Tax Executives Institute Texas Oil and Gas Transactions May 6, 2013
Circular 230 disclaimer Any US tax advice contained herein was not intended or written to be used, and cannot be used, for the purpose of avoiding penalties that may be imposed under the Internal Revenue Code or applicable state or local tax law provisions. These slides are for educational purposes only and are not intended, and should not be relied upon, as accounting advice. Slide 2
Tax Overview Oil and Gas Well Servicing Companies Services may be subject to EITHER Sales Tax, or Oil Well Services (2.42) Tax A single transaction will NEVER be subject to BOTH taxes Some services may NOT be subject to either sales tax or oil well services tax. Slide 3
Tax Overview Oil and Gas Well Servicing Companies Services performed inside the oil and gas producing formation Services performed inside the casing or on well site equipment Repair, Restoration, Remodeling or Real Property or Maintenance of Tangible Personal Property Slide 4
General Sales Tax Concepts Tangible Personal Property Services Slide 5
Texas Oil Well Service Tax Slide 6
Texas Oil Well Service Tax or Texas Sales Tax? A Lone Star State Quandary!! What is the Texas Oil Well Service Tax? How does this differ from the Texas Sales Tax? Who is responsible for paying this tax? Slide 7
Texas Oil Well Service Tax 2.42 Tax Legally identified as a Miscellaneous Occupation Tax Chapter 191 subchapter E Tex. Admin. Code Sec. 3.143 provides guidance Imposed on a company engaged in providing oil well services for a consideration when the company: Owns, controls or furnishes the tools and equipment used in providing the service Uses any chemical, electrical or mechanical process in providing the service during and in connection with the drilling and completion or reworking or reconditioning of the well NOT imposed on the customer Slide 8
Texas Oil Well Service Tax 2.42 Tax This tax does not apply to the business of drilling or reworking an oil or gas well or to a service incidental to the business of drilling, reworking or reconditioning a well when the service is performed by the person drilling or reworking the well. Slide 9
Texas Oil Well Service Tax 2.42 Tax Taxable services include: Cementing the casing seat of any oil or gas well Shooting fracturing or acidizing the sands or other formations of the earth Surveying or testing oil or gas well formations or the contents of formations with instruments or equipment partially or wholly located within the well bore Common taxable charges include: Charges for equipment hooked to a well or to other equipment hooked to the well while performing a taxable service Charges for Mixing, Blending, and Proportioning Oil Well Service tax amounts billed to the customer Slide 10
Texas Oil Well Service Tax 2.42 Tax Cementing the Casing Seat Begins with placement of the production string in the well and ends when the cement is in place. Cementing the bottom liner used as an extension of a noncontinuous production string is a taxable service Slide 11
Texas Oil Well Service Tax 2.42 Tax Taxable services involved in Cementing the Casing Seat Mixing cement slurry Blending Setting packers of placing hangers (if done by the service company during the cementing operation) Pumping slurry from the mixer and/or blender to the wellhead pump Using equipment to pump cement into a well Slide 12
Texas Oil Well Service Tax 2.42 Tax Shooting Sands/Other Formations is the only shooting service subject to the well servicing tax No well service tax is due on the following shooting services: Perforating or cutting casing Shooting to remove fish Shooting to clean screens or strainers Slide 13
Texas Oil Well Service Tax 2.42 Tax Fracturing Sands/Other Formations involves forcing a fluid carrying a propping agent into cracks formed by applying hydraulic pressure into a formation Fracturing operations are taxable if the purpose is to stimulate production in a new well or to increase production in an old well Slide 14
Texas Oil Well Service Tax 2.42 Tax Taxable fracturing operations include: Mixing or blending proppant and fluid at the well Blending additives or inhibitors into the fracturing medium at the well Injecting any other material into the fracturing medium at the well Pumping the fracturing medium at the well Sealing perforations in multiple completions during the fracturing process Slide 15
Texas Oil Well Service Tax 2.42 Tax Fracturing operations that are not subject to the well service tax include: Cleaning perforations preparatory to fracturing Surveying prior to fracturing when the survey is not used to locate or determine a production formation Providing frac tank services Slide 16
