The Texas Court of Appeals ruled that a law firm’s purchases of loan packages for lending institution clients was the taxable purchase of data processing services. The law firm purchased loan packages consisting of promissory notes, deeds of trust, tax disclosures and other pertinent legal documents from vendors. The law firm argued that the “essence of the transaction” was the conveyance of the loan package, which included services of paralegals and mortgage experts and not data processing. The court disagreed, finding that the contracts provided that the firm’s vendors collect and manipulate data, while the firm is responsible for the legal content in the packages. Thus, the “essence of the transaction” was the purchase of taxable data processing services.