Lowe’s Home Centers, LLC v. Iowa Department of Revenue

The Supreme Court upheld the Iowa Department of Revenue’s sales tax assessment on labor installing building components sold by Lowe’s Home Centers, LLC, except as to those transactions in which the predominant service or only service provided was carpentry installation work, holding that because the Department’s own regulations limit the definition of carpentry services subject to sales tax to those performed for repairs and omits installations services, the sales tax did not apply.The parties here disagreed whether the sales tax applied to labor installing items sold by Lowe’s to homeowners through installation contracts. The Supreme Court held that the sales tax did not apply to carpentry for installations other than repairs but that installation services by electrical and plumbing subcontractors, which involved no structural changes to the homes of customers, did not fall within the statutory exemption for “new construction, reconstruction, alteration, remodeling, or the services of a general building contractor.” See Iowa Code 423.3(37). View "Lowe's Home Centers, LLC v. Iowa Department of Revenue" on Justia Law