Rev. Rul. 58-387

Advice has been requested whether the manufacturers excise tax on radio and television receiving sets and related articles applies to sales by the manufacturer of speaker cabinets which are designed to house speakers of the type considered radio and television components for the purposes of section 4141 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954.

Section 4141 of the Code provides:

There is hereby imposed on the sale by the manufacturer, producer, or importer of the following articles (including in each case parts or accessories therefor sold on or in connection with the sale thereof), a tax equivalent to 10 percent of the price for which so sold:

Radio receiving sets.

Automobile radio receiving sets.

Television receiving sets.

Automobile television receiving sets.

Phonographs.

Combinations of any of the foregoing.

Radio and television components.

Phonograph records.

Except in the case of radio and television components and phonograph records, the tax imposed by this section shall apply only to articles of the entertainment type.

Section 4142 of the Code provides that the term `radio and television components' means chassis, cabinets, tubes, speakers, amplifiers, power supply units, antennae of the `built-in' type, and phonograph mechanisms, which are suitable for use on or in connection with, or as component parts of any of the articles enumerated in section 4141, whether or not primarily adapted for such use. Section 316.61(b) of Regulations 46, made applicable to the 1954 Code by Treasury Decision 6091, C.B. 1954-2, 47, defines the word `cabinets' as including containers suitable for housing radio receiving sets, automobile radio receiving sets, television receiving sets, automobile television receiving sets, phonographs, and combinations of the foregoing.

The term `cabinets' as used in the Code and regulations contemplates only cabinets for radio and television receiving sets, phonographs, or combinations of any of the foregoing. The term does not include cabinets for radio or television components as such.

Accordingly, it is held that sales by the manufacturer of cabinets designed to house speakers only are not subject to the manufacturers excise tax on radio receiving sets, television receiving sets, etc., imposed by section 4141 of the Code.