Section 5739.011. Exemptions for manufacturing

(A) As used in this section:

(1) "Manufacturer" means a person who is engaged in manufacturing, processing, assembling, or refining a product for sale and, solely for the purposes of division (B)(12) of this section, a person who meets all the qualifications of that division.

(2) "Manufacturing facility" means a single location where a manufacturing operation is conducted, including locations consisting of one or more buildings or structures in a contiguous area owned or controlled by the manufacturer.

(3) "Materials handling" means the movement of the product being or to be manufactured, during which movement the product is not undergoing any substantial change or alteration in its state or form.

(4) "Testing" means a process or procedure to identify the properties or assure the quality of a material or product.

(5) "Completed product" means a manufactured item that is in the form and condition as it will be sold by the manufacturer. An item is completed when all processes that change or alter its state or form or enhance its value are finished, even though the item subsequently will be tested to ensure its quality or be packaged for storage or shipment.

(6) "Continuous manufacturing operation" means the process in which raw materials or components are moved through the steps whereby manufacturing occurs. Materials handling of raw materials or parts from the point of receipt or preproduction storage or of a completed product, to or from storage, to or from packaging, or to the place from which the completed product will be shipped, is not a part of a continuous manufacturing operation.

(B) For purposes of division (B)(42)(g) of section 5739.02 of the Revised Code, the "thing transferred" includes, but is not limited to, any of the following:

(1) Production machinery and equipment that act upon the product or machinery and equipment that treat the materials or parts in preparation for the manufacturing operation;

(2) Materials handling equipment that moves the product through a continuous manufacturing operation; equipment that temporarily stores the product during the manufacturing operation; or, excluding motor vehicles licensed to operate on public highways, equipment used in intraplant or interplant transfers of work in process where the plant or plants between which such transfers occur are manufacturing facilities operated by the same person;

(3) Catalysts, solvents, water, acids, oil, and similar consumables that interact with the product and that are an integral part of the manufacturing operation;

(4) Machinery, equipment, and other tangible personal property used during the manufacturing operation that control, physically support, produce power for, lubricate, or are otherwise necessary for the functioning of production machinery and equipment and the continuation of the manufacturing operation;

(5) Machinery, equipment, fuel, power, material, parts, and other tangible personal property used to manufacture machinery, equipment, or other tangible personal property used in manufacturing a product for sale;

(6) Machinery, equipment, and other tangible personal property used by a manufacturer to test raw materials, the product being manufactured, or the completed product;

(7) Machinery and equipment used to handle or temporarily store scrap that is intended to be reused in the manufacturing operation at the same manufacturing facility;

(8) Coke, gas, water, steam, and similar substances used in the manufacturing operation; machinery and equipment used for, and fuel consumed in, producing or extracting those substances; machinery, equipment, and other tangible personal property used to treat, filter, pump, or otherwise make the substance suitable for use in the manufacturing operation; and machinery and equipment used for, and fuel consumed in, producing electricity for use in the manufacturing operation;

(9) Machinery, equipment, and other tangible personal property used to transport or transmit electricity, coke, gas, water, steam, or similar substances used in the manufacturing operation from the point of generation, if produced by the manufacturer, or from the point where the substance enters the manufacturing facility, if purchased by the manufacturer, to the manufacturing operation;

(10) Machinery, equipment, and other tangible personal property that treats, filters, cools, refines, or otherwise renders water, steam, acid, oil, solvents, or similar substances used in the manufacturing operation reusable, provided that the substances are intended for reuse and not for disposal, sale, or transportation from the manufacturing facility;

(11) Parts, components, and repair and installation services for items described in division (B) of this section;

(12) Machinery and equipment, detergents, supplies, solvents, and any other tangible personal property located at a manufacturing facility that are used in the process of removing soil, dirt, or other contaminants from, or otherwise preparing in a suitable condition for use, towels, linens, articles of clothing, floor mats, mop heads, or other similar items, to be supplied to a consumer as part of laundry and dry cleaning services as defined in division (BB) of section 5739.01 of the Revised Code, only when the towels, linens, articles of clothing, floor mats, mop heads, or other similar items belong to the provider of the services;

(13) Equipment and supplies used to clean processing equipment that is part of a continuous manufacturing operation to produce milk, ice cream, yogurt, cheese, and similar dairy products for human consumption.

(C) For purposes of division (B)(42)(g) of section 5739.02 of the Revised Code, the "thing transferred" does not include any of the following:

(1) Tangible personal property used in administrative, personnel, security, inventory control, record-keeping, ordering, billing, or similar functions;

(2) Tangible personal property used in storing raw materials or parts prior to the commencement of the manufacturing operation or used to handle or store a completed product, including storage that actively maintains a completed product in a marketable state or form;

(3) Tangible personal property used to handle or store scrap or waste intended for disposal, sale, or other disposition, other than reuse in the manufacturing operation at the same manufacturing facility;

(4) Tangible personal property that is or is to be incorporated into realty;

(5) Machinery, equipment, and other tangible personal property used for ventilation, dust or gas collection, humidity or temperature regulation, or similar environmental control, except machinery, equipment, and other tangible personal property that totally regulates the environment in a special and limited area of the manufacturing facility where the regulation is essential for production to occur;

(6) Tangible personal property used for the protection and safety of workers, unless the property is attached to or incorporated into machinery and equipment used in a continuous manufacturing operation;

(7) Tangible personal property used to store fuel, water, solvents, acid, oil, or similar items consumed in the manufacturing operation;

(8) Except as provided in division (B)(13) of this section, machinery, equipment, and other tangible personal property used to clean, repair, or maintain real or personal property in the manufacturing facility;

(9) Motor vehicles registered for operation on public highways.

(D) For purposes of division (B)(42)(g) of section 5739.02 of the Revised Code, if the "thing transferred" is a machine used by a manufacturer in both a taxable and an exempt manner, it shall be totally taxable or totally exempt from taxation based upon its quantified primary use. If the "things transferred" are fungibles, they shall be taxed based upon the proportion of the fungibles used in a taxable manner.

Effective Date: 09-26-2003; 06-30-2006; 04-04-2007