St 121 Form – Fill Out and Use This PDF

New York State Department of Taxation and Finance

New York State and Local Sales and Use Tax

Exempt Use Certificate

The purchase I am making is exempt from state and local sales and use taxes because the property or service(s) will be used for the exempt purpose indicated below and as explained in the instructions.

ST-121

(1/11)

Pages 1 and 2 must be completed by the purchaser and given to the seller

Mark an X in the appropriate box:

Single-purchase certiicate

Blanket certiicate

A.Machinery and equipment, parts, tools, and supplies used or consumed in the production of tangible personal property for sale or in the production of gas, electricity, refrigeration, or steam, for sale. Enter Certificate of Authority number here

B.Tangible personal property used or consumed in the production of a ilm for sale. Enter Certificate of Authority number here

C.Tangible personal property used or consumed in providing telecommunications or Internet access services for sale. Enter Certificate of Authority number here

If you are engaged exclusively in providing Internet access services for sale, a Certificate of Authority is not required when claiming this exemption; however, if you have a Certificate of Authority, enter the number in the space provided.

D.Machinery, equipment, or other tangible personal property (including parts, tools, and supplies) used or consumed by television or radio broadcasters in the production or transmission of live or recorded programs which are used by the broadcaster for speciied purposes. Enter Certificate of Authority number here

E.Purchases of gas or electricity or gas or electric service used to provide gas or electric service consisting of operating a gas pipeline, an electric transmission line, or a gas or electric distribution line. Enter Certificate of Authority number here

F.Purchases of the following used or consumed in the production of tangible personal property (or a ilm, regardless as to the means by which the ilm is conveyed) for sale (mark an X in one or more boxes):

fuel	gas	electricity
refrigeration	steam

gas, electric, refrigeration, or steam service

Enter Certificate of Authority number here

Purchases described in item G are exempt from all state and local sales and use taxes when delivered or used outside New York City, but subject to New York City local sales and use tax when delivered or used in New York City.

G.Purchases of the following used or consumed in the production of gas, electricity, refrigeration, or steam for sale (mark an X in one or more boxes):

fuel	gas	electricity
refrigeration	steam

gas, electric, refrigeration, or steam service

Enter Certificate of Authority number here

A

B

C

D

K.Tangible personal property used in research and development.

L.Purchases of the following used in research and development (mark an X in one or more boxes):

gas	electricity
refrigeration	steam

gas, electric, refrigeration, or steam service

M.Cartons, containers, and other wrapping and packaging materials and supplies that are actually transferred to the purchaser.

N.Certiied enhanced emissions inspection equipment for testing and inspecting motor vehicles. Enter your inspection station license number here

O.Commercial vessels (including certain property and services).

P.Commercial aircraft (including certain machinery and equipment) and light simulators purchased by commercial airlines.

Q.Commercial ishing vessels (including certain property).

R.Pollution control equipment.

S.Tangible personal property (including lubricants) used in the services of maintenance, service, repair, or installation performed on any aircraft by such person providing such service.

Purchases described in item T are subject to New York City local sales tax.

T.Machinery and equipment used directly and predominantly in loading, unloading, and handling cargo at a qualiied marine terminal facility in New York City.

U.Other — Describe exempt use and identify the section of the Tax Law covering this exemption

(see instructions).

Signature of owner, partner, or authorized person of purchaser

Date prepared

To the purchaser

If you have a valid Certificate of Authority, you may use Form ST-121 to purchase, rent, or lease tangible personal property or services exempt from tax to the extent indicated in these instructions. Complete all required entries on the form and give it to the seller.

You may use Form ST-121 as a blanket certiicate covering the irst and subsequent purchases of the same general type of property or service. However, each subsequent sales slip or purchase invoice (excluding utility bills) based on this blanket certiicate must show your name, address, and Certificate of Authority identiication number.

If you make further purchases from the seller that do not qualify for the exemption, you must pay the appropriate sales tax at the time of purchase.

As used in this document, the term predominantly means that the property or service(s) is used more than 50% of the time directly for the purpose stated in the particular section. The term exclusively means that the property or service(s) is used 100% of the time directly for the purpose stated in the particular section. The term primarily means that the property or service(s) is used 50% or more of the time directly for the purpose stated in the particular section.

Part 1 — Exemptions related to production

Except as described in item C, you must have a Certificate of Authority to claim the exemptions listed in Part 1.

