1. California AB 2398 Program Overview
2. The Assessment
3. Invoice Labeling Protocol
4. Retailer and Dealer Documents

California Program Overview

The passage of AB 2398 in California meant new responsibilities for carpet retailers. As of July 1, 2011, a Carpet Stewardship Assessment fee began being placed on all carpet sold into the state of California. Retailers must include the $0.35/sq. yd. Carpet Stewardship Assessment fee as an after-tax line item on the customer invoice.

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The Assessment

Manufacturers have been passing on the assessment at point of sale since June 2011. See the Assessment page for current assessment rates.

Since the Program launched in 2011, retailers and dealers have been partners in helping California achieve its carpet recycling goals by doing their part to collect and remit the Carpet Stewardship Assessment. If you are a retailer or dealer, the Carpet Stewardship Assessment will be charged by the manufacturer(s) as an after-tax line item on all invoices for carpet and carpet tile sold or shipped into California. Retailers and dealers are responsible for including the assessment as an after-tax line item on all consumer invoices for carpet sold in California at the point of sale. Manufacturers remit the assessment collected from retailer/dealer sales on a quarterly basis to a third-party accounting firm. Upon receipt, CARE manages these funds to support recycling of post-consumer carpet. When retailers and dealers pay manufacturer invoices that include this assessment, retailers and dealers are doing their part in remitting the assessment. Note: Convention carpet is not covered by the carpet stewardship law.

Invoice Labeling Protocol

CalRecycle requires the invoice label to follow a precise protocol.

The assessment must be clearly visible on invoices or functionally equivalent billing documents as a separate line item and shall be accompanied by a brief description of the assessment or a label approved by the department (see below.) We recommend that you use the terminology ‘CA Carpet Stewardship Assessment’ to describe the after-tax line item. Other approved labels are listed below. Additional information regarding labeling can be found here. 

Below are the only CalRecycle approved labels:

• California Carpet Stewardship Assessment
• CA Carpet Assessment
• CA Carpet Stewardship Assessment
• CA Crpt Stewardship Assessment
• CA Crpt Stwdshp Asmt

Retailer and Dealer Documents

• This letter linked below is to be used to certify that all purchases of carpet and carpet tiles as defined by AB2398 from (Name of Manufacturer) are for use outside of the State of California and will not be consumed within its boundaries.
  AB 2398 – CARE Blanket Exemption Form

• The Exemption Form linked below is to be completed by the retailer or dealer for any exemption claimed from the AB 2398 assessment.
  AB 2398 – CARE Exemption Form

• The document linked below includes details on how to calculate the assessment as well as examples of invoices to be sent to the retailer’s and dealer’s customers. The sample invoices reflect the assessment amount of $0.35/sq.yd. effective January 1, 2019.
  CARE Retailer Invoice Example – updated for April 2022 Differential Assessment

• The Record retention requirements document linked below provides a list of documents that must be retained by the retailer and dealer for three years.
  AB 2398 – Record Retention Requirements