COVID-19 sales tax relief in New York

The stay-at-home orders that have closed or restricted nonessential businesses in New York since March 22 will be in effect through April 29, at least. To help businesses stay solvent during this difficult time, New York is providing sales tax relief.

The Tax Commissioner is authorized to abate late filing and payment penalties and interest for annual and quarterly sales tax filers unable to file or pay by March 20 due to COVID-19. This relief isn’t automatic: Eligible taxpayers must request the filing and payment extension and penalty and interest waiver.

Valid reasons for requesting relief include being unable to meet tax filing, payment, or other deadlines because:

• Closure or social distancing orders made it difficult to meet the deadlines
• Key employees were treated for or suspected of having COVID-19
• Necessary records could not be accessed because of COVID-19
• Tax practitioners were unable to meet the deadlines because of COVID-19

For the relief to apply, sales tax returns must be filed and the amount due must be paid within 60 days of the due date. 

Qualifying taxpayers that receive a penalty notice from the Department of Taxation and Finance should request an abatement of interest and late filing or late payment penalties that would otherwise apply. Such requests will be handled on a case-by-case basis.

As of this writing, the New York Department of Taxation and Finance has not announced tax relief for sales and use taxes due April 20, 2020. Additional information is available from the Department of Taxation and Finance.

Exception

Sales tax vendors who file returns monthly or participate in the PrompTax program for sales and use tax or prepaid sales tax on fuel are not eligible for this relief. 

New York State has also extended the filing and payment deadline for personal and corporation income tax returns from April 15, 2020, to July 15, 2020. Taxpayers don’t need to request this relief: The filing and payment extension will automatically be granted, and penalties and interest automatically waived. See New York State Tax Department Response to COVID-19 for more details.

Specific relief is also available for businesses in the beverage alcohol and communications industries. More details can be found here.

New York City taxpayers may request a waiver of penalties on late-filed extensions or returns of city business and excise taxes due March 16–April 25. However, interest must be paid on all tax payments due after the original due date. New York City sales tax is administered by the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance.

See the New York City Department of Finance for more details.

Many states are providing some sort of sales tax rrelief — and other tax relief — to help businesses weather the COVID-19 storm. Additional details are available in our COVID-19 tax relief roundup.