In 2021, many New York residents did not receive the full benefit of New York’s SALT cap workaround, because New York took a unique approach to the computation of its new pass-through entity tax (“PTET”). We are happy to report that on April 8, 2022, the New York Assembly and Senate passed Fiscal Year 2023 budget legislation (the Budget Bill), and part of the new legislation addresses (and fixes) this issue.
Without even a hint of fanfare, the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance recently released a new version of its audit guidelines for nonresidents. Given that the last update was in 2014, we easily excited tax lawyers cracked them open to find out what had changed. But when we dug into the new guidelines, we were disappointed to see only minor stylistic edits.
The drip of Pass-Through Entity Tax (PTET) questions we’ve received has grown into a steady stream… there must be some due dates approaching! Here’s a quick reminder about two important due dates for New York’s PTET. Spoiler: They’re both March 15.
On Tuesday, March 1, 2022, Washington State Superior Court Judge Brian Huber released a ruling striking down the state’s new capital gains tax. The law—signed by Governor Jay Inslee last May—imposes a 7% tax on the sale of stocks, bonds, and other assets above $250,000. When signed, Washington became the first state in the country with no income tax to impose a tax on capital gains.
New York State’s Brownfield Cleanup Program (“BCP”) has proven to be one of the state’s most successful programs for spurring private-sector remediation and development of contaminated properties. As a quick overview, the state provides refundable tax credits that partially offset the costs of remediating and then developing brownfields in the state. By any economic measure, the program has delivered an excellent rate of return on the state’s tax-credit investment. Since the program’s inception in 2003, the numbers are compelling:
As promised, we have an update on one of the unanswered questions relating to New York’s Pass-Through Entity Tax (PTET) that went into effect last year. While we are still waiting for an official pronouncement, we have heard from other practitioners that the Department is taking a favorable position on the treatment of guaranteed payments in the context of the PTET.
Recently, the New York State Department of Taxation & Finance released new nonresident audit guidelines, without any announcement or fanfare. Being the first official update to the guidelines since 2014, we were excited to crack them open! But, alas, our hopes were soon dashed; the changes to the guidelines turned out to be mostly minor.
Recently, we’ve witnessed a mass exodus from New York State as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Some movers yearn for warmer weather, others for more reasonable Covid policies, and others simply seek a home-state that won’t tax their personal income. When we advise these moving individuals on their domicile change, a question we’re receiving with increasing frequency is “after I move, can I continue to make donations to my favorite local charities, or will New York State use that information against me in a determination of my domicile?” We understand why people are concerned at the possibility that their charitable contributions might be weaponized against them. After all, in a domicile audit, New York auditors are instructed to analyze the taxpayer’s lifestyle, using five primary factors: home, time, business activity, near & dear, and family.
Just when you thought you could relax because you met the October 15 deadline for the New York Pass-Through Entity tax (PTET) election, new questions about some of the practical aspects of making tax payments and return filing deadlines have come to light.
Back in August, the Department confirmed in TSB-M-21(1)C, (1) that, beginning this year, resident partners, members, or shareholders will be allowed a resident tax credit against their New York State personal income tax for any pass-through entity tax imposed by another state, local government, or the District of Columbia, that is substantially similar to the PTET. The question remaining was: “what does substantially similar mean?” Well, we have our answer. On Monday, the Department published a list, which specifically enumerated the states (and corresponding qualifying state taxes) that impose a pass-through entity tax that is substantially similar to New York’s PTET.