Carnegie Mellon University

Sale of University Property

The Sale of University Property Form [.pdf] must be completed for all sales of university property and submitted to Taxation.

  • Non-Capital Assets – Complete only this form and submit to Taxation.
  • Capital Assets – Complete this form and submit to Taxation, and complete Exhibit M (Report of Disposition of Movable Assets) and submit to Property Accounting.
  • University property must be made available to campus organizations first.
  • Public advertisement of the sale must take place for at least a week on campus; proof of advertisement must be attached to the Sale of University Property Form when submitting. The advertisement should be as targeted as possible, and can be placed digitally (e.g. newsletter, email distribution) or posted physically (e.g. flyer) in a public location on campus.
  • If there is no interest from campus organizations, the property may be sold to individuals within or outside the campus.
  • University property sold within the campus community (i.e., department to department) should complete the appropriate forms, however sales tax is not charged or collected on interdepartmental sales.
  • Sales made to an individual or for-profit entity must be charged the appropriate sales tax.
  • Sales made to another nonprofit organization are not subject to sales tax:
    • If the item being sold is exempt from sales tax by the applicable state sales tax laws
    •  a copy of the organization’s sales tax exemption certificate is obtained and attached to this form.

Sale of University Property Form Instructions

Part 1

Original Funding Source

The source of original funding for the asset must be identified by checking the box next to the corresponding source. An asset provided by or purchased with funds from an externally-sponsored award, gift or donation, or an International Campus Partner (such as Qatar Foundation, Government of South Australia or FCT) may, by contract, be restricted from being sold or carry certain obligations that must be met before the asset is sold. Before the asset is sold, you must contact the relevant department to seek authorization (i.e., clearance) from that department that the asset does not have any restrictions that would affect the sale of the asset (and if the asset can be sold, but there are restrictions, the sale of the asset must comply with those restrictions), as follows in the next column.

If the asset was provided by or purchased with funds from (i) Departmental or Discretionary funds, no additional authorization or clearance is needed, (ii) externally sponsored award, authorization or clearance is needed from SPA, (iii) a gift or donation, authorization or clearance is needed from University Advancement, and (iv) an International Campus Partner, authorization or clearance is needed from the International Finance Department.  In the case of (ii), (iii) or (iv), please have an authorized representative from the department providing the authorization or clearance sign the form indicating that authorization or clearance has been provided. You also must ensure that all Carnegie Mellon or third party confidential or proprietary information has been deleted from any property (i.e. personal computers) before it is sold.

Part 2

Fair Market Value (FMV)

Please check the box that identifies how the FMV was determined and enter the FMV amount.  For "Other", please indicate the source of the FMV determination, such as Craig’s List, Usedprice.com, or a reputable independent third party appraisal.  Attach documentation supporting this FMV determination (e.g., appraisal screen-print from internet, etc.). Must be authorized by the Dean or head of the department selling the university property.

Arm's Length Transaction

This information needs to be completed to ensure that the sale was not between related or affiliated parties and that there is no conflict of interest. Must be authorized by the Dean or head of the department selling the university property.

Sale Transaction

Must be authorized by the dean or department head selling the university property. The required tax amount and the type of tax is based on the location of the sale of property as follows:

Australia Contact International Finance in advance of the sale to determine the amount of Value Added Tax (VAT) that may need to be applied to the sale
California The sales tax percentage in CA is different for each city and county ranging between 6% and 9%. Contact Taxation to determine the correct sales tax percentage
New York 8.375 % sales tax must be applied to the sale
Pennsylvania 7% sales tax must be applied to the sale
Washington D.C. 5.75% sales tax must be applied to the sale

Sales tax that is charged and collected should be deposited into the following oracle string:  40315.000000.000.000.000001.01.

Part 3

Terms & Conditions

Must be completed by the buyer at the time of the sale unless the asset was sold pursuant to a written contract between buyer and Carnegie Mellon that was approved by Carnegie Mellon's (i) Procurement Services, (ii) University Contracts Office, or (iii) Office of General Counsel.

If the asset was sold pursuant to a written contract between buyer and Carnegie Mellon approved by one of the departments listed in (i) - (iii), then Part 3 should not be completed.  Instead, a copy of that contract should be attached to this form or, alternatively, a brief description of the contract should be stated on Part 3 (e.g., property sold pursuant to an agreement of sale, dated (month/date/year) between ________________ and Carnegie Mellon that was approved by the University Contracts Office).