Thinking of buying some fresh pumpkin to make one of your favorite holiday recipes? Well if you live in Iowa, you will be paying sales tax on your food item, unless you fill out a form declaring your pumpkin is being used for edible purposes.
Yes, say it ain't so, the bureaucrats in the "Hawkeye State" have voted to remove the tax exempt status on pumpkins and kicking up the revenue coffers by officially declaring the pumpkin a Decoration.
The checkout clerk will be required to ask every purchaser of a jack o' lantern, "Will you be using the pumpkin for food or decoration?" if the answer is food, you must fill out of an official sales tax exemption form stating your intention.
Yikes! The state whose flag boasts the motto:
"OUR LIBERTIES WE PRIZE, AND OUR RIGHTS WE WILL MAINTAIN." has stooped to becoming the Pumpkin Police....You think they might have been a little pie-eyed when they thought that one up? Or maybe just "out of their gourd!"?
From the Iowa Department of Revenue Website:
The Department recently refined its position on whether pumpkins are subject to Iowa sales tax to more closely match what we believe to be their predominant use.
In the past, pumpkins were exempt from sales tax as a food (edible squash), even if they were to be later made into jack-o'-lanterns or used as decorations.
Our position now is that pumpkins are taxable if:
- They are advertised to be used as jack-o'-lanterns/decorations, or
- It is understood that they will be used as jack-o'-lanterns/decorations
Pumpkins are exempt in the following circumstances:
- The buyer completes a sales tax exemption certificate stating they will be used as food, or
- The pumpkins are a specific variety used to make pumpkin pies and are advertised in that way, or
- They are purchased with Food Stamps.
Retailers who sell pumpkins should keep these guidelines in mind and make any necessary changes to their tax treatment of pumpkin sales.
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