New York State Tax Rulings
Free plain-English summaries of state tax letter rulings and advisory opinions issued in New York, with full citations and the original source on every page.
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Is a real-estate document-archiving firm's fee for retrieving, scanning, cataloging, storing, and reproducing building-permit and related documents subject to sales tax, and are its computers exempt production equipment?
Reproduced documents (scanning, maintenance fees, and reproductions delivered back to the subscriber) are taxable as a sale of tangible personal property -- it's data CONVERSION (paper to digital), no…
Is an optical scanning device called 'An Open Book,' sold exclusively to visually impaired individuals to scan and read aloud printed items like bills and recipes, exempt from sales tax as a prosthetic aid?
Yes -- it's exempt as a prosthetic aid, since it's functionally similar to an already-recognized exempt device (an Optical Tactile Converter) and, per the seller's own supplier contract, is sold only …
Is propane used to heat a homeowner's pool -- prescribed by her doctor as medically necessary water therapy after knee surgery -- exempt from sales tax as a medical supply, and if not, is there any other exemption available?
The medical-supplies exemption doesn't apply, since it only reaches items taxed under a different section of the Tax Law than the one that covers propane gas service. But the propane still escapes Sta…
Is a marketing consulting firm's fee -- covering sales-data analysis, purchased-data analysis, written marketing plans, and specific written recommendations for a client -- subject to New York sales tax?
No. The written reports are exempt personal/individual information since each report relates specifically to one client and isn't derived from a shared database or reused in other clients' reports, an…
Is a vehicle-leasing company's separately-stated, optional fleet-management service (cost analysis, registration/inspection/maintenance oversight, vehicle-acquisition consulting) subject to New York sales tax?
No. Fleet management isn't one of the specific services the Tax Law taxes, so as long as it's purchased independently of vehicle leasing and billed as a separate line item, the charge escapes sales an…
Are dues paid to a homeowners association subject to New York sales tax as a social or athletic club when the association has no pool, tennis courts, or other recreational facilities?
No. Without any recreational facilities like a pool or tennis courts, the association isn't a taxable social or athletic club, so none of its dues -- even the portion funding a clubhouse used only for…
Are the annual dues paid to a lakeside property owners association subject to New York sales tax as social or athletic club dues, when the association has no pool, clubhouse, tennis courts, or docking/swimming facilities and spends its dues on common-area upkeep?
No. Without a pool, clubhouse, tennis courts, or docking facilities, and with dues spent entirely on non-recreational common-area upkeep like snow removal and road paving, the association isn't a taxa…
Is a trucking company's fee for hauling recyclable raw material from a supplier's site to a recycler's facility taxable as trash/garbage removal (a real-property maintenance service), or exempt as transportation?
It's exempt transportation, not taxable trash removal -- because the recycler or its broker (not the supplier whose property the materials are picked up from) hires and pays the trucking company, and …
Does a nonprofit that's incorporated under New York law but operates entirely out of Massachusetts have enough nexus with New York to be required to collect New York sales tax on mail-order merchandise shipped to New York customers?
Yes. Because it's a domestic New York corporation -- even though its offices, staff, and operations are entirely in Massachusetts -- and its bylaws require a volunteer secretary who is a New York resi…
Can a brewery buy kegs and pallets tax-free for resale, even when customers outside its normal delivery territory keep them instead of returning them because return shipping costs too much?
Yes. As long as the kegs and pallets are actually transferred to the customer to keep or dispose of as they wish -- with the deposit price raised to reflect their real cost -- they qualify as exempt p…
When a cellular phone retailer sells or gives away phones at a reduced price (or free) bundled with a carrier service contract, is its original purchase of those phones still tax-exempt as a purchase for resale -- and what about the retailer's commissions, installation fees, and activation fees?
The retailer's phone purchases stay exempt as purchases for resale even when bundled free or discounted with a service contract; its carrier commissions aren't taxed either, but it must collect sales …
Is television programming delivered through an 18-inch satellite receiving antenna treated as tax-exempt cable television service, or as taxable telephony/telegraphy?