Texas Oil Well Service Tax 2.42 Tax Acidizing Sands/Other Formations to stimulate or improve production, to prevent scaling, or to prepare the formation for a scale-inhibiting chemical treatment is a taxable service. This includes: Mixing acidizing medium at the well Blending or injecting additives and/or inhibitors at the well Plugging perforations during the acidizing process Pumping charges incurred at the well Slide 17
Texas Oil Well Service Tax 2.42 Tax Acidizing services not subject to well servicing tax include: Recovering fish or stuck pipe Cleaning screens or strainers Dissolving drilling material sheaths Dissolving paraffin deposits in the producing equipment Acidizing soluble materials Slide 18
Texas Oil Well Service Tax 2.42 Tax Surveying Sands and other formations includes logging. The two basic types are open hole log and a cased hole log. Any log or survey run with an instrument in the well bore to locate, measure, or determine the depth, character, or contents of a formation is subject to well servicing this includes the following logs or surveys: Electric, neutron, chlorine, acoustic, temperature, fluid ingress and/or egress surveys, gamma ray, density, compensated neutron, tracer, or dip surveys Slide 19
Texas Oil Well Service Tax 2.42 Tax Surveying services not subject to the well service tax include: Electric logs used only to locate junk or fish in a well bore Acoustic logs used to survey results of cementing Temperature surveys used to check the results of cementing Cement bond surveys Tracer logs used only to detect channels behind the casing or to plot an injection profile Temperature surveys used to check mechanical equipment Fluid surveys conducted with a sonic instrument from the surface Corrosion survey Slide 20
Texas Oil Well Service Tax 2.42 Tax Testing Formations or their contents refers to fluids gases and pressures. The following tests are subject to the well service tax when performed by a company other than the driller: Drill stem test Bottom hole or depth pressure test Productivity index test made with an instrument in the well during drilling, completion, reworking, or reconditioning of the well Slide 21
Texas Oil Well Service Tax 2.42 Tax Testing that is not taxable under the well service tax includes: Analysis of fluids, cores or cuttings made outside the well bore Open flow potential test when no instrument is in the well Gas-oil ratio tests Slide 22
Texas Oil Well Service Tax 2.42 Tax Common charges not subject to well servicing tax if separately stated on invoices: Mileage charges Waiting or standby time Charges for equipment taken to the well but not connected Charges associated with services in converting an oil or gas well into an injection well Sales tax reimbursement equal to that actually paid for sales and use tax on materials and supplies Charges for materials used, consumed, expended in or incorporated into the well during the taxable service Charges for frac tank services Slide 23
Texas Oil Well Service Tax 2.42 Tax Service companies often perform several operations (into and out of a well) on one trip. Therefore, it is important to distinguish the services performed. Taxable and nontaxable services should be billed separately to avoid a tax on the entire charge. A miscellaneous charge that applies to the entire invoice may be allocated for tax purposes between taxable and non taxable well servicing activities. Common charges include service charges, license fees or equipment protection charges. Slide 24
Texas Oil Well Service Tax 2.42 Tax Billing example: $1,000 - Cementing the casing seat $200 - Materials and supplies $310 Stand-by charges $24.20-2.42% Well servicing tax on labor $1534.20 - Total billing Total well service tax to be paid to Texas - $24.79 (($1000 + 24.20) x.0242) Slide 25
Texas Oil Well Service Tax or Sales and Use Tax? Oil and gas well servicing companies may be subject to either the Limited Sales and Use Tax or the Well Servicing Tax or both. However, a single transaction will not be subject to both taxes. Generally if the well servicing activity is performed on the oil and gas producing formation itself the activity is subject to the Well Servicing Tax. If the activity is performed inside the casing of the well, or on equipment at the well site the activity is subject to the Limited Sales and Use Tax Slide 26
Texas Sales Tax Slide 27
Texas Limited Sales and Use Tax Sales and Use Tax applies to the total charge to repair, restore, remodel or maintain tangible personal property (TPP) and the total charge to repair, remodel, or restore nonresidential improvements to real property. Taxable services also include some real property services such as surveying and structural pest control at the lease site. Tax Base when performing a service subject to sales tax includes the total charge materials, labor, charges for mileage, trip charges, standby charges etc. While charged by the vendor it is the responsibility of the consumer. Slide 28
