Sales tax on invoices in Wyoming

Wyoming contractors working on real property are the end consumers of their materials: you pay sales tax to your vendor, and the Department of Revenue’s rule doesn’t tax your labor to alter, improve or construct real property, except at oil or gas well sites.

Wyoming sales tax and the license

The Wyoming Department of Revenue calls sales tax a transactional tax on goods and services: customers pay it to vendors, who submit it to the Department. If you sell tangible personal property, you need a Wyoming sales tax license, which you apply for through a WYIFS account. For any other sales or services, the Department asks you to request a written determination from its Education & Taxability team.

Use tax is the self-reported companion to sales tax, on goods and services bought outside Wyoming for use in the state.

Contractors: end consumers of their materials

• No license in most cases: because you pay sales tax to the vendor on the materials you use in real property, you usually don’t need a Wyoming sales tax license, unless you also sell or work on tangible personal property. The Department has returns for contractors who need to remit tax on untaxed purchases or untaxed removals from inventory.
• The statute: Wyoming law makes any contractor who furnishes tangible personal property under contract or in the development of real property its consumer or user.
• Labor: the Department’s Chapter 2 rule says charges for the labor to alter, improve or construct real property aren’t subject to sales or use tax, except services at an oil or gas well site that W.S. 39-15-103(a)(i)(K) taxes.
• Exempt customers: working for an exempt entity, such as the state of Wyoming or one of its political subdivisions, doesn’t exempt your purchases. You pay tax on all the equipment, materials, fixtures and supplies you buy to perform the contract.
• Deadline: remit use tax, and any sales tax you didn’t pay a vendor, by the last day of the month after the month of the purchase.

Fixtures: plumbing, HVAC and electrical

The Chapter 2 rule defines fixtures as tangible personal property that becomes a permanent part of the real property. Its list includes lighting and plumbing fixtures, hot water heaters, furnaces, boilers, central heating units, central air conditioning and built-in refrigeration units, burglar and fire alarms wired into the structure, built-in ovens, ranges and dishwashers, and wall-to-wall carpet glued down or otherwise permanently attached. As the contractor, you pay the tax on the fixtures you buy for a job.

Services: a listed set

Wyoming’s excise tax applies to retail sales of tangible personal property and to the services its statute lists, including the repair, alteration or improvement of tangible personal property, intrastate telecommunications, utilities, meals, lodging, admissions, and services at oil or gas well sites.

When you repair, alter or improve tangible personal property, both your labor or service charge and the materials, supplies and fabrication used are taxable. The materials that become an ingredient of the repair count as wholesale sales to you, so you buy them untaxed. Labor or service charges to repair, alter or improve tangible personal property owned by the state of Wyoming or its political subdivisions are exempt.

Nontaxable charges on the invoice: shown separately

The Chapter 2 rule requires nontaxable charges, sales for resale included, to be shown separately from taxable charges on sales invoices. If they aren’t separately shown and distinguishable, the entire invoice amount is taxable.

Ask the Department of Revenue how a contractor’s bill for real property work should show tax. Wyoming law bars a vendor from advertising that it will assume the tax, that the tax won’t be considered in the price, or that it will be refunded.

Local tax: county pennies where the customer takes possession

Local rates in Wyoming are voter-approved “pennies” added to the state rate on this page, so the total varies by county. Every rate is based on where the customer takes possession of the item or service, and the Department’s tax rate sheet lists current rates.

Nonresident subcontractors and projects

• Withholding: a general or prime contractor withholds 3%, plus the increased rate under W.S. 39-15-104(b) when that tax is in effect, from payments due a nonresident subcontractor, until the Department certifies the subcontractor’s sales taxes are paid. This doesn’t apply to a subcontractor hired only to provide labor on real property.
• Project registration: a nonresident prime contractor, and a resident prime contractor who hires a nonresident subcontractor, must register the project with the Department within 15 days of its start. Missing that deadline brings a penalty of 1% of the total payments due under the contract.