Nonprofit religious, service, educational, or medical organization; exemption; purchasing agents

(1) Sales and use taxes shall not be imposed on the gross receipts from the sale, lease, or rental of and the storage, use, or other consumption in this state of purchases by (a) any nonprofit organization created exclusively for religious purposes, (b) any nonprofit organization providing services exclusively to the blind, (c) any nonprofit private educational institution established under sections 79-1601 to 79-1607 , (d) any accredited, nonprofit, privately controlled college or university with its primary campus physically located in Nebraska, (e) any nonprofit (i) hospital, (ii) health clinic when one or more hospitals or the parent corporations of the hospitals own or control the health clinic for the purpose of reducing the cost of health services or when the health clinic receives federal funds through the United States Public Health Service for the purpose of serving populations that are medically underserved, (iii) skilled nursing facility, (iv) intermediate care facility, (v) assisted-living facility, (vi) intermediate care facility for persons with developmental disabilities, (vii) nursing facility, (viii) home health agency, (ix) hospice or hospice service, (x) respite care service, (xi) mental health substance use treatment center licensed under the Health Care Facility Licensure Act, or (xii) center for independent living as defined in 29 U.S.C. 796a, (f) any nonprofit licensed residential child-caring agency, (g) any nonprofit licensed child-placing agency, (h) any nonprofit organization certified by the Department of Health and Human Services to provide community-based services for persons with developmental disabilities, or (i) any nonprofit organization certified or contracted by a regional behavioral health authority or the Division of Behavioral Health of the Department of Health and Human Services to provide community-based mental health or substance use services.

(2) Any organization listed in subsection (1) of this section shall apply for an exemption on forms provided by the Tax Commissioner. The application shall be approved and a numbered certificate of exemption received by the applicant organization in order to be exempt from the sales and use tax.

(3) The appointment of purchasing agents shall be recognized for the purpose of altering the status of the construction contractor as the ultimate consumer of building materials which are physically annexed to the structure and which subsequently belong to the owner of the organization or institution. The appointment of purchasing agents shall be in writing and occur prior to having any building materials annexed to real estate in the construction, improvement, or repair. The contractor who has been appointed as a purchasing agent may apply for a refund of or use as a credit against a future use tax liability the tax paid on inventory items annexed to real estate in the construction, improvement, or repair of a project for a licensed not-for-profit institution.

(4) Any organization listed in subsection (1) of this section which enters into a contract of construction, improvement, or repair upon property annexed to real estate without first issuing a purchasing agent authorization to a contractor or repairperson prior to the building materials being annexed to real estate in the project may apply to the Tax Commissioner for a refund of any sales and use tax paid by the contractor or repairperson on the building materials physically annexed to real estate in the construction, improvement, or repair.

(5) Any person purchasing, storing, using, or otherwise consuming building materials in the performance of any construction, improvement, or repair by or for any institution enumerated in subsection (1) of this section which is licensed upon completion although not licensed at the time of construction or improvement, which building materials are annexed to real estate and which subsequently belong to the owner of the institution, shall pay any applicable sales or use tax thereon. Upon becoming licensed and receiving a numbered certificate of exemption, the institution organized not for profit shall be entitled to a refund of the amount of taxes so paid in the performance of such construction, improvement, or repair and shall submit whatever evidence is required by the Tax Commissioner sufficient to establish the total sales and use tax paid upon the building materials physically annexed to real estate in the construction, improvement, or repair.