It's treated as exempt cable television service -- basic, premium, pay-per-view, and most administrative fees all escape sales tax, but the installation charge for hooking up the service remains taxab…
Does a nursing home operator owe sales tax on the disposable diapers it buys for use on its resident patients, or does the medical-supplies exemption cover them?
The nursing home operator owes sales tax on the diapers -- because it's buying them at retail to use while performing medical/nursing services for compensation, which is a specific exception to the me…
Is the sales tax on club initiation fees due when a golf club sells founding memberships before the golf course and clubhouse are even built?
Yes. A membership payment counts as a taxable initiation fee as soon as it's required as a condition of joining the club, regardless of whether the club's facilities physically exist yet.
If a residential community requires every homebuyer to join a separately-run country club as a social member -- even though the same club also sells memberships to the general public on a first-come, first-served basis without any restrictions -- are the required social-membership dues and fees taxable as social/athletic club dues?
Yes. The mandatory requirement that every homeowner join is itself an exclusivity restriction that makes the club a taxable social or athletic club, even though the club sells other memberships to the…
Is a fee charged for a home grocery-shopping service -- where the shopper uses their own money to buy the customer's groceries, then delivers them and gets reimbursed plus a service fee -- subject to New York sales tax?
No. Home grocery shopping and delivery isn't one of the specific services New York taxes, so neither the service fee nor the reimbursement is subject to sales or use tax.
Can a social and athletic club buy lockers tax-free as a purchase for resale, since it charges members a fee to use them?
No. Locker-use fees are taxed as club dues (not as a rental or storage charge), and since the club-dues tax has no resale exception, the club must pay sales tax on the lockers it buys, regardless of b…
Are massage services provided by a New York-licensed massage therapist subject to New York City's local sales tax, and are they also subject to New York State sales tax?
New York City sales tax DOES apply to a licensed massage therapist's services, because massage isn't treated as a 'similar' medical service to the licensed professions the local tax exempts -- but the…
Is installing easily-relocatable, floor-to-ceiling moveable walls a tax-exempt capital improvement, and can the installer accept a Certificate of Capital Improvement on the sale?
No, moveable walls that can be relocated without damaging the building fail two of the three required capital-improvement tests, so their installation is a taxable service, not an exempt capital impro…
Are the services of recruiting temporary employees, drafting training-program manuscripts, and rewriting technical process sheets to a simpler reading level subject to New York sales tax?
No to all three. Recruiting/referral services aren't an enumerated taxable service, and writing manuscripts or editing material for a client -- whether training materials or technical documents -- isn…
Can the Department substitute a credit toward a taxpayer's future sales tax bill instead of issuing a cash refund, when the taxpayer specifically requested a refund on Form AU-11 for overpaid sales tax on manufacturing electricity?
No. Once a taxpayer checks the 'Refund Claimed' box on Form AU-11 and is found entitled to it, the Department cannot substitute a credit toward future tax payments instead, without the taxpayer's cons…
When a trucking company temporarily stores goods 'in transit' while waiting for delivery instructions, does that storage make its transportation charges taxable, and when does the storage itself become taxable?
Transportation charges stay untaxed either way, but in-transit storage over 30 days becomes taxable on its own -- and if that taxable storage charge isn't separately stated from the untaxed transporta…
When a business-forms company acts as a single 'facilitator' ordering supplies from third-party vendors and drop-shipping them to its own customers, who collects sales tax -- and is the fee for its ordering software and invoicing service itself taxable?
The facilitator buys tax-free for resale from third-party suppliers (using a resale certificate) but must itself separately state and collect the actual sales tax from its customer -- a bundled 'vendo…
Is a yacht club condominium a taxable social/athletic club, is the sale of a boat-slip condo unit itself taxable, and can the condo buy maintenance services tax-free for resale when it bills unit owners for maintenance?