A — You may purchase, exempt from tax, machinery and equipment, including parts, tools, and supplies, used or consumed directly and predominantly in the production of tangible personal property, gas, electricity, refrigeration, or steam for sale by manufacturing, processing, generating, assembling, reining, mining, or extracting. For more information on these various production exemptions, see Publication 852, Sales Tax Information for: Manufacturers, Processors, Generators, Assemblers, Refiners, Miners and Extractors, and Other Producers of Goods and Merchandise.

B — You may purchase, exempt from tax, tangible personal property used directly and predominantly in the production (including editing, dubbing, and mixing) of a ilm for sale regardless of the medium by which the ilm is conveyed to the purchaser. (For purposes of this exemption, the term film means feature ilms, documentary ilms, shorts, television ilms, television commercials, and similar productions.)

C — You may purchase, exempt from tax, tangible personal property used directly and predominantly in the receiving, initiating, amplifying, processing, transmitting, retransmitting, switching, or monitoring of switching of telecommunications services for sale, or Internet access services for sale, or any combination of the two services. If you are engaged exclusively in providing Internet access services for sale, a Certificate of Authority is not required when claiming this exemption; however, if you have a Certificate of Authority, enter the number in the space provided on page 1.

D — You may purchase, exempt from tax, machinery, equipment, or other tangible personal property (including parts, tools, and supplies) used or consumed by television or radio broadcasters directly

and predominantly in the production (including post-production) of live or recorded programs which are used or consumed by a broadcaster predominantly for the purpose of broadcast over the air by the broadcaster or for transmission through a cable television or direct-broadcast satellite system by the broadcaster. You may also purchase, exempt from tax, machinery, equipment, and other tangible personal property (including parts, tools, and supplies) used or consumed directly and predominantly in the transmission of live or recorded programs over the air or through a cable television or direct-broadcast satellite system by the broadcaster. Tangible personal property purchased by a broadcaster (lessor) for lease to another person (lessee) for that person’s use or consumption directly and predominantly in the production (including post production) of live or recorded programs by the person will be deemed to be used or consumed by the lessor broadcaster for purposes of determining whether the lessor broadcaster has met the direct and predominant use requirement of the exemption described in the above sentence. (For more information concerning this exemption, see TSB-M-00(6)S, Summary of the 2000 Sales and Compensating Use Tax Budget Legislation.)

E — You may purchase, exempt from tax, gas or electricity or gas or electric service used or consumed directly and exclusively to provide

gas or electric service of whatever nature consisting of operating a gas pipeline, a gas distribution line, or an electric transmission or distribution line or to ensure the necessary working pressure in an underground gas storage facility.

F —You may purchase, exempt from tax, fuel, gas, electricity, refrigeration, and steam and gas, electric, refrigeration, and steam service used or consumed directly and exclusively in the production of tangible personal property (or a ilm, regardless as to the means by which the ilm is conveyed) for sale, by manufacturing, processing, assembling, generating, reining, mining, or extracting. You must pay any state and local taxes due on any part of any fuel or utility service not used directly and exclusively for an exempt purpose. For example, electricity purchased solely to light a factory must be purchased tax paid, but electricity used for both an exempt purpose and a taxable purpose may be purchased exempt from tax. However, you must report the tax due on the electricity used for the taxable purpose on your sales and use tax return as a purchase subject to tax.

G —You may purchase, exempt from tax (except for the local tax imposed on sales and uses in New York City), fuel, gas, electricity, refrigeration, and steam and gas, electric, refrigeration, and steam service used or consumed directly and exclusively in the production of gas, electricity, refrigeration, and steam for sale by manufacturing, processing, assembling, generating, reining, mining, or extracting. You must pay any state and local taxes due on any part of any fuel or utility service not used directly and exclusively for an exempt purpose.

Part 2 — Services exempt from tax

H — You may purchase the services of installing, repairing, maintaining, and servicing qualifying property listed in Part 1, items A through D, exempt from tax.

I — You may purchase the services of producing, fabricating, processing, printing, and imprinting, including editing, dubbing, and mixing, qualifying property listed in Part 1, items B and D, exempt from tax.

