Allocation of County Tax - Refund Claimants

When a refund claimant (governmental or nonprofit entity) completes its Form E-585, Nonprofit and Governmental Entity Claim for Refund State and County Sales and Use Taxes, and Form E-536R, Schedule of County Sales and Use Taxes for Claims for Refund, requesting refund of sales and use tax paid during a claim period, the refund claimant may have questions about which county to show as receiving the sales and use tax on the refund claim form and county breakdown form. This breakdown is extremely important because the allocation of county sales and use tax on the refund and county breakdown will impact the county collections and the Sales and Use Tax Distribution for the county in which the sale has occurred.

At the time of a purchase, at least 75% of the county sales and use tax from that purchase will eventually be distributed to the county and its municipalities where the sale is deemed to have occurred. Where the sale is deemed to have occurred is dependent on the sale itself.

Example 1: If refund claimant purchases a shovel at a local home improvement store for a job site where it is needed, this sale is deemed to have occurred at the point the refund claimant paid for the shovel and took possession of the shovel. In this example the sales tax would be distributed to the county in which the home improvement store is located.

Example 2: If refund claimant orders a refrigerator for office employees from the local home improvement store and has it shipped to the office where it will be used, the sale is deemed to have occurred at the point and at the location in which refund claimant takes possession of the refrigerator.

As seen in these examples, in most situations, the sales tax will be distributed to the county in which the buyer takes possession of the purchased item. These examples cover the majority of situations that refund claimants will encounter.

If refund claimants have any questions about which county to show when submitting their refund claim, you may email Allocation-CountySalesTaxQuestions@ncdor.gov to reach the Financial Services Division - Distribution Unit.