Internal Revenue Service
Revenue Ruling

TaxLinks.com   sm

 Rev. Rul. 60-27

1960-1 C.B. 405

Section 6011 -- Return Filing Requirement

IRS Headnote

Sales of certain `office' trailers are not subject to the manufacturers excise tax imposed by section 4061(a) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954. Such trailers are primarily designed for use on job sites located off the highway, and their occasional use on the highway in moving from one job site to another is consider merely incidental to their prime function.

Full Text

Rev. Rul. 60-27

Advice has been requested concerning the applicability of the manufacturers excise tax on motor vehicle articles to sales of `office' trailers, such as those described below.

A manufacturer of house tailers also produces and sells office trailers. Both types of trailers are produced on the same production line and use the same kind of shell or skin, running gear, wheels, tires, frame, windows, roof, doorways, doors, etc. Therefore, the outward appearance of an office trailer resembles that of a house trailer. On the other hand, the interior fittings of the office trailers differ substantially from those of house trailers in that they are equipped with office furniture, such as flat-top desks and slant-top draftsman's tables. The office trailers are designed to be used as portable field offices by contractors. When the office trailers are used on a construction job, they are usually placed on blocks and the wheels and tires are removed, making the trailers immobile for the duration of the job. When the job has been completed the trailer is then transported over the highway to another job where again it is immobilized.

Section 4061(a)(1) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954 imposes a tax upon the sale by the manufacturer, producer, or importer of certain enumerated motor vehicle articles, including truck and bus trailer and semitrailer chassis and truck and bus trailer and semitrailer bodies. Section 4061(a)(2) of the Code imposes a tax upon the sale by the manufacturer, producer, or importer of automobile chassis and bodies other than those taxable under section 4061(a)(1) and classis and bodies for trailers and semitrailers (other than house trailers) suitable for use in connection with passenger automobiles. Section 4063(a) of the Code provides that the tax imposed under section 4061(a)(2) of the Code shall not apply in the case of house trailers.

Although the office trailers described above in some respects resemble house trailers, they have been so constructed that they cannot qualify as house trailers, which are exempt, under the provisions of section 4063(a) of the Code, from the manufacturers excise tax imposed by section 4061(a)(2) of the Code. Moreover, the taxable status of these office trailers is not determined by the use to which a particular vehicle may be put by an ultimate vendee, but the purpose or usage for which they are primarily designed. See Rev. Rul. 57-440, C.B. 1957-2, 721. These office trailers are primarily designed for use on job sites located off the highway, and their occasional use on the highway in moving from one job site to another is considered merely incidental to their prime function as portable field offices. Therefore, it is held that the manfacturers excise tax imposed by section 4061(a) of the Code does not apply to the manufacturer's sales of these office trailers.