S4943-2011 Actions

• May 15, 2012: referred to ways and means
• May 15, 2012: DELIVERED TO ASSEMBLY
• May 15, 2012: PASSED SENATE
• May 14, 2012: ADVANCED TO THIRD READING
• May 9, 2012: 2ND REPORT CAL.
• May 8, 2012: 1ST REPORT CAL.731
• Apr 18, 2012: REPORTED AND COMMITTED TO FINANCE
• Jan 4, 2012: REFERRED TO INVESTIGATIONS AND GOVERNMENT OPERATIONS
• Jan 4, 2012: returned to senate
• Jan 4, 2012: died in assembly
• Jun 16, 2011: referred to ways and means
• Jun 16, 2011: DELIVERED TO ASSEMBLY
• Jun 16, 2011: PASSED SENATE
• Jun 14, 2011: ORDERED TO THIRD READING CAL.1242
• Jun 13, 2011: COMMITTEE DISCHARGED AND COMMITTED TO RULES
• Jun 7, 2011: REPORTED AND COMMITTED TO FINANCE
• May 2, 2011: REFERRED TO INVESTIGATIONS AND GOVERNMENT OPERATIONS

S4943-2011 Meetings

S4943-2011 Calendars

S4943-2011 Votes

S4943-2011 Memo

BILL NUMBER:S4943

TITLE OF BILL:
An act
to amend the tax law, in relation to the determination of sales and
compensating use taxes due

PURPOSE:
This bill would require that any external economic indices used by the
Department of Taxation and Finance in estimating sales tax payments
due must utilize regional economic indices to reflect the wide
variation of the costs of goods and services sold throughout the state.

SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
This bill would amend subdivision (a) of section 1138 of the tax law
by adding a new paragraph (5) to require that whenever the
Commissioner of Taxation and Finance is determining the amount of
sales t.ax owed, in instances in where a required sales tax filing
has not been made or there has been an incorrect or insufficient
sales tax payment, the Commissioner must utilize a regional economic
index to estimating the correct tax payment to be made.

JUSTIFICATION:
New York State has hired hundreds of new auditors over the past few
years and unleashed them on unsuspecting taxpayers. Thousands of
retail merchants across the state have been subject to new audit
tactics apparently designed to generate as much revenue as possible.
The most insidious of these tactics is the practice of determining a
merchant's sales tax assessment based on external indices rather than
the merchant's records. Often times the external indices are not based
on local standards thereby leading to drastically distorted
assessments far exceeding any reasonable estimate. One of the most
common indices used by the Department is based on an analysis of less
than 100 businesses. The Department continues to use this index in
spite of a specific note by the study's authors that it is not
statically reliable for such purposes. This bill would prohibit the
Department of Tax and Finance from using any external index that does
not reflect local economic conditions. It ensures that anytime a
sales tax assessment is imposed on a retail merchant not based on the
merchant's records it will be more fair since the merchant's local
area will be the basis of comparison.
These business owners are the backbone of the state's economy and
deserve to have their taxes determined in a fair manner. This bill
will restore fairness to the tax assessment process and help retail
merchants in New York live up to their legitimate tax assessments.

LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
New Bill.

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
None.

EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.

S4943-2011 Text

 S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 
 
                                         4943
 2011-2012 Regular Sessions
 I N  SENATE
 May 2, 2011
 
 Introduced  by  Sen.  YOUNG  -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
 printed to be committed to the Committee on Investigations and Govern
 ment Operations
 

AN ACT to amend the tax law, in relation to the determination  of  sales
 and compensating use taxes due
 

THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

 

Section 1. Subdivision (a) of section 1138 of the tax law  is  amended
 by adding a new paragraph 5 to read as follows:

 (5)  WHENEVER  A RETURN REQUIRED BY THIS ARTICLE IS NOT FILED, OR IF A
 RETURN WHEN FILED IS INCORRECT OR INSUFFICIENT, AND THE  AMOUNT  OF  TAX
 DUE  IS  DETERMINED  BY THE COMMISSIONER FROM SUCH INFORMATION AS MAY BE
 AVAILABLE PURSUANT TO PARAGRAPH ONE OF THIS SUBDIVISION, ANY    EXTERNAL
 INDICES  USED  TO  ESTIMATE THE TAX DUE SHALL REFLECT THE LOCAL ECONOMIC
 CONDITIONS.
 

S 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
 EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
 [ ] is old law to be omitted.
 LBD11110-01-1

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