The condo IS a social/athletic club, so its Common Expense assessments to unit owners are taxable dues -- but a slip unit's sale is an untaxed real property sale. Maintenance work billed for one owner…
When a county raises its local sales tax rate, do equipment lease payments made AFTER the rate increase get taxed at the new higher rate, even though the lease agreement itself was signed before the increase took effect?
Yes. Each rental payment is taxed at the rate in effect when that specific payment is made, not the rate in effect when the lease was originally signed -- so payments made after a local rate increase …
Does a National Park Service concessioner owe sales tax on materials and services it buys to repair, maintain, and improve government-owned facilities under its concession contract and city license agreement?
Materials that become an integral, permanent part of government-owned property (federal or City) can be bought tax-free, and services genuinely resold to the government are exempt too -- but any mater…
New York Advisory Opinion TSB-A-95(34)S: Is the charge for a 24/7 personal emergency response ("medical alert") system -- a wearable pendant and sending unit that lets customers summon help -- exempt from New York sales tax?
Exempt. MSS Electronics Inc. provides "LifeFone," a 24-hour, 7-day-a-week personal emergency response system that lets customers summon help at any time. Customers give Petitioner information about th…
Is a not-for-profit workers'-compensation and risk-management association, formed by a statewide association of municipalities exclusively for its member cities and villages, exempt from New York sales and use tax on its own purchases as an 'instrumentality of the State'?
Yes. Because the association performs a governmental function for its municipal members, is controlled by them, has no private ownership interest, was created under specific statutory authority, and i…
If a utility bills a homeowner's backyard hot tub at a commercial 'general secondary' rate (because it's on a separate meter), does that override the tax-law rule that residential recreational equipment gets the reduced or exempt residential energy sales tax rate?
No. A utility's own billing-rate classification doesn't control the sales tax outcome -- personal, non-commercial residential recreational equipment like a backyard hot tub still qualifies for the res…
For a long-distance telephone reseller offering switched service, private lines, 1-800 numbers, calling cards, debit cards, and billing services, which specific charges are taxable New York intrastate telephone service and which are exempt (interstate calls, or purchases the company resells to its own customers)?
Whether a call is taxable turns only on where it originates and terminates (intrastate = taxed, interstate = exempt), never on the customer's billing address; almost everything the company itself buys…
Do specialized air-support-therapy hospital beds, mattresses, and mattress overlays -- prescribed by physicians to prevent and treat bedsore-related skin ulceration -- qualify for New York's medical equipment sales tax exemption?
Yes. Because these products are used exclusively on a physician's prescription to treat or prevent a specific medical condition and aren't generally useful absent illness or injury, they (and their re…
Is a construction contractor's purchase of required progress and special construction photographs -- submitted to New York City as a condition of getting paid -- exempt as a resale or as part of a tax-exempt capital improvement?
No to both. The photographs are taxable tangible personal property that the contractor itself consumes to satisfy its contract and get paid (not a resale to the City), and since the photos never becom…
Can an exempt organization's employees still make tax-free purchases using an Exempt Organization Certification (Form ST-119.1) when their corporate credit cards show only the employee's name plus an abbreviation of the organization's name, rather than its full name?
Yes. As long as the exempt organization and the employee are both identified on the bill/invoice and the organization is shown as the direct payer of record, an abbreviated organization name on the cr…
When a private company operates a county-owned golf course and restaurant under a long-term concession agreement and must fund capital improvements that become the county's property, are its construction materials, equipment, and architectural fees exempt from sales tax?
Materials that become an integral, permanent part of the county-owned course/clubhouse (fairway reclamation, irrigation, building renovations, etc.) are exempt, and licensed-architect design services …
Are retyping resumes, printing reprint copies of resumes, and printing personalized stationery on a laser printer subject to New York sales tax?
Retyping a resume from an existing copy is exempt (treated as original typing), and up to three copies provided free at the time of service stay exempt too -- but separate reprint copies of resumes an…
Do rebate checks a fulfillment company prints and issues on behalf of its clients count as taxable 'promotional materials,' making its charge for issuing them subject to sales tax?
