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Article I - General Conditions and Definitions

Sec. ___-110. Definitions: Income-producing capital equipment.

(a) The following tangible personal property, other than items excluded in subsection (d) below, shall be deemed "income-producing capital equipment" for the purposes of this Chapter:

(1) machinery or equipment used directly in manufacturing, processing, fabricating, job printing, refining or metallurgical operations. The terms "manufacturing", "processing", "fabricating", "job printing", "refining", and "metallurgical" as used in this paragraph refer to and include those operations commonly understood within their ordinary meaning. "Metallurgical operations" includes leaching, milling, precipitating, smelting and refining.

(2) mining machinery, or equipment, used directly in the process of extracting ores or minerals from the earth for commercial purposes, including equipment required to prepare the materials for extraction and handling, loading or transporting such extracted material to the surface. "Mining" includes underground, surface and open pit operations for extracting ores and minerals.

(3) tangible personal property, sold to persons engaged in business classified under the telecommunications classification, consisting of central office switching equipment; switchboards; private branch exchange equipment; microwave radio equipment, and carrier equipment including optical fiber, coaxial cable, and other transmission media which are components of carrier systems.

(4) machinery, equipment, or transmission lines used directly in producing or transmitting electrical power, but not including distribution. Transformers and control equipment used at transmission substation sites constitute equipment used in producing or transmitting electrical power.

(5) pipes or valves four inches (4") in diameter or larger and related equipment, used to transport oil, natural gas, artificial gas, water, or coal slurry. For the purpose of this section, related equipment includes: compressor units, regulators, machinery and equipment, fittings, seals and any other parts that are used in operating the pipes or valves.

(6) aircraft, navigational and communication instruments, and other accessories and related equipment sold to:

(A) a person holding a federal certificate of public convenience and necessity or foreign air carrier permit for air transportation for use as or in conjunction with or becoming a part of aircraft to be used to transport persons, property or United States mail in intrastate, interstate or foreign commerce.

(B) any foreign government for use by such government outside of this State.

(C) persons who are not residents of this State and who will not use such property in this State other than in removing such property from this State. This subdivision also applies to corporations that are not incorporated in this State, regardless of maintaining a place of business in this State, if the principal corporate office is located outside this State and the property will not be used in this State other than in removing the property from this State.

(7) machinery, tools, equipment and related supplies used or consumed directly in repairing, remodeling or maintaining aircraft, aircraft engines or aircraft component parts by or on behalf of a certificated or licensed carrier of persons or property.

(8) railroad rolling stock, rails, ties and signal control equipment used directly to transport persons or property.

(9) machinery or equipment used directly to drill for oil or gas or used directly in the process of extracting oil or gas from the earth for commercial purposes.

(10) buses or other urban mass transit vehicles which are used directly to transport persons or property for hire or pursuant to a governmentally adopted and controlled urban mass transportation program and which are sold to bus companies holding a federal certificate of convenience and necessity or operated by a city, town or other governmental entity or by any person contracting with such governmental entity as part of a governmentally adopted and controlled program to provide urban mass transportation.

(11) metering, monitoring, receiving, and transmitting equipment acquired by persons engaged in the business of providing utility services or telecommunications services; but only to the extent that such equipment is to be used by the customers of such persons and such persons separately charge or bill their customers for use of such equipment.

(12) groundwater measuring devices required under A.R.S. § 45-604.

(13) machinery or equipment used in research and development. In this paragraph, "research and development" means basic and applied research in the sciences and engineering, and designing, developing or testing prototypes, processes or new products, including research and development of computer software that is embedded in or an integral part of the prototype or new product or that is required for machinery or equipment otherwise exempt under this section to function effectively. Research and development do not include manufacturing quality control, routine consumer product testing, market research, sales promotion, sales service, research in social sciences or psychology, computer software research that is not included in the definition of research and development, or other nontechnological activities or technical services.

(14) (Reserved)

++(Local Option #A:

(14) new machinery and equipment consisting of tractors, tractor-drawn implements, self-powered implements, and drip irrigation lines, acquired by persons engaged or continuing in business for use in the commercial production of agricultural, horticultural, viticultural, or floricultural crops in this State. For the purposes of this paragraph, "new machinery and equipment" means machinery or equipment which has never been sold at retail except pursuant to leases or rentals which do not total two years or more.)++

(15) Included in income producing capital equipment are liquid, solid or gaseous chemicals used in manufacturing, processing, fabricating, mining, refining, metallurgical operations, research and development or job printing, if using or consuming the chemicals, alone or as part of an integrated system of chemicals, involving direct contact with the materials from which the product is produced for the purpose of causing or permitting a chemical or physical change to occur in the materials as part of the production process. This subsection does not include chemicals that are used or consumed in activities such as packaging, storage or transportation but does not affect any deduction for such chemicals that is otherwise provided by this Code. Chemicals meeting the requirements of this subsection are deemed not to be expendable under subsection (d) of this section.

(16) cleanrooms that are used for manufacturing, processing, fabrication or research and development, as defined in paragraph (13) of this subsection, of semiconductor products. For purposes of this paragraph, "cleanroom" means all property that comprises or creates an environment where humidity, temperature, particulate matter and contamination are precisely controlled within specified parameters, without regard to whether the property is actually contained within that environment or whether any of the property is affixed to or incorporated into real property. Cleanroom:

(A) includes the integrated systems, fixtures, piping, movable partitions, lighting and all property that is necessary or adapted to reduce contamination or to control airflow, temperature, humidity, chemical purity or other environmental conditions or manufacturing tolerances, as well as the production machinery and equipment operating in conjunction with the cleanroom environment.

