Buying Goods for Resale - Printing and Publishing

Buying if you qualify for the production exemption

You can buy certain goods exempt if you qualify for the production exemption. But you must carefully evaluate your purchases to see if they’re exempt when you’re a printer making and selling a mixture of both tangible personal property and non-tangible pesonal property (e.g., digital media).

Purchases that can qualify

Examples of items that might qualify for the exemption:
  • Computer hardware and software that operate production equipment
  • Film processors
  • Photo printing equipment
  • Typesetting equipment
  • Cameras
  • Contact frames
  • Plate burners and processors
  • Step-and-repeat machines
  • Color-key proofing systems
  • Laminated proofing systems
  • Offset and letter presses
  • Cutters to size material before printing and in the bindery process
  • Stitchers, trimmers, folders, gluers, drills, punches and binders used in the bindery process
  • Paper, ink and other supplies which become part of the product
  • Chemicals, catalysts and other materials that make your product more marketable
  • Copiers
To buy qualifying items exempt, give the seller a completed pdf Form ST-101, Sales Tax Resale or Exemption Certificate.

Purchases that don't qualify

Examples of items you must pay tax on when you buy them:

  • Air compressors used to clean production equipment
  • Equipment used in maintenance and repair activities
  • Equipment and supplies used in selling and distribution activities
  • Office equipment and supplies
  • Cleaning supplies
  • Coffee, coffee cups

Free newspapers

Certain equipment and materials used directly and primarily to produce free newspapers are exempt. The equipment and materials must be essential to the publication of free newspapers. A publication qualifies as a free newspaper if all of the following apply:
  • Its largest source of revenue comes from advertising.
  • Its content has at least 10% informative material that doesn’t produce income.*
  • It’s produced in a newspaper format, as defined by Sales Tax Rule 127.
  • It’s publicly distributed without charge.
The buyer must give you a completed pdf Form ST-101, Sales Tax Resale or Exemption Certificate.

Percentage computed on an average annual column inch basis.

Vending machines

If you operate a self-service copier, you might be able to buy it exempt. An automated device that sells taxable goods and accepts only legal money as payment is exempt. This includes devices that allow customers to print photocopies or photographs when they insert legal money into the machine. Legal money means coins, bills, debit cards or credit cards.

The operator of a vending machine must follow special rules related to sales tax on sales from the vending machine. See Vending Machines and Retailers.

To buy the vending machine exempt, give the seller a completed pdf Form ST-101, Sales Tax Resale or Exemption Certificate.

Read more in our Vending Machines guide.