Retailers must collect the fee on all sales of mattresses and box springs that take place in California, Connecticut, or Rhode Island, even if the delivery occurs outside of that state.

Companies that sell mattresses and box springs online or through venues other than traditional brick-and-mortar retail store establishments, such as sales to large volume purchasers, including hotels, universities, military bases, furniture rental companies (sometimes called "contract sales"), as well as sales by mail, television, etc. must collect the fee on all mattresses and box springs sold for delivery in California, Connecticut, or Rhode Island, regardless of where the seller is located. However, in the case of online sales, where the sale originates in California, the California recycling fee does not apply to mattresses or box springs that are delivered outside of the state.

The fee does apply to mattresses or box springs sold to residential consumers by brick-and-mortar retail stores located outside of California for delivery in California.

The fee does not apply to mattresses or box springs sold to residential consumers by brick-and-mortar retail stores located outside of Connecticut for delivery in Connecticut.

The fee does not apply to mattresses or box springs sold to residential consumers by brick-and-mortar retail stores located outside of Rhode Island for delivery in Rhode Island.

For further information, please click on the following link to see MRC's Fee Policy.

A recycling fee of $9.00 in Connecticut, $11.00 in California and $10.00 in Rhode Island (beginning on May 1, 2016) per unit must be collected on each mattress and box spring sold to consumers in the state(s).

Yes. The recycling fee must be charged separately for each mattress and/or box spring sold.

The fee must be explicitly identified as a separate line item on the invoice or receipt that the retailer provides the customer. The fee must appear on the invoice or receipt as "Recycle Fee".

Yes. The fee is subject to sales tax in Connecticut and Rhode Island.

In California, the California Board of Equalization (BOE) has issued a tax opinion informing MRC that the California mattress recycling fee is not subject to sales tax.

You only need to collect the mattress recycling fee when you sell mattresses or box springs to end users, and then remit those fees to MRC. If you sell to retailers that in turn resell your products to end users, the retailers are required to collect the mattress recycling fee from their end-user customers, and then remit those fees to MRC. But if you are a producer that sells directly to end users (that is, individual consumers, hotels, etc.) in one or more of the three states, then you must collect the fee from the end user and remit it to MRC.

In the case of rentals or leases the rental or lease company is considered the end user. As a result, a Producer must collect the fee when it sells a mattress to a rental or lease company operating in California, Connecticut and Rhode Island. The Producer then remits those fees to MRC.

In addition to this general rule:
• In Connecticut and Rhode Island, the rental or lease company does not collect the fee from consumers entering into monthly rental or lease contracts of any duration or rent-to-own agreements.
• In California, the rental or lease company must also collect the fee from consumers renting or leasing a mattress for 12 months or more, or if a consumer purchases the mattress at any time during the rental or lease period and the rental company transfers ownership to the consumer, resulting in a sale. The rental company must remit those fees directly to MRC.

The Recycling Fee must be visible on the consumer receipt or invoice and the retailer must remit the fee amount to MRC. However, the program does not prohibit a retailer from issuing a credit, rebate or promo code to reimburse the consumer for some or all of the fee.

Yes, the fee applies to all units sold on or after May 1, 2015 in Connecticut, on or after December 30, 2015 in California, and on or after May 1, 2016 in Rhode Island. If the mattress replacement is a no sale exchange, the fee does not apply.

Participants are required to keep records of product sales for at least 3 years for audit purposes. Participants should consult the appropriate authorities to determine if records need to be retained for longer periods of time for tax or other purposes.

Each month, retailers remit the fee using a secure on-line portal that can be accessed at www.mrcreporting.org. A retailer reports the number of mattress and box spring units sold and returned during a remittance period, and then remits to MRC the fees that it collected on those net units. Retailers will be periodically required to provide documentation to demonstrate that the fee has been properly collected on all relevant sales and accurately remitted to MRC. Any collected information that the MRC is required to report will be limited to aggregate data.

Reporting is based on all your sales during the reporting month. A sales is considered completed when money is exchanged from the consumer to the company and the recycling fee is collected. For example, a consumer could pay for an item that is not delivered until after the reporting month closes. If the completion of the sale occurs in one reporting month and the delivery of the mattress in another reporting month, only count that mattress sale in the reporting month that the sale occurred.

The retailer must refund the fee to the consumer when processing a return if the return occurs within 90-days of the date of sale. Refunds from 91 days to 120 are at the discretion of the retailer. Since a retailer remits fees only on its net sales of mattresses and box springs during a reporting period, all customer refunds during that reporting period must be reflected in the net sales calculation.

Retailers must refund the recycling fee within 90-days of the date of sale. Refunds from 91 days to 120 are at the discretion of the retailer. All refunds must be reflected in the net sales calculation in the month the refund occurred.

Retailers remit the recycling fees they collect to MRC monthly. Fees collected on sales during a given calendar month must be remitted to MRC by no later than 30 days following the end of that month. For example, fees that a retailer collects on mattress and box spring sales in March must be remitted to MRC by April 30 (that is, 30 days after the end of March).

Yes. Even if a registered retailer sells no mattresses or box springs during a given month, the retailer still must file a report with MRC. If a retailer discontinues selling mattresses or box springs in one or more of the states, it may terminate its MRC registration for the relevant states. Once that termination is effective, it may stop filing monthly returns with MRC.

Please click on the following link to refer to MRC's Fee Policy.

Please click on the following link to refer to MRC's Fee Policy.

Once a report is submitted, payment of fees can be made by:

1. mailing a check or money order,
2. electronic transfer (ACH) from the participant’s financial institution or
3. online payment through the web portal.

Information for submitting payment can be found on your invoice.

No. Retailers are not required to recycle such mattresses or box springs. Retailers may voluntarily participate in the recycling program and provide their used mattresses and box springs to recyclers under contract with MRC. There is no recycling cost to retailers that wish to participate.

In California, a retailer that delivers a mattress or box spring to a consumer must also pick up the consumer's discarded mattress or box spring at the consumer's request at no charge. In this case, however, the retailer is not prohibited from charging a mattress delivery or set-up fee. In Connecticut and Rhode Island, there is no take-back requirement, however, retailers cannot charge to recycle a used mattress.

There are two exceptions to the pickup obligation:

• A common carrier delivering a new mattress purchased through an online transaction is not required to pick up a used mattress;
• A retailer may refuse pickup if "the used mattress is contaminated and poses a risk to personnel, new products, or equipment".

Producers and retailers will be asked in certain circumstances to provide to MRC information and documents that they consider to be confidential. Under the laws in each of the states with mattress recycling laws, MRC will not disclose such information to the public or competitors.