Some New York Highway Use Tax Registrations Are Being Improperly Targeted

The renewal period for Highway Use Tax registrations is just around the corner. The Tax Department, ever mindful of the leverage this affords, just sent out a slew of computer-generated notices that inform taxpayers with outstanding tax liabilities that the Department cannot issue them a renewed Certificate of Registration and decals until the liabilities are resolved.

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Arizona High Court Narrows the Meaning of "Day" for Tax Purposes

As state tax lawyers, we are often asked for advice on navigating different—and often competing—state tax schemes. The law in this area is subject to a handful of constitutional limitations. For instance, the Commerce Clause requires (among other things) that state taxes be fairly apportioned. So in the case of nonresidents and other out-of-state or multistate taxpayers, many state tax schemes determine the taxability of a transaction or person based on the numbers of days spent in the taxing state. Consequently, our advice to nonresident taxpayers often turns on the number of “days” involved. This concept of counting “days” is actually pretty important in our world! But one thing that can be interesting in these cases is seeing how different states treat seemingly similar situations or transactions.

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What is considered a “Permanent Place of Abode?”

New Tribunal Case Offers Up a New Framework for Answering this Question

New York’s two-part test for statutory residency has been heavily litigated over the years, and one of the biggest issues has involved the determination as to whether a taxpayer maintained a “permanent place of abode.” In 2014, the State’s highest court in Gaied v. NYS Tax Appeals Tribunal struck down the Tax Department’s overly-broad interpretation of “permanent place of abode” in favor of a more sensible interpretation. In doing so, the High Court declared that in order for a place to constitute a permanent place of abode (“PPA”), “there must be some basis to conclude that the dwelling was utilized as the taxpayer’s residence.” And later in the decision, the Court opined that to qualify as a PPA, “the taxpayer must, himself, have a residential interest in the property”

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The Annual Report of the Division of Tax Appeals and Tax Appeals Tribunal

On October 17, 2017, the New York State Division of Tax Appeals and Tax Appeals Tribunal (collectively “DTA”) submitted its annual report to the Governor and heads of the Senate and Assembly for the 2016-17 fiscal year. Numbers-wise, we don’t see a tremendous change over last year in the outcomes of Administrative Law Judge and Tax Appeals Tribunal cases.

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Drips and Drops on Taxing Hedge Fund Managers’ Deferred Comp

For years, there have been whispers about a big 2017 tax issue for hedge-fund managers. What’s the deal?

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Gaied Legislation Proposed for NYS Statutory Residency

Last Friday, members of the NYS Legislature introduced a bill aimed at clarifying the definition of “permanent place of abode” under Tax Law § 605(b)(1)(B) for statutory residency purposes. Under that statute, a person is generally taxable as a resident if they meet a two-pronged test: (1) maintain a “permanent place of abode” in New York and (2) spend more than 183 days in New York.  

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New York Tax Powers of Attorney: There’s an App for That…and a New Form

For years, practitioners and taxpayers have struggled with the cumbersome, four-page power-of-attorney form that the New York Tax Department has required taxpayers to use when they wanted to appoint a representative to help them with their tax matter.

But this week, the NYS Tax Department rolled out a new web application where POAs can be filed online.

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Hodgson Russ LLP’s Report on the 2017-18 New York State Budget

Over the weekend of April 8-9 the Legislature passed the Budget for New York’s 2107-18 fiscal year which started April 1. On April 10, the Governor signed the legislation. 

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Executive Budget Proposed

Governor Cuomo’s proposed budget legislation for fiscal 2017-18 was released on January 18, 2017. In his briefing that evening, the governor remarked that one of the “main aspects of this budget is tax policy.” That’s certainly one way to captivate the attention of tax practitioners!

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New Security Safeguards for the 2017 Filing Season

The NYS Tax Department’s ongoing efforts to combat identify theft and deter fraud have yielded a new requirement for this filing season. Beginning with the 2016 tax year, all e-filed personal income tax returns must provide certain information from the taxpayer’s state-issued driver’s license or non-driver ID.

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