No -- rebate checks are closely related to ordinary bookkeeping items like invoices and statements (which the promotional-materials definition specifically excludes), so the fulfillment company's char…
Are sales of specialized engineering/environmental illustrations by a freelance illustrator subject to New York sales tax, including when the client is ultimately the New York State Department of Transportation?
Yes -- an illustrator's drawings, sketches, and photographs are tangible personal property, so charges for them are taxable unless the client gives a proper exemption certificate, EXCEPT that no certi…
Is a stock purchase followed by a corporate merger, where the acquired company's tangible personal property ends up owned by the acquirer, subject to New York State and local sales or use tax?
No -- buying 100% of a company's stock is buying an intangible (stock), not the company's tangible personal property, and the follow-on merger of the acquired company into the acquirer, done solely in…
Are ticket sales to a movie-based motion-simulator ride subject to New York State sales tax as an admission charge?
No -- a movie-based flight-simulator ride is a ride, not a 'place of amusement,' so ticket sales to it are not taxable admission charges under Section 1105(f)(1) of the Tax Law.
Does a cellular-phone retailer owe sales tax on phones it buys for resale, even when it later gives those phones away free or at a reduced price to customers who sign up for phone service?
No -- the retailer's original purchase of the phones stays a tax-free resale purchase even when it later sells or gives the phones to customers at no charge or a reduced price bundled with a phone-ser…
Are a yacht club's charges for boat mooring and sailing-instruction tuition subject to sales tax, and does it matter whether the person paying is a club member or a member of the public?
It depends who's paying -- mooring fees and sailing tuition charged to non-members are not taxable (mooring charges and sport/educational tuition are both exempt on their own terms), but the SAME char…
Must a public benefit corporation (or its private parking-management agent) collect and remit sales tax on parking fees it charges the public at an airport it owns, even though the authority itself is generally tax-exempt?
Yes -- even though the transportation authority is exempt from paying sales tax as a purchaser, once it acts as a vendor selling parking services of a kind ordinarily sold by private businesses, it (o…
Do a cheese plant's motor control centers, motor starters, and frequency inverters qualify for the manufacturing-equipment sales tax exemption?
Yes -- because these components are wired specifically to individual pieces of production equipment and directly control functions like dicing-blade speed that determine whether the cheese meets custo…
Are fees for zebra mussel monitoring services -- sampling a customer's water system and providing a written analysis report -- subject to New York sales tax, even though the reports are personal to each customer and not shared with others?
Yes -- even though the monitoring reports are personal and individual to each customer (which would normally exempt a pure information service), the monitoring itself is treated as a taxable diagnosti…
Is a telemessaging company's purchase of voice mail equipment, used to interface with the telephone network and provide voice recording/storage to its customers, exempt from sales tax as telephone central office equipment?
Yes -- because the company's voice mail service is itself subject to sales tax, the equipment it buys to interface with the telephone switching network and provide that voice-record and storage servic…
Are fees charged to advertisers for typesetting, printing, packing, and hanging their door-to-door flyers subject to sales tax as an information service, or excluded as an advertising service?
The fees charged to clients are excluded from tax as an advertising service, not a taxable sale of tangible personal property or information service -- but because the business is providing a service …
Is a customer-satisfaction survey consulting business's fee for developing surveys, analyzing data, and delivering findings reports subject to New York sales tax as an information service?
It's an information service, but it escapes tax under the personal-information exclusion -- as long as each client's report stays unique to that client's own facility and isn't substantially folded in…
Is a monthly fee paid for an out-of-state computer disaster recovery/backup facility subject to New York sales or use tax, when the backup equipment never comes to New York and no repair work is performed here?
No -- New York sales tax is a 'destination tax' keyed to where delivery or possession actually happens, and since the backup computer facility is located in Philadelphia (with no equipment delivered t…
Is a sale-leaseback transaction, structured as a financing arrangement even though it's booked as a sale for financial-accounting purposes, subject to New York sales or use tax on the 'sale' and 'lease' payments?
