Crescent Plumbing Supply Co. v. Dir. of Revenue

Summary

The Missouri Supreme Court affirmed the Administrative Hearing Commission’s decision denying Crescent Plumbing Supply Co.’s sales-tax refund request as untimely. The court held that three transfers of tangible personal property constituted separate retail sales under Missouri tax law, and that the refund limitations period ran from the date Crescent remitted the overpaid tax.

Holdings

1. The date of overpayment is the date on which the taxpayer remits a payment in excess of what is due, not the date on which the related tax return was due.
2. The December 2012, February 2013, and June 2013 transfers were three separate retail sales under Missouri sales-tax law.
3. Crescent's refund claim was untimely as to the sales taxes remitted for the December 2012 and February 2013 sales because it was filed more than three years after the April 26, 2013 remittance.

Questions Presented

1. What is the date of overpayment for purposes of Missouri's three-year sales-tax refund limitation under section 144.190.2?
2. Whether the three transfers of water-heating systems and components constituted one retail sale or three separate retail sales under Missouri sales-tax law.
3. Whether the refund claim for sales taxes remitted on the December 2012 and February 2013 transactions was timely.

Disposition

affirmed