alliance
    • March of Dimes
    • Mental Health Association
    • Muscular Dystrophy Foundation
    • National Multiple Sclerosis Society
    • Rocky Mountain Kidney Association
    • Special Olympics Idaho
    • United Cerebral Palsy
  • Senior citizen centers — Nonprofit only. Other qualifications apply.
  • Volunteer fire departments — Nonprofit only

Nonprofit groups that can buy some things exempt

Churches, food banks, soup kitchens and nonsale clothiers have specific exemptions for some things they buy.

Religious organizations

Churches can buy food tax exempt for meals they sell to members.

Food banks and soup kitchens

Food banks and soup kitchens can buy food or other goods used to grow, store, prepare, or serve food exempt from sales tax. This includes food banks operated by a church. This exemption doesn’t include licensed motor vehicles or trailers.

Nonsale clothiers

Nonsale clothiers can buy clothing for resale tax exempt. This exemption doesn’t include jewelry, linens, or other home goods.

Note: A nonsale clothier is a nonprofit organization that provides clothing to the needy without charge as one of its primary functions.

How to buy exempt

The nonprofit must give the seller a completed pdf Form ST-101 – Sales Tax Resale or Exemption Certificate, on exempt purchases. The seller must keep the certificate and any other documentation and not charge tax on future qualifying sales to the buyer.

Sales Nonprofits Make

Nonprofit groups that make taxable sales are retailers. They must get an Idaho sales tax permit and collect and forward tax to the state. If a nonprofit has one-time or infrequent sales, it can get a temporary permit.

Taxable Sales

  • Gift shop sales (even if admission to the event or facility is tax exempt)
  • Admissions to recreational events (e.g., concerts at a botanical garden or a play put on by a synagogue)
  • Fundraising sales, door-to-door sales (e.g., cookies, candy, magazine subscriptions)
  • Concessions
  • Providing hotel, motel or campground accommodations to the public
  • Leasing or renting tangible personal property
  • Rummage or yard sales open to the public (the “home yard sales for individuals” exemption doesn’t apply to organizations)
  • Promotional items (e.g., logo patches, pins, printed materials)
  • Vending machine sales (see Vending Machines)

Nontaxable sales

  • A nonprofit’s membership
  • Charges for advertising space in publications (note: advertising inserts are taxable)
  • Car washes
  • Sales of raffle tickets
    Note: Some operators of raffles and games of chance must get a license from the Idaho Lottery.
  • Conference fees for educational, professional or religious events
  • Meals nonprofit or religious groups sell to senior citizens through programs under Title III-C of the Older Americans Act
  • Meals a church or temple sells at a members-only event
  • Incidental sales a religious organization makes
    • Items it sells must have been donated to the organization, or the organization must have paid tax when it bought the items.
    • The sale must not be made to the general public in competition with commercial businesses.
    • Proceeds of the sale must be used exclusively in the organization’s programs.
      Note: This exemption includes sales of property, admissions, taxable services, and providing hotel/campground accommodations.
  • Sales of literature when the nonprofit organization both publishes and sells it. None of the profits can go to an individual or shareholder of the organization.
  • Admissions
    • To nonprofit museums
    • To an event hosted by a 501(c)(3) or an organization conducting a tax-exempt function as defined in section 527 of the Internal Revenue Code that is not predominantly commercial or recreational, any included entertainment value is minimal when compared to the charge for attendance, and the hosting nonprofit has paid sales tax on property consumed during the event
  • Animals a 4-H or FFA club sell at a fair or the Western Idaho Spring Lamb Sale
  • Lodging sales the Ronald McDonald House makes
  • Sales of digital subscriptions
  • Fees to use a nonprofit’s shooting range facility or enter a nonprofit organization’s shooting competition

Sales that can be taxable or exempt

Suggested donations for admissions or sales

  • If a sign or other advertising says something like “donations accepted” with no amount mentioned and people can attend or buy something without paying, it’s a donation and you don’t have to charge tax.
  • When you establish or suggest a price for what you sell, you must charge tax. This is true even if you call it a “donation.”
    E.g., If a sign or other advertising says “$5 donation suggested,” all donations are taxable, whether they’re $1 or $50.

Auction items – fundraising events

  • Fundraising auctions differ from normal auctions when there is a donation component.
  • Although the amount of cash donation isn’t taxable, the sale of goods is. For this reason, it’s necessary to determine the portion of the sale that’s a cash donation.
  • An auction item for a fundraising event is subject to tax on its final bidding price unless you follow these procedures:
    1. Post the fair market value by the item you’re auctioning.
    2. Give the buyer an invoice that details the value, tax due on the value, and amount paid.

