[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 27, Volume 1]
[Revised as of April 1, 2003]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 27CFR53.2]

[Page 872]
 
            TITLE 27--ALCOHOL, TOBACCO PRODUCTS AND FIREARMS
 
 CHAPTER I--ALCOHOL AND TOBACCO TAX AND TRADE BUREAU, DEPARTMENT OF THE 
                                TREASURY
 
PART 53--MANUFACTURERS EXCISE TAXES--FIREARMS AND AMMUNITION--Table of Contents
 
                         Subpart A--Introduction
 
Sec. 53.2  Attachment of tax.

    (a) 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.
    (b) 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.
    (c) In the case of a sale on credit, the tax attaches whether or not 
the purchase price is actually collected.
    (d) 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.
    (e) 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 Secs. 53.103 and 53.104 for a limitation 
on the amount of tax payable on lease payments.
    (f) In the case of use by the manufacturer, the tax attaches at the 
time the use begins.