Rhode Island: Equipment used to brew beer for restaurant sales taxable
The equipment used by a restaurant to brew beer on site for sale to the restaurant’s customers was subject to Rhode Island sales and use tax because the restaurant was primarily engaged in food and beverage sales rather than in the business of manufacturing beer to be distributed and sold elsewhere.
The purpose of combining in one brewpub-type operation the sale of professionally brewed beer to be served on the premises, along with pub-type food items, meals, or snacks was to entice restaurant/bar customers. Moreover, the segregated area for the manufacture of beer did not qualify as an industrial plant. (Administrative Hearing Decision No. 98-22, Rhode Island Division of Taxation, October 22,1998.)
Copyright Commerce Clearing House, Inc. Dec 21, 1998
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