Note: If you hire a professional auctioneering service, the auctioneer will collect tax on the actual selling price, which includes fees (such as a buyer’s fees, credit card service fees, etc.). If you only hire an auctioneer caller, you are responsible for collecting sales tax.

Showing sales tax on receipts

As a retailer, you must separately list the amount of tax on the sales invoice. Businesses that want sales to be an even-dollar amount still must separately state the tax.

  • If you don’t separately state the tax, you must charge tax on the whole-dollar amount.
  • Sometimes businesses with high-volume or even-dollar sales don’t automatically give receipts. But you must give customers a receipt if they ask for it. A receipt showing the amount of tax you charged is the only proof they have to show they properly paid sales tax.

Nonprofits and Donations

As a nonprofit, you don’t owe sales or use tax on things you receive as gifts, including items, cash, gift cards or certificates, labor or personnel time.

Donations of cash, gift cards and time

Donors don’t owe sales or use tax when they give cash, gift cards (or certificates), labor or personnel time.

Donations from donors’ resale inventory

Businesses that donate items from their resale inventory generally owe use tax on the donated items. Donors can make donations to you from their resale inventory exempt from sales or use tax only in the following situations:

  • Your organization is the Idaho Food Bank Warehouse, Inc.
  • Your organization is the Advocates for Survivors of Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault, Inc.
  • Your organization has a food bank or soup kitchen and donors give tangible personal property or food to you to grow, prepare, store or serve food.
    Note: Donations of motor vehicles and trailers aren’t exempt to food banks other than the Idaho Food Bank Warehouse, Inc.
  • Your organization is a nonprofit registered with the Idaho Secretary of State and the donor gives you food or beverages.
  • Your organization receives donations of clothing and more than 50% of your activities involve giving away clothing. (You’re a nonsale clothier.)
    Note: Donations of housewares a donor gives to a nonsale clothier aren’t exempt.
  • Your nonprofit organization is listed in Idaho Code 63-3622O and donors give tangible personal property that will become part of real property.
    Examples of exempt inventory withdrawals (donors won’t owe use tax):
    • Food and beverages grocery stores and restaurants give to nonprofit organizations
    • Shoes, coats and dresses a clothing retailer donates to groups that give away at least 50 percent of the clothing (nonsale clothiers)
    • Building materials a lumberyard donates to a nonprofit museum if the materials will become part of real property

Donors must pay use tax directly to the Tax Commission for all other inventory donations.

Other donations

Both individual and business donors must pay sales or use tax on most items they donate to you. If they haven’t paid sales tax when they bought the item, they must pay use tax directly to the Tax Commission. This may occur when an online seller does not collect and remit sales tax on your purchase or if you buy something in a state without a sales tax.

  • If donors already paid sales tax when they bought an item they’re donating, they don’t owe use tax.
  • If donors buy an item new to donate and didn’t pay sales tax, they owe use tax on the purchase price. If an item is used and the donors didn’t pay sales tax when they bought it, they owe use tax on the fair market value of the item at the time they donate it.
  • If donors were given a gift and then donate that gift, they don’t owe tax when donating that gift.
    Note: Donations of vehicles have special rules. When a donor gives a vehicle they received as a tax-exempt gift, they do not owe use tax on the vehicle. See: Donating a vehicle.

Recordkeeping for Nonprofits

You must keep records of all the purchases and sales that your business makes. Your records must show that you properly collected, reported and paid or forwarded taxes to Idaho.

Records you must keep

  • Normal books of account
  • Documents that support entries in the books of account
    Examples:
    • Bills
    • Receipts
    • Invoices
    • Cash register tapes
    • Credits granted
    • Job or work orders
    • Contracts
    • All schedules or working papers used to prepare your tax returns
  • Copies of sales tax resale or exemption certificates (e.g., Form ST-101)
    Note: Keep resale or exemption certificates for as long as the nonprofit does business with that buyer, plus four years We’ll bill you for tax due if you don’t have completed exemption certificates for buyers you sell exempt to.
  • Tax returns
  • Tax payments

What the records must show

  • Gross receipts from sales and services made in Idaho, even sales that you or your customer might consider exempt from tax. If you deliver the product or service somewhere other than your place of business, you must also keep records that prove where delivery took place.
  • The identity of customers claiming an exemption, the type of exemption, and what you sold them exempt.
  • All deductions claimed in filing returns.
  • The total purchase price of anything you bought for sale, rental, lease or your own use.
  • The amount of sales tax collected from your customer or that you paid to a vendor.

You must keep all sales and use tax records and exemption certificates for at least four years. (You should keep them for seven years if you don’t file returns.)

Laws and Rules For Nonprofits

Learn more about nonprofit and religious groups:

Learn more about Idaho tax statutes 

Learn more about our Rules