June 28, 2023

Outdoor lighting:  To tax or not to tax?

Technology Suite

This question was addressed in the Oct. 2022 Wisconsin Department of Revenue tax bulletin.  In summary, the language clarifies that sales tax should not be applied to charges associated with outdoor lighting if it is owned and maintained by a municipal utility.  However, customer owned and maintained outdoor lighting requires sales tax to be applied.

Upon learning of this update, WPPI Energy began working with its member utilities to determine whether they were affected by this clarification. For any impacted utilities, WPPI opened support tickets and began assisting with these refund calculations. In the coming days, WPPI will post refund calculation schedules and next steps, including Wisconsin Department of Revenue filing instructions.

Please watch for updates to your open support tickets, and if you have any questions, post them within the ticket and our support team will work with you directly.