Commissioner of Revenue v. Jafra Cosmetics, Inc.

The Commissioner of Revenue (commissioner) appeals, pursuant to G. L. c. 58A, § 13, from a decision by the Appellate Tax Board (board) granting Jafra Cosmetics, Inc. (taxpayer), an abatement of sales and use taxes assessed from 1967 to 1982.1 The board concluded that the consultants who sold the taxpayer’s products in Massachusetts, who within the taxpayer’s organization are the only persons authorized to make *256such sales, were not “representatives” within the meaning of G. L. c. 64H, § 1 (5), because they were not contractually obligated to sell and they had no authority to bind the…