Rev. & Tax. Code, § 6010

Amended by Stats. 2026, Ch. 23, Sec. 5. (SB 122) Effective June 29, 2026. Operative January 1, 2027, by its own provisions.

“Purchase” means and includes:

(a) Any transfer of title or possession, exchange, or barter, conditional or otherwise, in any manner or by any means whatsoever, of tangible personal property for a consideration. “Transfer of possession” includes only transactions found by the department to be in lieu of a transfer of title, exchange, or barter.

(b) When performed outside this state or when the customer gives a resale certificate pursuant to Article 3 (commencing with Section 6091) of Chapter 2, the producing, fabricating, processing, printing, or imprinting of tangible personal property for a consideration for consumers who furnish either directly or indirectly the materials used in the producing, fabricating, processing, printing, or imprinting.

(c) A transaction whereby the possession of property is transferred but the seller retains the title as security for the payment of the price.

(d) A transfer for a consideration of tangible personal property which has been produced, fabricated, or printed to the special order of the customer, or of any publication.

(e) Any lease of tangible personal property in any manner or by any means whatsoever, for consideration, except a lease of:

(1) Motion pictures or animated motion pictures, including television, films, and tapes.

(2) Linen supplies and similar articles when an essential part of the lease agreement is the furnishing of the recurring service of laundering or cleaning the articles.

(3) Household furnishings with a lease of the living quarters in which they are to be used.

(4) Mobile transportation equipment for use in transportation of persons or property as defined in Section 6023.

(5) Tangible personal property leased in substantially the same form as acquired by the lessor or leased in substantially the same form as acquired by a transferor, as to which the lessor or transferor has paid sales tax reimbursement or has paid use tax measured by the purchase price of the property. For purposes of this paragraph, “transferor” shall mean the following:

(A) A person from whom the lessor acquired the property in a transaction described in subdivision (b) of Section 6006.5.

(B) A decedent from whom the lessor acquired the property by will or the laws of succession.

(6) A mobilehome, as defined in Sections 18008 and 18211 of the Health and Safety Code, other than a mobilehome originally sold new prior to July 1, 1980, and not subject to local property taxation.

(7) Paragraphs (1) and (5) and Section 6094.1 shall not apply to rentals or leases of video cassettes, video tapes, and video discs for private use under which the lessee or renter does not obtain or acquire the right to license, broadcast, exhibit, or reproduce the video cassette, video tape, or video disc.

(f) Any transfer of title or possession, exchange, or barter, conditional or otherwise, in any manner or by any means whatsoever, of a digital product transferred on tangible storage media for a consideration.

(g) Any permanent or temporary transfer of the right, in any manner or by any means whatsoever, to open, view, access, download, copy, update, possess, store, manipulate, or otherwise use a digital product transferred electronically or accessed remotely for a consideration, beginning January 1, 2027.

(h) The amendments made to this section by the act adding this subdivision shall become operative on January 1, 2027.