For the purposes of this article, the following words and phrases shall have the meanings respectively ascribed to them by this section:
(a) “Banking business” or “financial organization” means any bank, banking association, trust company, industrial loan company, small loan company or licensee, building and loan association, savings and loan association, credit union, finance company, investment company, investment broker or dealer and any other similar business organization at least ninety percent (90%) of the assets of which consists of intangible personal property and at least ninety percent (90%) of the gross receipts of which consists of dividends, interest and other charges derived from the use of money or credit.
(b) “Business” means activities engaged in or caused to be engaged in with the object of gain or economic benefit, either direct or indirect. “Business” shall not include a casual sale by a person who is not engaged in the business of selling the type of property involved in such casual sale. “Business” shall include the production of natural resources or manufactured products which are used or consumed by the producer or manufacturer and shall include the activities of a banking business or financial organization.
(c) “Contracting” means the furnishing of work, or both materials and work, in the fulfillment of a contract for the construction, alteration, repair, decoration or improvement of a new or existing building or structure, or any part thereof, or for the alteration, improvement or development of real property.
(d) “Director of Finance” means the Director of Finance of the City.
(e) “Gross income” means the gross receipts of the taxpayer, other than a banking or financial business, received as compensation for personal services, and the gross receipts of the taxpayer derived from trade, business, commerce or sales and the value proceeding or accruing from the sale of tangible property, real or personal, or service, or both, and all receipts by reason of the investment of the capital of the business engaged in, including rentals, royalties, fees, reimbursed costs or expenses or other emoluments however designated and including all interest, carrying charges, fees or other like income, however denominated, derived by the taxpayer from repetitive carrying of accounts, in the regular course and conduct of his business, and extension of credit in connection with the sale of any tangible personal property or service, and without any deductions on account of the cost of property sold, the cost of materials used, labor costs,
taxes, royalties paid in cash or in kind or otherwise, interest or discount paid or any other expense whatsoever. “Gross income” of a banking or financial business is specified in Section 745.33.
(f) “Gross proceeds of sales” means the value, whether in money or other property, actually proceeding from the sale of tangible property without any deduction on account of the cost of property sold or expenses of any kind. “Gross income” and “gross proceeds of sales” shall not be construed to include:
(1) Cash discounts allowed and taken on sales;
(2) The proceeds of sales of goods, wares or merchandise returned by customers when the sale price is refunded either in cash or by credit;
(3) The amount allowed as “trade-in value” for any article accepted as part payment for any article sold;
(4) Excise taxes imposed by this State; or
(5) Money or other property received or held by a professional person for the sole use and benefit of a client or another person or money received by the taxpayer on behalf of a bank or other financial institution for the repaying of a debt of another.
(g) “Person” or “company”, herein used interchangeably, includes any individual, firm, copartnership, joint venture, association, corporation, trust or any other group or combination acting as a unit, and the plural as well as the singular number, unless the intention to give a more limited meaning is disclosed by the context.
(h) “Return” means any tax or information return or report, declaration of estimated tax, claim, or petition for refund or credit, or petition for reassessment that is required by, or provided for, or permitted, under the provisions of this article which is filed with the Director of Finance by, or on behalf of, or with respect to any person, and any amendment or supplement thereto, including supporting schedules, attachments or lists which are supplemental to, or part of, the return so filed.
(i) “Sale”, “sales” or “selling” means any transfer of ownership of, or title to, property, whether for money or in exchange for other property.
(j) “Selling at wholesale” or “wholesale sales” means:
(1) Sales of any tangible personal property for the purpose of resale in the form of tangible personal property;
(2) Sales of machinery, supplies or materials which are to be directly consumed or used by the purchaser in the conduct of any business or activity which is subject to the tax imposed by this article;
(3) Sales of any tangible personal property to the United States of America, its agencies and instrumentalities, or to the State, its institutions or political subdivisions.
(k) “Service business” or “calling” means all activities engaged in by a person for other persons for a consideration, which involve the rendering of a service, as distinguished from the sale of tangible property, but shall not include the services rendered by an employee to his employer. This term shall include, but not be limited to:
(1) Persons engaged in manufacturing, compounding or preparing for sale, profit, or commercial use, articles, substances or commodities which are owned by another or others.
(2) Persons engaged as independent contractors in producing natural resource products which are owned by another or others, as personal property, immediately after the same are severed, extracted, reduced to possession and produced.
(3) The repetitive carrying of accounts, in the regular course and conduct of business, and extension of credit in connection with the sale of any tangible personal property or service, except as to persons taxed pursuant to the provisions of Section 745.33.
(l) “Taxpayer” means any person liable for any tax hereunder.
(m) “Tax year” or “taxable year” means either the calendar year or the taxpayer’s fiscal year when permission is obtained from the Director of Finance to use same as the tax period in lieu of the calendar year.
(Ord. 95-17. Passed 6-15-95.)
(n) “Isolated transactions” means all sales of tangible personal property, such as an individual selling his or her belongings, and sales from a residential premises whether designated a garage, lawn, yard, attic, porch, room, flea market or rummage sale. Such transactions are exempt from paying the annual business and occupation taxes under this article, provided that such sales may not be held more than four (4) times per calendar year, and no such sale shall last longer than forty- eight hours. Persons who regularly and routinely sell goods at yard or other sales, at flea markets or along the roadside are engaged in the business of selling tangible personal property and are not making isolated sales.
(Ord. 01-13. Passed 10-18-01.)