Sec. 417.7. Transfer of a license as an importing transporter

Tax Law, §§ 283(9), 283-a(6)

(a) The license granted to an importing transporter by the Department of Taxation and Finance is personal to the person to whom it is granted.

(b) The transfer of a license as an importing transporter to another person without the prior written approval of the department is invalid and will not be recognized by the department and is grounds for the immediate cancellation or suspension of the license.

(c) addition to the usual meaning, a transfer of a license has occurred if:

(1) a new partner is added to the entity licensed as an importing transporter or a new person replaces an existing partner in such entity; or

(2) shares of stock are acquired by any person so that such person owns or controls, directly or indirectly, more than 10 percent of the number of shares of voting stock of an entity licensed as an importing transporter (in the case of a licensee which has four or fewer shareholders owning such voting stock, “25 percent or more” is substituted for “more than 10 percent” in applying this paragraph).

(d) An application for approval of contemplated transfer must be made to the department. Such application is made in the same manner as an application for a license to operate as an importing transporter. The same information and documents required upon the application for license to operate as an importing transporter must be submitted. In addition, a statement describing the transaction which will constitute the transfer including the date of the proposed transfer, the identities of the parties to the transaction, the interests which are proposed to be transferred and responsible persons (officers, directors, partners, shareholders owning more than 10 percent of voting stock, employees under a duty to act for such applicant in complying with any requirement of article 12-A of the Tax Law) of the entity which is the subject of the application for approval of contemplated transfer must also be provided.

(e) Within 75 days after the Department of Taxation and Finance has been supplied with the properly completed application and any other documents or additional information requested, it will issue a determination either granting or denying the application for approval of transfer. The determination of the department must be based on the same criteria used in making a determination with respect to an application for a license as an importing transporter. If the department fails to issue a determination within 75 days, it is required to give its approval to the application. Any determination issued pursuant to this subdivision may only be protested in the same manner and upon the same conditions as a determination respecting an application for a registration or license.

(f) Upon approval of the application, the department may either issue a new license as an importing transporter or reissue the existing license, provided a bond or other security, in the required amount, is filed or deposited with the department.

(g)

(1) There is an exception to the requirement of prior approval for transfers of licenses in the case of transfers by way of bequest or inheritance from the decedent directly, to:

(i) an ancestor of the decedent;

(ii) the spouse of the decedent;

(iii) a lineal descendent of the decedent, of the decedent's spouse, or of a parent of the decedent; or

(iv) the spouse of any lineal descendent described in subparagraph (iii) of this paragraph.

(2)

(i) A transfer of a license as an importing transporter occasioned by a bequest to or inheritance received by the individuals described in paragraph (1) of this subdivision will not, of itself, be considered a transfer which will operate as grounds to cancel such license if a revised application for license is submitted to the department within 90 days of the death of the decedent. The failure to submit a revised application within such 90 days will be grounds for immediate cancellation or suspension of the license as an importing transporter.

(ii) Such application for a license may be filed in all cases by an interested relative enumerated in paragraph (1) of this subdivision or by the personal representative of the decedent and in the case of a corporation or partnership by the entity licensed as the importing transporter.

(3) The department will review such application in the same manner as an application for license as an importing transporter and any of the grounds for denying, cancelling or suspending an application for a license as an importing transporter as specified in article 12-A of the Tax Law, are grounds for the department to deny the revised application. A denial issued pursuant to this paragraph may only be protested in the same manner and upon the same conditions as a denial of an application for a registration or license.

(4) Upon approval of the revised application, the department may either issue a new license as an importing transporter or reissue the existing license, provided a bond or other security, in the required amount, is filed or deposited with the department.