By Ted Friedman and Andrew Appleby

The South Dakota Supreme Court held that a corporation operating a hunting lodge did not owe use tax on its purchases of food, beverages and ammunition because the lodge purchased the goods for resale to the lodge’s customers in the regular course of business. The lodge offered hunting packages for a single “package price” that included unlimited food, beverages and ammunition. The court explained that use tax does not apply to goods purchased for “sale” to customers “in the regular course of business.” Determining there was a “sale” involving both transfer and consideration, the court reasoned that the lodge’s customers were given a right to an unlimited amount of the goods and that such goods were transferred for consideration because the lodge’s customers placed value on the unlimited goods as part of the purchase of an all‑inclusive package. The court also determined that the sale of the goods, although part of a larger transaction, was a steady and uniform occurrence in the lodge’s business and, therefore, constituted a sale “in the regular course of business.” Accordingly, the court held that the lodge did not owe use tax on its purchases of food, beverages and ammunition. Paul Nelson Farm v. Dep’t of Revenue, 2014 S.D. 31 (S.D. May 21, 2014).