Sales and use tax; resale certificate; effect; exemption certificate; fee; penalty; wrongful disclosure

(1) A resale certificate may be given by a purchaser who at the time of purchasing the property intends to sell, lease, or rent it in the regular course of business. A seller making repeated sales of the same type to the same purchaser shall not be required to take a separate resale certificate for each individual sale, but may, at his or her own risk, take a blanket certificate covering all such sales made to the same purchaser.

(2) The resale certificate shall be on such form and require the furnishing of such information as the Tax Commissioner may require by rule and regulation.

(3) If a purchaser who gives a resale certificate makes any use of the property other than retention, demonstration, or display while holding it for sale, lease, or rental in the regular course of business, the use shall be taxable to the purchaser as of the time when the property is first so used and the sales price of the property to him or her shall be deemed the measure of the tax.

(4) Any person who gives a resale certificate to the seller for property which he or she knows, at the time of purchase, is purchased for the purpose of use rather than for the purpose of resale, lease, or rental by him or her in the regular course of business and each officer of any corporation which so gives a resale certificate shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.

(5) If a purchaser gives a resale certificate with respect to the purchase of tangible goods and thereafter commingles such goods with other tangible goods not so purchased but of such similarity that the identity of the constituent goods in the commingled mass cannot be determined, sales from the mass of commingled goods shall be deemed to be sales of the goods covered by the resale certificate until a quantity of commingled goods equal to the quantity of such goods so commingled has been sold.

(6) Any person, firm, or corporation engaged in multistate operations and engaged as a common or contract carrier may apply to the Tax Commissioner for an exemption certificate which will permit such person or corporation to make purchases of any nature within this state or without this state and bring such purchases into this state for use both within and without this state, for storage in this state, and when withdrawn from storage to be used within or without the state without paying the sales or use tax thereon, until such articles, materials, or supplies or finished products are placed in use within this state. When such articles, materials, supplies, or finished products are used within this state, a person to whom such exemption certificate has been issued shall, on the last day of the first following month after which such articles, materials, supplies, or finished products are put to use within this state, make a report to the Tax Commissioner as to the amount of use or sales tax, if any, which is due the state and make the payments to the state at the time of making the return. If the Tax Commissioner, after investigation, finds that the applicant maintains satisfactory books of account and that granting such exemption would not result in the evasion or avoidance of any tax otherwise properly due, he or she shall issue such exemption certificate. Any person granted such an exemption certificate shall furnish a copy thereof to any vendor from whom purchases are made and such vendor may deliver any such purchases to the holder of any such certificate without collection of any such sales tax. The fee for such exemption certificate shall be ten dollars. The revenue from such fees shall be placed in the General Fund.

(7) If any person, firm, corporation, association, or the agent thereof presents a resale certificate to the seller for property which is purchased for a use other than for resale, lease, or rental by him or her in the regular course of business, the Tax Commissioner may impose, assess, and collect from the purchaser or the agent thereof a penalty of one hundred dollars or ten times the tax, whichever amount is larger, for each instance of such presentation and misuse of a resale certificate. This amount shall be in addition to any tax, interest, or penalty otherwise imposed. Any report, name, or information which is supplied to the Tax Commissioner regarding a violation specified in this section, including the identity of the informer, shall be subject to the pertinent provisions regarding wrongful disclosure in section 77-2711 .