Wisconsin Statutes & Annotations
Chapter 139 - Beverage and tobacco taxes.
139.75 - Definitions.

139.75 Definitions. In this subchapter:
(1) “Business" means any trade, occupation, activity or enterprise engaged in for the purpose of selling or distributing tobacco products or vapor products in this state.
(2) “Consumer" means any person who has title to or possession of tobacco products or vapor products in storage for use or other consumption in this state.
(3) “Department" means the department of revenue.
(4) “Distributor" means:
(a) Any person engaged in the business of selling tobacco products or vapor products in this state who brings, or causes to be brought, into this state from outside the state any tobacco products or vapor products for sale;
(b) Any person who makes, manufactures or fabricates tobacco products or vapor products in this state for sale in this state; or
(c) Any person engaged in the business of selling tobacco products or vapor products outside this state who ships or transports tobacco products or vapor products to retailers in this state to be sold by those retailers.
(4d) “Enrolled member" has the meaning given in s. 139.30 (4).
(4m) “File" means mail or deliver a document that the department prescribes to the department or, if the department prescribes another method of submitting or another destination, use that other method or submit to that other destination.
(4p) “Indian tribe" has the meaning given in s. 139.30 (5).
(5) “Manufacturer" means any person who manufactures and sells tobacco products or vapor products.
(5d) “Moist snuff" means any finely cut, ground, or powdered smokeless tobacco that is intended to be placed or dipped in the mouth.
(5m) “Pay" means mail or deliver funds to the department or, if the department prescribes another method of submitting or another destination, use that other method or submit to that other destination.
(5p) “Person" includes any individual, sole proprietorship, partnership, limited liability company, corporation, or association. A single-owner entity that is disregarded as a separate entity under ch. 71 is disregarded as a separate entity for purposes of this subchapter.
(6) “Place of business" means any place where tobacco products or vapor products are sold, manufactured, stored or kept for the purpose of sale or consumption, including any vessel, vehicle, airplane, train or vending machine.
(6m) “Reservation" has the meaning given in s. 139.30 (9).
(7) “Retail outlet" means each place of business from which tobacco products or vapor products are sold to consumers.
(8) “Retailer" means any person engaged in the business of selling tobacco products or vapor products to ultimate consumers.
(9) “Sale" means any transfer, exchange or barter for a consideration. It includes a gift by a person engaged in the business of selling tobacco products or vapor products for advertising or as a means of evading this subchapter or for any other purpose, and it includes solicitation of orders for, and the sale for, future delivery.
(9m) “Sign" has the meaning given in s. 139.01 (9m).
(10) “Storage" means any keeping or retention of tobacco products or vapor products for use or consumption in this state.
(11) “Subjobber" means any person, other than a manufacturer or distributor, who buys tobacco products or vapor products from a distributor and sells them to persons other than the ultimate consumers.
(12) “Tobacco products" means cigars; cheroots; stogies; periques; granulated, plug cut, crimp cut, ready-rubbed and other smoking tobacco; snuff, including moist snuff; snuff flour; cavendish; plug and twist tobacco; fine cut and other chewing tobaccos; shorts; refuse scraps, clippings, cuttings and sweepings of tobacco and other kinds and forms of tobacco prepared in such manner as to be suitable for chewing or smoking in a pipe or otherwise, or both for chewing and smoking; but “tobacco products" does not include cigarettes, as defined under s. 139.30 (1m).
(12m) “Trust lands" has the meaning given in s. 139.30 (13m).
(13) “Use" means the exercise of any right or power incidental to the ownership of tobacco products or vapor products.
(14) “Vapor product” means a noncombustible product that produces vapor or aerosol for inhalation from the application of a heating element to a liquid or other substance that is depleted as the product is used, regardless of whether the liquid or other substance contains nicotine.
History: 1981 c. 20; 1985 a. 302; 1997 a. 27; 1999 a. 9; 2005 a. 25, 49; 2007 a. 20; 2015 a. 216; 2019 a. 9; Bartlett v. Evers, 2020 WI 68, ¶¶ 4, 9, 393 Wis. 2d 172, 945 N.W.2d 685, 19-1376; 2021 a. 239.

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