701—18.59 (422,423) Exempt sales to nonprofit hospitals. On and after July 1, 1998, the gross receipts from sales or rentals of tangible personal property to and from the rendering, furnishing, or performing of services for a nonprofit hospital licensed under Iowa Code chapter 135B are exempt from tax if the property or service purchased is used in the operation of the hospital. A hospital is not entitled to claim a refund for tax paid by a contractor on the sale or use of tangible personal property or the performance of services in the fulfillment of a written construction contract with the hospital. However, see the circumstances set out below in which sales of goods, wares or merchandise, or taxable services to a hospital for use in the fulfillment of a construction contract, are exempt from Iowa tax.
For the purposes of this rule, the word “hospital” means a place which is devoted primarily to the maintenance and operation of facilities for diagnosis, treatment, or care, over a period exceeding 24 hours, of two or more nonrelated individuals suffering from illness, injury, or a medical condition (such as pregnancy). The word “hospital” includes general hospitals, specialized hospitals (e.g., pediatric, mental, and orthopedic hospitals, and cancer treatment centers), sanatoriums, and other hospitals licensed under Iowa Code chapter 135B. Also included are institutions, places, buildings, or agencies in which any accommodation is primarily maintained, furnished, or offered for the care, over a period exceeding 24 hours, of two or more nonrelated aged or infirm persons requiring or receiving chronic or convalescent care. Excluded from the meaning of the term “hospital” are institutions for well children; day nursery and child care centers; foster boarding homes and houses; homes for handicapped children; homes, houses, or institutions for aged persons which limit their function to providing food, lodging, and provide no medical or nursing care, and house no bedridden person; dispensaries or first-aid stations maintained for the care of employees, students, customers, members of any commercial or industrial plan, educational institution, or convent; freestanding hospice facilities which operate a hospice program in accordance with 42 CFR § 418 and freestanding clinics which do not provide diagnosis, treatment, or care for periods exceeding 24 hours. This list of inclusions and exclusions is not exclusive. For additional information see 481—Chapter 51.
Ordinarily, goods, wares, or merchandise (such as building materials, supplies, and equipment; see rule 701—19.3(422,423) for definitions) which is purchased by a hospital and used by a contractor in the fulfillment of a written contract with the hospital cannot be purchased exempt from Iowa tax. The goods, wares, and merchandise used in the fulfillment of these construction contracts are not used in the “operation” of a hospital but in activities at least one step removed from that operation. See Polich v.	Anderson-Robinson Coal Co., 227 Iowa 553, 288 N.W. 650 (1939).
However, for a limited period, the gross receipts from all sales of goods, wares, or merchandise or from services rendered, furnished, or performed are exempt from tax (or a claim for refund may be filed for tax paid) if the tangible personal property or the taxable service is used in the fulfillment of a written construction contract with a hospital and all of the following circumstances exist:
	  1. 	 Deliveries under contracts of sale of the goods, wares, or merchandise occurred or the taxable services were rendered, furnished, or performed between July 1, 1998, and December 31, 2001, inclusive. A claim for refund may be filed for any tax paid for this period, so long as the claim is filed prior to April 1, 2002, and the requirements of “2” and “3” below are also met. Claims for refunds of tax, interest, or penalty paid for the period of July 1, 1998, to December 31, 2001, are limited to $25,000 in the aggregate. If the amount of the claimed refunds for this period totals more than $25,000, the department must prorate the $25,000 among all claimants in relation to the amounts of the claimants’ valid claims.
	  2. 	 The written construction contract was entered into prior to December 31, 1999, or bonds to fund the construction were issued prior to December 31, 1999.
	  3. 	 The property or services were purchased directly by the hospital or by a contractor as an agent of the hospital. For the purposes of this exemption, no hospital can retroactively designate a contractor to be its agent and by this means transform a contractor’s purchases of goods, wares, merchandise, or services into its own. Upon the department’s request, a hospital claiming that a contractor is or has been its purchasing agent must present suitable evidence of a principal-agent relationship between itself and the contractor during any period for which exempt sales or a refund is claimed. The best evidence of a principal and purchasing agent relationship is a written document setting out the terms of the relationship and the period for which the agency is in effect; however, other evidence, which is the equivalent of a written document in reliability, will be considered by the department when necessary.
This rule is intended to implement Iowa Code Supplement section 422.45 as amended by 2000 Iowa Acts, chapter 1207.