(B) does not include the building or other permanent, nonremovable component of the building that houses the cleanroom environment.

(17) machinery and equipment that are purchased by or on behalf of the owners of a soundstage complex and primarily used for motion picture, multimedia or interactive video production in the complex. This paragraph applies only if the initial construction of the soundstage complex begins after June 30, 1996 and before January 1, 2002 and the machinery and equipment are purchased before the expiration of five years after the start of initial construction. For purposes of this paragraph:

(A) "motion picture, multimedia or interactive video production" includes products for theatrical and television release, educational presentations, electronic retailing, documentaries, music videos, industrial films, cd-rom, video game production, commercial advertising and television episode production and other genres that are introduced through developing technology.

(B) "soundstage complex" means a facility of multiple stages including production offices, construction shops and related areas, prop and costume shops, storage areas, parking for production vehicles and areas that are leased to businesses that complement the production needs and orientation of the overall facility.

(18) tangible personal property that is used by either of the following to receive, store, convert, produce, generate, decode, encode, control or transmit telecommunications information:

(A) any direct broadcast satellite television or data transmission service that operates pursuant to 47 Code of Federal Regulations parts 25 and 100.

(B) any satellite television or data transmission facility, if both of the following conditions are met:

(i) over two-thirds of the transmissions, measured in megabytes, transmitted by the facility during the test period were transmitted to or on behalf of one or more direct broadcast satellite television or data transmission services that operate pursuant to 47 Code of Federal Regulations parts 25 and 100.

(ii) over two-thirds of the transmissions, measured in megabytes, transmitted by or on behalf of those direct broadcast television or data transmission services during the test period were transmitted by the facility to or on behalf of those services.

For purposes of subdivision (B) of this paragraph, "test period" means the three hundred sixty-five day period beginning on the later of the date on which the tangible personal property is purchased or the date on which the direct broadcast satellite television or data transmission service first transmits information to its customers.

(19) machinery and equipment that is used directly in the feeding of poultry, the environmental control of housing for poultry, the movement of eggs within a production and packaging facility or the sorting or cooling of eggs. This exemption does not apply to vehicles used for transporting eggs.

(20) machinery or equipment, including related structural components, that is employed in connection with manufacturing, processing, fabricating, job printing, refining, mining, natural gas pipelines, metallurgical operations, telecommunications, producing or transmitting electricity or research and development that is used directly to meet or exceed rules or regulations adopted by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the United States Environmental Protection Agency, the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality or a political subdivision of this state to prevent, monitor, control or reduce land, water or air pollution.

(21) machinery or equipment that enables a television station to originate and broadcast or to receive and broadcast digital television signals and that was purchased to facilitate compliance with the Telecommunications Act of 1996 (P.L. 104-104; 110 Stat. 56; 47 United States Code Section 336) and the Federal Communications Commission Order issued April 21, 1997, 47 Code of Federal Regulations Part 73. This paragraph does not exempt any of the following:

(A) repair or replacement parts purchased for the machinery or equipment described in this paragraph.

(B) machinery or equipment purchased to replace machinery or equipment for which an exemption was previously claimed and taken under this paragraph.

(C) any machinery or equipment purchased after the television station has ceased analog broadcasting, or purchased after November 1, 2009, whichever occurs first.

(b) The term "income-producing capital equipment" shall further include ancillary machinery and equipment used for the treatment of waste products created by the business activities which are allowed to purchase "income-producing capital equipment" defined in subsection (a) above.

(c) The term "income-producing capital equipment" shall further include repair and replacement parts, other than the items in subsection (d) below, where the property is acquired to become an integral part of another item itemized in subsections (a) or (b) above.

(d) The tangible personal property defined as income-producing capital equipment in this Section shall not include:

(1) expendable materials. For purposes of this paragraph, expendable materials do not include any of the categories of tangible personal property specified in subsections (a), (b) or (c) of this Section regardless of the cost or useful life of that property.

(2) janitorial equipment and hand tools.

(3) office equipment, furniture, and supplies.

(4) tangible personal property used in selling or distributing activities.

(5) motor vehicles required to be licensed by the State of Arizona, except buses or other urban mass transit vehicles specifically exempted pursuant to subsection (a)(10) above without regard to the use of such motor vehicles.

(6) shops, buildings, docks, depots, and all other materials of whatever kind or character not specifically included as exempt.

(7) motors and pumps used in drip irrigation systems.

(8) (Reserved)

(e) For the purposes of this Section:

(1) "aircraft" includes:

(A) an airplane flight simulator that is approved by the Federal Aviation Administration for use as a Phase II or higher flight simulator under Appendix H, 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 121.

(B) tangible personal property that is permanently affixed or attached as a component part of an aircraft that is owned or operated by a certificated or licensed carrier of persons or property.

(2) "other accessories and related equipment" includes aircraft accessories and equipment such as ground service equipment that physically contact aircraft at some point during the overall carrier operation.

Web. Rev. Date: 10-30-2000