J — If you are a facility regulated by the DEC as either a transfer station or construction and demolition debris processing facility, you may purchase the service of waste removal exempt from tax, provided that the waste is not generated by your facility. Under the DEC regulations, a transfer station is deined generally as a solid waste management facility other than a recyclables handling and recovery facility, used oil facility, or a construction and demolition debris processing facility, where solid waste is received for the purpose of subsequent transfer to another solid waste management facility for further processing, treating, transfer, or disposal. A construction and demolition debris processing facility

is a processing facility that receives and processes construction and demolition debris by any means.

Part 3 — Other exemptions

A Certificate of Authority is not required when claiming the exemptions described in Part 3 on page 2. However, if you have a Certificate of Authority, enter the number in the space provided on page 2.

K — Tangible personal property used or consumed directly and predominantly in research and development in the experimental or laboratory sense is exempt from tax.

L — Gas, electricity, refrigeration, and steam, and gas, electric, refrigeration, and steam service used or consumed directly and exclusively in research and development in the experimental or laboratory sense may be purchased exempt from tax.

Research and development does not include the ordinary testing or inspection of materials or products for quality control, eficiency surveys, management studies, consumer surveys, advertising, promotions, or research in connection with literary, historical, or similar projects.

M—Vendors may purchase, exempt from tax, cartons, containers, and other wrapping and packaging materials and supplies and components thereof used to package tangible personal property for sale if the property is actually transferred by the vendor to the purchaser of the property.

N — Enhanced emissions inspection equipment certiied by the DEC for use in testing and inspecting motor vehicles as part of the enhanced emissions inspection and maintenance program required by the Federal Clean Air Act and the New York State Clean Air Compliance Act may be purchased without payment of tax. To qualify for the exemption, the equipment must be purchased and used by an oficial inspection station which is licensed by the Department of Motor Vehicles and authorized to conduct enhanced emissions inspections. (For more

Page 4 of 4 ST-121 (1/11)

information about enhanced emissions inspection equipment, see TSB-M-97(8)S, Enhanced Emissions Inspection Equipment.)

O — Commercial vessels, including property used by or purchased for the use of these vessels for fuel, provisions, supplies, maintenance, and repairs, and the services of installing, maintaining, servicing, or repairing these vessels or property, may be purchased exempt from tax. To qualify for the exemption, the commercial vessel must be primarily engaged in interstate or foreign commerce. The exemption does not apply to property purchased for or used in the original equipping of a new ship, or to the services of installing this property in the equipping of a new ship. (For the deinition of commercial vessels and other information concerning this exemption, see TSB-M-96(14)S, Tax Law Defines Commercial Vessels and Commercial Aircraft.)

P — Commercial aircraft and machinery or equipment to be installed on this aircraft, property used for maintenance or repair of this aircraft, and light simulators purchased by commercial airlines may be purchased exempt from tax. To qualify for the exemption, the commercial aircraft must be primarily engaged in intrastate, interstate, or foreign commerce. (For the deinition of commercial aircraft and other information concerning this exemption, see TSB-M-96(14)S.)

Q — Commercial ishing vessels used directly and predominantly in the harvesting of ish for sale (other than sport ishing vessels), including property used by or purchased for the use of these vessels for fuel, provisions, supplies, maintenance, and repairs may be purchased exempt from tax. (For the deinition of commercial ishing vessels and other information concerning this exemption, see TSB-M-85(17)S, 1985 Legislation - Chapter 799 Sales Tax Exemption for Commercial Fishing Vessels.)

R — If not otherwise exempt, machinery and equipment used directly and predominantly in the control, prevention, or abatement of pollution or contaminants from manufacturing or industrial facilities may be purchased exempt from tax.

S — Tangible personal property purchased and used in the services of maintenance, service, repair or installation performed on any aircraft, where such property is purchased by the person providing such services and it becomes a physical component part of the aircraft or is a lubricant applied to the aircraft, is exempt from tax.

T — Machinery and equipment used at qualiied marine terminal facilities located in New York City. The machinery and equipment must be used directly and predominantly in loading, unloading, and handling cargo at marine terminal facilities located in New York City which handled more than 350,000 twenty foot equivalent units (TEUs) in 2003. For purposes of this exemption, the term TEU means a unit of volume equivalent to the volume of a twenty-foot container. This exemption does not apply to the local tax in New York City.

