Minnesota Administrative Rules
Agency 181 - Revenue Department
Chapter 8130 - SALES AND USE TAXES
EXEMPTIONS
Part 8130.6300 - CASKETS, BURIAL VAULTS, URNS FOR CREMAINS, AND MEMORIALS

A. Sales of tombstones, markers, or other memorials and the foundation upon which such tombstones, markers, and other memorials are placed, including the material used in setting the memorials in the cemetery, are considered sales of tangible personal property, and subject to the Sales and Use Tax Law. Memorial dealers are the retailers of such property. The tax applies to the entire amount charged, without deduction for the production cost of cutting, shaping, polishing, or lettering the memorial. However, charges for inscriptions upon a stone subsequent to its erection, constitute receipts from personal services, which, if stated separately, are deductible from the total charge.

B. If the seller agrees to install the memorial in a cemetery, the charge for transporting the memorial to the cemetery and for the labor of setting the memorial in the cemetery are included in the sales price and are taxable.

C. If a cemetery constructs the foundation upon which a memorial is to be placed, and collects the charges from the memorial dealer, who then either collects that amount as a separate charge from a customer or includes it in the total charge for the memorial, the memorial dealer is the retailer of the foundation and must collect and remit the tax on the charges made therefor. The cemetery, under such circumstances, is merely acting for the memorial dealer.

D. If the cemetery collects the charges for foundations directly from customers of the memorial dealer, the cemetery is the retailer and must collect and remit the tax with respect to the charges made for the completed foundation.

E. Sales to memorial dealers and cemeteries of materials, including sand, gravel, cement, and supplies, which are used in the processing of tombstones, markers, or other memorials, and the erection of foundations on which finished tombstones, markers, or other memorials are placed, and which become component parts thereof, are exempt as sales used in industrial production. Sales to memorial dealers and cemeteries of tools, equipment, and supplies which do not become component parts of finished foundations, tombstones, markers, or other memorials are taxable. (See Minnesota Statutes, section 297A.68, subdivision 2).