Returnable containers

From the 2024 DOR Tax Exemption Study

Det. No. 11-0180, 31 WTD 36 (May 31, 2012) 38 To provide some useful background information about these special forest products,3 cedar shakes and shingles are used in construction for roofing and sidewalls. A “shingle” is sawn on both sides and is thinner at the butt than a shake.4 A “shake” is typically split on one or both sides.5 The shake and shingle industry harvests cedar blocks in three to four foot sections from cedar timber and stumps. Industry practice for purchasing cedar blocks from landowners uses the measurement unit of “cords” (a cord of wood is four feet wide x 4 feet tall x eight feet long, containing 128 cubic feet of wood and airspace). Taxpayer purchases and harvests cedar shake and shingle blocks using cords. During the audit period, Taxpayer reported cedar shake and shingle blocks in MBF (one thousand board feet measured in Scribner Decimal C log scale).6 Special Programs determined that Taxpayer owed additional forest excise tax because it should have reported its volume in cords harvested (a cord of red cedar shake and shingles is equal to 600 board feet)7 multiplied by the appropriate stumpage value from the Department’s Tax Reporting Instructions and Stum