Section 44 Place of Amusement, Entertainment, and Recreation; Games; and Athletic Events

• Library: Tax Law 2009

MoDOR rescinded 12 C.S.R. § 10-3.176, Fees Paid in or to Places of Amusement, Entertainment or Recreation, on December 30, 2003. MoDOR is, at the time of the publication of this deskbook, drafting a new regulation that is expected to be designated as 12 C.S.R. § 10-108.100, Amusement, Entertainment, and Recreation. Before its rescission, § 10-3.176 set forth the definition of a place of amusement as: “any location in which amusement activities comprise more than a de minimus portion of the business activities of the location.” Section 10-3.176(4) also gave a list of examples of places of amusement:

• theaters
• fairgrounds
• exhibition halls
• rodeos
• auto shows;
• races and tractor pulls;
• horse shows;
• boat shows;
• bowling alleys;
• operas;
• concerts;
• music shows;
• athletic contests and events (including running and bicycling races and tournaments);
• gymnasiums;
• fishing tournaments;
• zoos;
• dances;
• shooting galleries;
• tennis courts;
• roller and ice skating rinks;
• billiard and pool halls;
• handball courts;
• arcades;
• nontherapeutic massage parlors;
• campgrounds;
• card and other games;
• swimming pools;
• golf courses;
• circuses;
• carnivals;
• fairs;
• parks;
• amusement parks;
• resort complexes; and
• other recreational attractions and entertainment including cover charges in nightclubs or taverns and rides on sightseeing helicopters, airplanes, balloons, boats and buses.

Rescinded § 10-3.176 declared that certain places—laundromats, restaurants, taverns, department stores, airport lobbies, and gas station lobbies—normally are not treated as places of amusement. Even so, § 10-3.176 stated that parts of these areas can be transformed into places of taxable entertainment. If a department, room, or similar area is geographically separated and set aside from the rest of the location by walls, partitions, fences, or similar components, the separate area could be treated as a place of entertainment if it otherwise would have that characteristic. The presence of 15 or fewer coin-operated amusement devices was not sufficient to characterize a separate area as a place of amusement. Nevertheless, a video game parlor operating in a free-standing building or in a location within a shopping center was considered, within normal contemplation, a place of amusement. Bally’s Lemans Family Fun Ctrs., Inc. v. Dir. of Revenue, Nos. RS-84-0212; RS-84-0213; RS-84-0756–RS-84-0760, 1987 WL 51139 (Mo. Admin. Hearing Comm’n, Apr. 7, 1987).

Section 144.518, RSMo Supp. 2007, exempts gross receipts from coin-operated amusement devices from sales tax. Purchases of the devices and parts on or after September 1...