Texas Limited Sales and Use Tax For oil, gas, and related well services for the purposes of Texas sales tax guidance can be found in Tex Admin. Code Sec 3.324. This administrative code is known, or commonly referred to as Rule 3.324. Slide 29
Texas Limited Sales and Use Tax Activities outlined in sales tax Rule 3.324 which are subject to sales tax include: Pump change replace bottom hole pump Rodtubing job pulling sucker rods and/or tubing out of and running it back in the well. Fishing for rods or tubing when sucker rods or tubing break a fishing tool is run to recover the parted rods or tubing Tubing leak tube may become worn tubing is pulled and replaced Change packer or anchor Hot oil or water treatment of casing, tubing or flow lines Squeeze cement Pulling or resetting casing liner Slide 30
Texas Limited Sales and Use Tax Providers of a service subject to sales tax should pay sales tax on any machinery or equipment to provide the service and any materials (except cement) used or consumed in providing the service which do not become part of the items inside the wellbore. Items that become a component part of the items inside the wellbore are considered to be sold as part of the taxable service and may be purchased free from sales tax. The service provider collects sales tax on the total charge of the taxable service. Slide 31
Texas Limited Sales and Use Tax Work Crews Labor charges to prepare a well for servicing will be taxable or not depending on what is actually done by the provider: A crew removing rods so a pump can be repaired is providing taxable labor A crew removing tubing so that a workover could be accomplished is not providing taxable labor General maintenance around a well site may be maintenance on TPP, real property service or repair to real property All welding in the field will be presumed taxable unless billings clearly indicate the labor was performed as part a non taxable activity such as new construction or third-party installation Slide 32
Texas Limited Sales and Use Tax Items treated as TPP in an oil or natural gas field Christmas tree, wellhead and well components Storage facilities tanks with a storage capacity of 500 barrels or less Separation and dehydration equipment Gathering lines that are totally above the ground Flow lines that are above ground, below ground or partially above and below Board roads and board turnaround areas Everything inside the casing of a well such as tubing, pipe, pumps, rods, bas-lift equipment and packers Meters at the lease site, between lease site and transmission line Slide 33
Texas Limited Sales and Use Tax Items treated as real property in an oil or natural gas field Pump stations, booster stations Casing in place Enhanced production-injection and recovery systems (which cannot be moved intact) Storage facilities tanks with a storage capacity of more than 500 barrels Compressors at compressor stations other than leased compressors Gathering lines that are totally underground Meters located on transmission lines Slide 34
Texas Limited Sales and Use Tax Examples of Real Property Services performed at the well site: Taxable Patching holes in road Lease road blading that doesn t qualify as maintenance Structural pest control services Certain surveying associated with drill site preparation Nontaxable Covering oil spills at the lease site Removal of waste materials resulting from exploration Cutting weeds or grass around the lease site Slide 35
Texas Limited Sales and Use Tax Exempt Manufacturing Equipment Production Separators, Dehydrators, Gas Scrubbers Exempt Compressors vs. Taxable Compressors Non-Taxable Well Services Non-Taxable Services at the Lease Site Lease Site Waste Removal Services Lease Site Reclamation Services Cutting Weeds at Lease Site Rentals vs. Service Electricity Chemicals Slide 36
Texas Audit Environment There appears to be a general increase in the audit activity as it pertains to the oil and gas industry. In addition to the traditional sales tax audits, an increase in oil well service tax audits are being observed. Slide 37
Texas Audit Environment Common Assessment Areas 2.42 Reimbursements Compressors Moveable Specialized Equipment Slide 38
Texas Audit Activity Appears to be increasing Form over substance Operator vs. Supervisor Compressors level of documentation Managed Sales Tax Audits Slide 39
Questions Slide 40
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