What Items Are Exempt From Sales Tax in Nevada?

Nevada’s 6.85% statewide sales tax, plus local additions, doesn’t touch a long list of everyday purchases. The items exempt from sales tax in Nevada include unprepared groceries, prescription drugs, prescribed medical equipment, feminine hygiene products, piped home utilities, residential heating fuel, electronically delivered goods, professional services, most farm inputs, and purchases by government agencies and approved nonprofits. A handful of narrower categories, from newspapers to aircraft parts, round out the list.¹

Groceries and the Prepared-Food Line

Food for home consumption is the broadest exemption in the state. NRS 372.284 covers “food for human consumption,” which takes in the staples of a grocery run: bread, milk, meat, produce, flour, eggs, and similar ingredients.²

Four categories stay taxable even inside a grocery store:

Alcoholic beverages
Pet food
Tonics and vitamins
Prepared food intended for immediate consumption

That last one causes the most confusion at checkout. The Department of Taxation treats food as prepared for immediate consumption when the seller heats it or combines ingredients for you and provides utensils. A rotisserie chicken handed over with a fork and napkin is taxable. A cold premixed salad sold by weight without utensils from a food manufacturer generally is not.³ Restaurant meals, catered food, and anything heated by the seller carry sales tax whether you eat it there or take it home.

Prescription Drugs and Medical Equipment

Prescription medications dispensed by a registered pharmacist are exempt under NRS 372.283. The prescription has to come from a provider authorized to prescribe. Insulin furnished by a pharmacist for diabetes treatment under a physician’s direction qualifies even without a traditional written prescription.⁴

The same statute exempts prosthetic devices, orthotic appliances, ostomy supplies, and hemodialysis products.

Durable medical equipment, mobility aids like wheelchairs and walkers, and oxygen delivery equipment are exempt under a separate statute, NRS 372.282, but with a catch: the equipment must be prescribed by a licensed healthcare provider acting within their scope of practice.⁵ Walking into a pharmacy and buying crutches without a prescription means paying sales tax on them.

Over-the-counter medications stay taxable in Nevada because they don’t require a prescription. Aspirin, cough syrup, and allergy pills grabbed off a shelf are all taxed at the full rate. If a doctor writes a prescription for a drug that happens to be available over the counter, the exemption applies to that specific purchase.

Feminine Hygiene Products

Tampons, pads, and similar products are specifically exempt under NRS 372.283.⁴ Many states still tax these items; Nevada does not.

Home Utilities and Heating Fuel

Gas, electricity, and water delivered through mains, lines, or pipes are exempt under NRS 372.295. That covers standard monthly utility bills for most households.⁶

Delivery method decides the result, not the substance itself. Propane piped to a home through a permanent line qualifies. Propane sold in a portable tank at a hardware store does not, because it isn’t delivered through a pipeline.⁷

A separate provision, NRS 372.300, exempts domestic fuels burned for residential heat, including wood, coal, petroleum, and gas. The Department of Taxation reads “domestic heat” narrowly: heat for the inside of a residence, not fuel used outdoors, in commercial buildings, or for cooking.⁷ Rural households that heat with wood or coal buy that fuel tax-free.

Digital Downloads and Streaming

Nevada doesn’t tax products delivered electronically. Downloaded software, e-magazines, digital music, streaming subscriptions, and program code are all exempt because they aren’t tangible personal property.⁸

The result flips the moment a physical medium is involved. The same software shipped on a disc is taxable. A book, a piece of equipment, or clothing ordered online and delivered to a Nevada address carries the full local sales tax rate, no matter where the seller sits.

Professional Services and Repair Labor

Nevada’s sales tax applies to tangible goods, not services. Legal advice, accounting work, and consulting are not taxable transactions.⁸ An attorney’s invoice or a consultant’s bill won’t carry a sales tax line.

Repair work gets split treatment. Labor isn’t taxable, but any parts or materials installed during the repair are. Nevada requires repair shops to list labor and parts separately on the invoice at fair retail price.⁹ If a shop lumps everything into a single charge, the whole amount becomes taxable.

Farming and Ranching Inputs

Nevada provides relief across several agricultural categories. NRS 372.280 exempts animals and plants raised for human consumption, along with animal feed and fertilizer used in agricultural production. Farm machinery and equipment are separately exempt under NRS 372.281.

Government and Nonprofit Purchases

Federal, state, and local government agencies are exempt under NRS 372.325, with no application required.⁸

Nonprofits can qualify too, but the path is longer. Under NRS 372.326, nonprofits organized for religious, charitable, or educational purposes must apply to the Department of Taxation for exempt status. Federal 501(c) recognition on its own doesn’t make a Nevada nonprofit sales-tax exempt; the state has to approve the organization separately.⁸

Occasional Sales by Individuals

Selling personal belongings on a one-off basis doesn’t automatically trigger a sales tax obligation. Nevada’s “occasional sales” exemption covers up to two sales within a 12-month period.¹⁰

The rule has teeth. Once a third sale happens within 12 months, Nevada treats the seller as a retailer retroactively. All three sales become taxable, including the first two that originally looked exempt, and the seller needs a seller’s permit to collect and remit. People running yard sales across several summer weekends regularly cross the threshold before they realize it.¹⁰

Narrower Exemptions Worth Knowing

Newspapers

Newspapers issued at least weekly are exempt under NRS 372.315, along with the ink, paper, and similar components that go into the finished product.¹¹

Manufactured and Mobile Homes

New manufactured and mobile homes get a partial exemption: 40% of the gross sale price is exempt. Used manufactured homes where tax was already paid on a previous sale are fully exempt.¹² On a $100,000 new manufactured home, that removes roughly $40,000 from the taxable base.

Aircraft and Components

Aircraft and major aircraft components sold to air carriers are exempt under NRS 372.317. The exemption covers direct purchases by airlines and indirect purchases where a third party buys aircraft or parts to lease to a qualifying carrier.¹³

Proceeds of Mines

Output from mining operations already subject to Nevada’s net proceeds of minerals tax under Chapter 362 is exempt from sales tax under NRS 372.270.¹⁴

1
State of Nevada Department of Taxation. Sales Tax and Use Tax
2
Nevada Legislature. Nevada Code 372.284 – Food for Human Consumption
3
Cornell Law School. Nevada Admin Code 372.605 – Food: Prepared Food Intended for Immediate Consumption Interpreted
4
Nevada Legislature. Nevada Code 372.283 – Prosthetic Devices, Orthotic Appliances, Medicines, Feminine Hygiene Products
5
Nevada Legislature. Nevada Code 372.282 – Durable Medical Equipment, Mobility Enhancing Equipment and Oxygen Delivery Equipment
6
Nevada Legislature. Nevada Code 372.295 – Gas, Electricity and Water
7
Nevada Department of Taxation. Tax Bulletin SUT 13-0002 Sale of Propane Gas to Consumers
8
State of Nevada Department of Taxation. Sales Tax FAQs
9
Nevada Department of Taxation. Nevada Tax Notes 198 – January 2024
10
Nevada Department of Taxation. Nevada Tax Notes Issue 195 – April 2023
11
Nevada Legislature. Nevada Code 372.315 – Newspapers
12
Nevada Legislature. Nevada Code 374.321 – Manufactured Homes and Mobile Homes
13
Nevada Legislature. Nevada Code 372.726 – Application of Exemption for Aircraft and Major Components of Aircraft
14
Nevada Legislature. Nevada Code 372.270 – Proceeds of Mines