In a blog post published earlier this year, we noted the fact that the number of sales tax advisory opinions published by the New York State Tax Department had diminished precipitously over the past few years, to the point that, in 2019, the Department published only one advisory opinion. Just four years earlier, it had published 53. Because sales tax is such a fact-specific tax (a subtle change in underlying facts can cause a transaction to go from being nontaxable to taxable[1]), and because the stakes are so high (possible personal liability for those running the business), we pleaded with the Department to return to its previous level of activity and to start churning out advisory opinions. We indicated that the “[t]the students are here. We’re waiting for the master to (re)appear.”
The energy-storage industry has seem a surge in the past few years—driven in part by the growth in renewable energy sources and production from those sources. But while sales tax incentives in New York have boosted other sectors of the energy industry, the energy-storage industry is still on the outside looking in. That could change, however, based on New York State legislation introduced in April that would provide a broad sales tax exemption for both commercial and residential energy-storage systems.
Here are the sales tax cases from the TiNY blog for the week of March 19, 2020.
The upcoming legislative session is coming into focus with the recent issuance of the Governor’s Executive Budget (you can see our review here). Below is our review of the sales and use tax legislation that has been introduced so far this year along with the corresponding bill numbers. Two broad themes emerge: (1) New York is looking to increase revenue by taxing luxury and high end items, and (2) numerous local sales taxes have been extended.
I’m not exactly sure where the aphorism in the title of this post comes from, but its message is clear: when you’re ready to know something, you’ll seek out a way to learn it. Well, I’ve been ready to learn everything there is to know about New York sales tax for a long time. And in years past, the New York State Tax Department has been a wonderful master. It has provided me with numerous ways to learn the complex rules governing New York sales tax. This information includes sales tax Publications, Bulletins, Memorandums, Guidances, Notices, form instructions, and Advisory Opinions.
Here are the sales tax cases from the TiNY Blog for the week of February 13, 2020.
Every now and then, we’re going to do a deep dive into a sales tax case that we previously reported on in the TiNY Blog. We keep the more abridged version in the TiNY Blog because, according to Chris Doyle, “Joe, your interest in the sales tax is at best annoying, and at worst pathological.”
Here are the sales tax cases from the TiNY Blog for the week of January 16, 2020.
Here are the sales tax cases from the TiNY Blog for the week of January 9, 2020