Meaning of terms. As used in the regulations in this part, unless otherwise expressly indicated:

The terms defined in the provisions of law contained in the regulations in this part shall have the meanings so assigned to them.

[Reserved]

The term calendar quarter means a period of 3 calendar months ending on March 31, June 30, September 30, or December 31.

The term manufacturer includes any person who produces a taxable article from scrap, salvage, or junk material, or from new or raw material, by processing, manipulating, or changing the form of an article or by combining or assembling two or more articles. The term also includes a “producer” and an “importer”. An “importer” of a taxable article is any person who brings such an article into the United States from a source outside the United States, or who withdraws such an article from a customs bonded warehouse for sale or use in the United States. If the nominal importer of a taxable article is not its beneficial owner (for example, the nominal importer is a customs broker engaged by the beneficial owner), the beneficial owner is the “importer” of the article for purposes of chapter 32 and is liable for tax on his sale or use of the article in the United States. See section 4219 and the regulations thereunder for the circumstances under which sales by persons other than the manufacturer or importer are subject to the manufacturers excise tax.

Under certain circumstances, as where a person manufactures or produces a taxable article for another person who furnishes materials under an agreement whereby the person who furnished the materials retains title thereto and to the finished article, the person for whom the taxable article is manufactured or produced, and not the person who actually manufactures or produces it, will be considered the manufacturer.

A manufacturer who sells a taxable article in a knockdown condition is liable for the tax as a manufacturer. Whether the person who buys such component parts and assembles a taxable article from them will also be liable for tax as a further manufacturer of a taxable article will depend on the relative amount of labor, material, and overhead required to assemble the completed article and on whether the article is assembled for a business or personal use. See section 4218 and the regulations thereunder.

The term sale means an agreement whereby the seller transfers the property (that is, the title or the substantial incidents of ownership) in goods to the buyer for a consideration called the price, which may consist of money, services, or other things.

The term taxable article means any article taxable under section 4041 or Chapter 32, Subtitle D, of the Code.

The term vendor includes a lessor except that, with respect to the manufacturers excise taxes, this rule applies only where the lessor is also the manufacturer of the article.

The term purchaser includes a lessee except that, with respect to the manufacturers excise taxes, this rule applies only where the lessor is also the manufacturer of the article.

The term exporter means the person named as shipper or consignor in the export bill of lading.

The term exportation means the severance of an article from the mass of things belonging within the United States with the intention of uniting it with the mass of things belonging within some foreign country or within a possession of the United States.

The term possession of the United States includes Guam, the Midway Islands, Palmyra, the Panama Canal Zone, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, American Samoa, the Virgin Islands, and Wake Island.

Attachment of tax. (1) For purposes of this part, the manufacturers excise tax generally attaches when the title to the article sold passes from the manufacturer to a purchaser, and the retailers excise tax generally attaches when the title to the article sold passes from the retailer to a purchaser.

When title passes is dependent upon the intention of the parties as gathered from the contract of sale and the attendant circumstances. In the absence of expressed intention, the legal rules of presumption followed in the jurisdiction where the sale is made govern in determining when title passes.

In the case of a sale on credit, the tax attaches whether or not the purchase price is actually collected.

Where a consignor (such as a manufacturer) consigns articles to a consignee (such as a dealer), retaining ownership in them until they are disposed of by the consignee, title does not pass, and the tax does not attach, until sale by the consignee. Where the relationship between a manufacturer and a dealer is that of principal and agent, title does not pass, and the tax does not attach, until sale by the dealer.

In the case of a lease, an installment sale, a conditional sale, or a chattel mortgage arrangement or similar arrangement creating a security interest, a proportionate part of the tax attaches to each payment. See section 4217 and the regulations thereunder for a limitation on the amount of tax payable on lease payments.

In the case of use by the manufacturer, the tax attaches at the time the use begins.