Dan & Becky Snyder Posted: Thu Jan 18, 2007 10:57 am Post subject: SKULL CLEANERS Over the past few months we've been asked several questions by people who are cleaning skulls and bones regarding licensing by the PDA. Below is the official response from the PDA. Also, businesses in PA must have a Sales Tax License and be collecting and filing that tax accordingly. The PA Dept. of Revenue states: STATUTE & GENERAL DESCRIPTION Authorization for the imposition of Sales, Use and Hotel Occupancy Tax is pursuant to the Act of March 4, 1971, P.L. 6, "The Tax Reform Code of 1971", as amended. This tax is imposed upon each seperate sale at retail or use within Pennsylvania of tangible personal property, services, and hotel occupancies. The tax is to be collected by the vendor from the purchaser and remitted to the Commonwealth. PA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE RESONSE: Dan & Becky, Our legal department interprets Act 77 as follows: The registration requirement imposed by the Act, at 3 Pa.C.S.A. Section 2702: “Any person who holds himself out to the public as a taxidermist or mounts any specimen shall register with the department on a form prescribed by the Department…” The terms “mounts” and “specimen” are undefined. Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary tells me that to “mount” is to: “…prepare (as a specimen) for examination or display.” So: If these folks hold themselves out to the public as “taxidermists,” they must be registered with PDA. If these folks clean bones with beetles, and do not mount the bones to display them, and do not hold themselves out to the public as “taxidermists,” they don’t have to register with PDA. If these folks clean bones with beetles, and mount the bones to display them, they have to register with PDA regardless of whether or not they hold themselves out to the public as “taxidermists.” That’s how we’ll answer skull cleaners—if they mount specimens, they need a taxidermy license; if all they do is clean skulls without mounting, no license is required. (We noticed one website blends both by calling it skull taxidermy: http://www.skulltaxidermy.com/) We’re not eager to license these guys, but we’ve got to go by what the law says. If someone wants to amend Act 77 to exclude mounting of skulls, that’s fine with us! Paul Paul Knepley, DVM, Director Bureau of Animal Health and Diagnostic Services Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture Room 409 2301 North Cameron Street Harrisburg, PA 17110-9408 Tel (717) 772-2852 Fx (717) 787-1868 e-mail: pknepley@state.pa.us

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