PURSUANT TO THE PROVISIONS OF THE State Administrative Procedure Act, NOTICE is hereby given of the following proposed rule:
Proposed Action:
This is a consensus rule making to amend section 530.1 of Title 20 NYCRR. This rule is proposed pursuant to [SAPA § 207(3)], 5-Year Review of Existing Rules.
Statutory authority:
Tax Law, sections 171, subd. First, 1111(d), 1142(1) and (8) and 1250 (not subdivided)
Subject:
Sales tax collection charts.
Purpose:
To update regulatory language to more accurately reflect existing statutes and Department practice.
Text of proposed rule:
Section 1. Section 530.1 of the regulations is amended to read as follows:
530.1 Collection of tax. (Tax Law, [section] sections 1111(d) and 1132(b)) (a) Every person required to collect the tax shall collect the tax due from the [purchaser] customer, with respect to any receipt, gallon of motor fuel or diesel motor fuel, amusement charge, or hotel room rent subject to tax under article 28 or pursuant to article 29 of the Tax Law. When necessary, tax due shall be rounded up or down. Generally, where the tax to be paid includes a fraction of one cent, the fraction shall not be paid where it is less than one-half cent and a full cent shall be paid where the fraction is one-half cent or more. However, no tax shall be collected from the customer upon sales of tangible personal property which produce a combined State and local tax of five mills or less as stated in section 1132(b) of the Tax Law.
(b) With respect to the collection of tax on receipts from the retail sale of motor fuel and diesel motor fuel at a retail gas station as described in section 1111(m) of the Tax Law, [The] the department [will] may make available [tax] charts or schedules showing the [tax amounts] amount of tax due per gallon [required to be collected for the various amounts of taxable sales in accordance with the rounding methodology, as well as specific charts or schedules for motor fuel or diesel motor fuel sold at retail] based on pump prices per gallon and tax rates.
"Cross-reference:" See Part 532 of this Title for more information about collection of tax.
Text of proposed rule and any required statements and analyses may be obtained from:
John W. Bartlett, Tax Regulations Specialist 4, Department of Taxation and Finance, Taxpayer Guidance Division, Building 9, W. A. Harriman Campus, Albany, NY 12227, (518) 457-2254, email: tax.regulations@tax.ny.gov
Data, views or arguments may be submitted to:
Same as above.
Public comment will be received until:
45 days after publication of this notice.
Reasoned Justification for Modification of the Rule
The Department of Taxation and Finance submitted for publication in the Rule Review section of the January 5, 2011, State Register summaries of rules that were adopted by the Commissioner of Taxation and Finance in 2001 and 2006, and a notice of the Department's intent to review such rules pursuant to section 207 of the State Administrative Procedure Act. This information was also posted to the Department's Web site (http://www.tax.ny.gov/rulemaker/regulations/fiveyearrev.htm) on December 30, 2010. Comments from the public concerning the continuation or modification of these rules were invited until February 22, 2011.
No public comments were received by the Department concerning the 2001 amendments to Part 530 (Amount to be Collected, formerly entitled Tax Rates) of the Sales and Use Taxes Regulations. Part 530 was amended to repeal the tax rates and bracket schedules which indicated the amount of sales tax to be collected for various amounts of sales prices and tax rates, and replace them with standard methodology for rounding the amount of sales tax to be collected to the nearest penny. This rule was adopted by the Commissioner on June 12, 2001, and published in the State Register on June 27, 2001 (I.D. # TAF-17-01 00002 A). The rule was previously reviewed as part of the Department's 2006 Rule Review published in the State Register on January 4, 2006. As a result of that review of the 2001 rule, a Rule Review notice indicating that it would be continued without modification was published in the State Register on October 25, 2006. Subsequent to the 2006 statutory five-year review, amendments to update and simplify Part 530 of the Sales and Use Taxes Regulations by eliminating obsolete and unnecessary tax rates that are set by and pursuant to the Tax Law were adopted on February 14, 2007, and published in the Sate Register on March 7, 2007 (I.D. # TAF-47-06-00012-A). However, certain provisions of the 2001 rule were not amended in 2007 and, therefore, remain subject to review in 2011.
The Department has determined as a result of its 2011 review that the provisions of the rule adopted in 2001 that relate to the tax collection "charts or schedules" are dated and cannot be continued without modification. Certain charts that showed the sales tax to be collected on sales amounts of less than ten dollars are now obsolete. They were discontinued by the Department in 2009 because there is no special rule for small sales amounts, i.e., straight mathematical rounding is applicable to all sales amounts. Therefore, this rule updates section 530.1 of the regulations by eliminating reference to these charts. Other non controversial technical and clarifying changes in section 530.1 have also been made in this rule.
Not every amendment that was made in 2001 is being amended by this rule; for example, the rule does not affect the standard methodology for rounding the amount of sales tax to be collected to the nearest penny that is prescribed in the regulations. Therefore, these 2001 amendments remain valid and are continued without modification.
Consensus Rule Making Determination
The Department of Taxation and Finance has determined that no person is likely to object to the adoption of this rule as written because the rule merely repeals regulatory provisions that are no longer applicable to any person and makes technical and clarifying changes to section 530.1 of the Sales and Use Taxes Regulations concerning the collection of tax and use of the Department's tax collection charts. These changes are not controversial in nature. They eliminate obsolete provisions in section 530.1 and bring it into conformity with existing statutes and Department practice.
Job Impact Statement
A Job Impact Statement is not being submitted with this rule because it is evident from the subject matter that the rule will have no impact on jobs and employment opportunities. The purpose of the rule is simply to update section 530.1 of the Sales and Use Taxes Regulations by making technical and clarifying changes concerning the collection of tax and use of the Department's tax collection charts. These changes eliminate obsolete provisions in section 530.1 and bring it into conformity with existing statutes and Department practice. Accordingly, a job impact statement is not required for this rulemaking.
