Beginning January 1, 2023, the Kentucky Department of Revenue will require certain utility customers to declare their “place of domicile” to claim exemption from sales and use tax at their primary residence.

Kentucky law describes a place of domicile as “the place where an individual has his or her legal, true, fixed and permanent home and principal establishment, and to which, whenever the individual is absent, the individual has the intention of returning.”

Utility customers that should fill out forms are as follows:

• Renters who have their service in their name, and residential customers with multiple meters, should complete the “Declaration of Domicile for Purchase of Residential Utilities.”

• Landlords who hold a master meter (one meter which serves multiple units) would need to complete the “Multi Unit Declaration of Domicile” and then collect a “Declaration of Domicile for purchase of residential utilities” from each tenant and return that to the water department.

• Farmers should complete a Farm Exemption Certificate and a “Declaration of Domicile for Purchase of Residential Utilities,” if you also hold a residential account(s) with the City of Danville.

Homeowners who have one meter serving their property do not need to do anything.

Danville Utilities has mailed a notification of this change with the December water bills to all customers.

People should submit their appropriate forms to the City of Danville Water Department as soon as possible. People can download the forms on the City of Danville website.

Forms may also be picked up at the City of Danville Water Department at City Hall.

People can submit documents in any of the following ways:

• Mail to City of Danville Water Department, PO BOX 670, Danville, KY 40423

• E-mail to utilitiesoffice@danvilleky.gov

• Deliver to City of Danville Water Department desk at 445 W Main Street in Danville.

Failure to provide the appropriate forms may result in the loss of the sales tax exemption for customers who have multiple meters or accounts in their name.

For questions about water/sewer service, please call 859-238-1200 (select Option 1 for Utilities, and Option 1 again to speak with a representative) or e-mail utilitiesoffice@danvilleky.gov

These changes are the result of Kentucky House Bill 8, which phases out the state’s income tax.

The bill makes substantial c​​hanges to how some services are taxed. In the area of sales and use tax, 34 additional service categories are subject to tax.

The basis of the residential exemption for utilities changes from reliance on tariff language filed with the Public Service Commission, to a customer declaration that the services are used at their place of domicile.

According to this question and answer page, utility companies might not start charging this tax right away, since accounts should not default to non-residential status on Jan. 1.

“Since most accounts currently classified as residential are expected to retain residential treatment going forward, accounts should not default to non-residential status on 01/01/2023. However, utility companies should examine their databases to determine if they have customers with a residential coding for more than one address. In such cases, utility companies must document the single address that the customer declares as his or her place of domicile.

In addition, utilities must obtain the declaration of domicile information for any accounts they currently designate as residential when there is a change in account holders or if a new account is established. If there is uncertainty regarding the exempt status of a particular account, it will be the responsibility of the utility company to justify the residential treatment by obtaining a completed certificate of domicile from the customer.​​”

To know more about sales and use tax, click here.