U — Use this line to claim exemption from all sales and use taxes on qualiied tangible personal property or services not otherwise speciied in this certiicate. Describe the exempt use of the tangible personal property or service being purchased, and identify the applicable section of the Tax Law under which you claim exemption.

If you are purchasing motor fuel or diesel motor fuel eligible to be taxed on a cents-per-gallon basis, write Tax Law section 1111(m) qualified fuel taxed using the cents-per-gallon method in the space provided. See TSB-M-06(8)S, New Guidelines on the Sales of Motor Fuel and Diesel Motor Fuel Subject to the Cents-Per-Gallon Sales Tax, for additional information.

Line access services purchased by an Internet Service Provider (ISP) and used for transmission between the ISP point of presence and the public Internet for the purpose of connecting the ISP’s customers to the Internet are purchases of interstate or international telephony and thus are not subject to sales tax. If you are an ISP purchasing line access services to use in this manner, write telecommunications services used by an ISP to provide Internet access originating with the ISP point of presence (Tax Law section 1105 (b)(1)) in the space provided. See TSB-M-07(2)S, Sales Tax Treatment of Telecommunications Services Purchased By an Internet Service Provider, for additional information.

Certain military decorations, including ribbons, medals, mini-medals, and lapel pins, are exempt from sales tax when sold to an active member or a veteran of the United States military. If you are purchasing tax-exempt military decorations, write military decoration – Tax Law section 1115 (a)(11-a) in the space provided. The Tax Law provides

that you must also show the vendor your military identiication or other documentation (such as discharge papers) as proof of current military service or veteran status. However, the vendor is not required to retain a copy of this proof.

To the seller

The purchaser must give you Form ST-121 with all entries completed no later than 90 days after delivery of the property, or the sale will be deemed to have been taxable at the time of the transaction. If you receive the certiicate after the 90-day period, both you and the purchaser assume the burden of proving the sale was exempt, and additional substantiation may be required.

In addition, if you fail to collect tax as a result of accepting an improperly completed exemption certiicate, you become personally liable for the tax plus any penalty and interest charges due, unless the certiicate is corrected within a reasonable period of time or you otherwise prove that the transaction was not subject to tax. You must keep any exemption certiicate you receive for at least three years after the due date of the last return to which it relates, or the date the return is iled, if later. You must also maintain a method of associating an exempt sale made to a particular customer with the exemption certiicate you have on ile for that customer.

If the Blanket certificate box is marked on page 1, you may consider this certiicate part of any order received from the purchaser during the period that the blanket certiicate remains in effect. However, each subsequent sales slip or purchase invoice based on this blanket certiicate must show the purchaser’s name and address. A blanket certiicate remains in effect until the purchaser gives you written notice of revocation, or you have knowledge that the certiicate is false or was fraudulently presented, or until the Tax Department notiies you that the purchaser may not make exempt purchases.

Misuse of this certificate

Misuse of this exemption certificate may subject you to serious civil and criminal sanctions in addition to the payment of any tax and interest due. These include:

•A penalty equal to 100% of the tax due;

•A $50 penalty for each fraudulent exemption certificate issued;

•Criminal felony prosecution, punishable by a substantial fine and a possible jail sentence; and

•Revocation of your Certificate of Authority, if you are required to be registered as a vendor. See TSB-M-09(17)S, Amendments that Encourage Compliance with the Tax Law and Enhance the Tax Department’s Enforcement Ability, for more information.

Privacy notification

The Commissioner of Taxation and Finance may collect and maintain personal information pursuant to the New York State Tax Law, including but not limited to, sections 5-a, 171, 171-a, 287, 308, 429, 475, 505, 697, 1096, 1142, and 1415 of that Law; and may require disclosure of social security numbers pursuant to 42 USC 405(c)(2)(C)(i).

This information will be used to determine and administer tax liabilities and, when authorized by law, for certain tax offset and exchange of tax information programs as well as for any other lawful purpose.

Information concerning quarterly wages paid to employees is provided to certain state agencies for purposes of fraud prevention, support enforcement, evaluation of the effectiveness of certain employment and training programs and other purposes authorized by law.

Failure to provide the required information may subject you to civil or criminal penalties, or both, under the Tax Law.

This information is maintained by the Manager of Document Management, NYS Tax Department, W A Harriman Campus, Albany NY 12227; telephone (518) 457-5181.

Need help?

Internet access: www.tax.ny.gov

(for information, forms, and publications)

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