No -- applying the traditional multi-factor test for whether a 'lease' is really a security device, the customer keeps effective ownership (risk of loss, insurance proceeds, maintenance duty, upside/d…
Are membership dues paid to a golf and country club subject to New York sales tax as dues to a 'social or athletic club,' when the club's stockholders (not its members) actually control the organization and membership is open to the public?
No -- because members have no ownership stake or say in management (only the separate group of stockholders elects the board and controls decisions), and membership is unrestricted and open to the pub…
Does a weekly industry newsletter qualify as an exempt 'periodical' under New York sales tax law, and does it matter whether the publisher writes every article personally?
Yes -- a weekly fur-industry newsletter qualifies as an exempt periodical because it's published at least four times a year, has consistent title and content, is available to the public, doesn't amoun…
Does machinery and equipment used to remediate groundwater already contaminated by decades-old waste disposal qualify for the manufacturing waste-treatment exemption from sales and use tax?
No -- the waste-treatment exemption only covers equipment that treats waste materials AS PART OF an ongoing manufacturing process to prevent pollution in the first place; equipment built to pump and p…
Is a warehouse discount-club membership fee (like Sam's Club) subject to sales tax, and if so, at which county's tax rate, and to which county should the tax be remitted -- the county where the membership was purchased, or the county where the club warehouse is located?
Yes, the membership fee is taxable as a prepayment for merchandise -- and the applicable rate and destination county are determined by where the discount club's own warehouse is located (or the specif…
Are annual membership fees for a public pistol range, and separate fees for its firearm safety course, subject to New York sales and use tax?
No -- because membership is open to the public, members have no ownership stake or management control, and the range hosts no social activities, it isn't a taxable 'social or athletic club,' and a fir…
Are a mandatory condominium association's dues, which fund both a swimming pool/tennis courts and ordinary building maintenance, fully subject to sales tax as social/athletic club dues?
Yes, as originally issued -- because membership is mandatory, sold as a single non-optional unit, and the association provides a swimming pool and tennis courts, the ENTIRE assessment paid by unit own…
Is the sale and installation of a residential direct-broadcast satellite receiving system a tax-exempt capital improvement, or is it a taxable sale of tangible personal property?
It's split -- the underground wiring and the concrete-based support pole ARE tax-exempt capital improvements, but the microwave antenna/dish itself keeps its identity as tangible personal property (it…
Are shampooing, dry cleaning, and hand-weaving repair services for oriental carpets and other rugs subject to New York sales tax, whether performed at the customer's location or at a plant?
No -- shampooing, dry cleaning, and hand-weaving repair of oriental carpets and other rugs all fall within the tax law's specific dry-cleaning/weaving exclusion, so none of these services are subject …
Does a tax-exempt public benefit corporation's blanket sales-tax exemption extend to purchases made by the private contractor it hires to operate and maintain its facility?
No -- the agency's own broad tax exemption applies only when the agency itself is the actual purchaser and payor of record, not to purchases its private operating contractor makes in its own name; the…
Are a fleet-management company's personal-mileage and vehicle-expense reports, prepared for individual corporate clients from their own data, subject to New York sales tax as an information service?
No -- because each report is built entirely from a single client's own vehicle/mileage data and covers only that client's own fleet, it counts as personal and individual information excluded from the …
Is a toxic-waste cleanup company's cleanup service taxable, and are the supplies (absorbents, drums, protective gear) it uses during a cleanup subject to sales tax?
Yes, the cleanup service itself is taxable as processing/real-property-maintenance work -- and the company's own equipment (booms, vacuums, earth movers) and protective gear (uniforms, protective item…
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These are official tax letter rulings and advisory opinions issued by New York's revenue authority in response to questions from specific taxpayers about how the tax law applies to their facts. A ruling is binding on the department only for the taxpayer who requested it and cannot be relied on by anyone else, but it is strong evidence of how the state reads the law. Every ruling above has a plain-English question and short answer, plus a link to the full original source.