Chapter 9-9 Exemption From MA Use Tax Paid Under Law of Another State This is a re-print of the Department of Revenue Technical Information Release 03-01 February 19, 2003. **Sales Tax Increased to 6.25% on 8/1/09.** Technical Information Release 03-01 Exemption From Massachusetts Use Tax For Tax Paid Under Laws of Another State I. Introduction This Technical Information Release (TIR) explains: 1. the scope, application and purpose of the Massachusetts use tax; 2. the general rule exempting items from use tax to the extent that a similar tax on such items was paid to another U.S. state or local jurisdiction; and 3. some specific limitations to this exemption based on some states’ reciprocal treatment of sales and use taxes paid to Massachusetts. [1] This TIR applies to the sale of motor vehicles and the sale of all other tangible personal property with the exception of boats and airplanes. [2]It revokes and replaces TIR 91-7. II. Massachusetts Use Tax Massachusetts law imposes a use tax on tangible personal property purchased or leased outside Massachusetts for use, consumption or storage in Massachusetts if no Massachusetts sales tax was collected at the time of sale or lease. [3]G.L. c. 641, §§ 2 and 7 (a). The sales tax and the use tax were designed to serve as “complementary components of a unitary taxing program created to reach all transactions (unless specifically exempted . . .) in which tangible personal property is sold inside or outside the Commonwealth for storage, use or other consumption within the Commonwealth.” Boston Tow Boat Co. v. State Tax Commission, 366 Mass. 474, 476-77 (1974). Without the use tax, out-of-state sales of items purchased for use in Massachusetts would escape tax altogether. 9:89