New York Sales Tax Guide

SALES TAX RATE:

4.00%

MAXIMUM LOCAL & COUNTY RATES:

4.875%

Read this Guide

This guide simplifies compliance with New York's sales tax code by breaking down the process into four easy steps:

• Taxable Goods and Services
• Get a Certificate of Authority
• Collecting Sales Tax
• File Your Sales Tax Return

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One such reliable service:

TaxJar helps entrepreneurs with ecommerce sites calculate sales tax at checkout ($17/month)

Which Goods and Services are Taxable?

Determining whether or not the products or services your company sells are taxable in New York is the first step in sales tax compliance.

Traditional Goods or Services

Goods that are subject to sales tax in New York include physical property, like furniture, home appliances, and motor vehicles.

Prescription and non-prescription medicine, groceries, gasoline and clothing are all tax-exempt.

Some services in New York are subject to sales tax. For a detailed list of taxable services view this PDF from the New York Department of Revenue and Finance website.

Digital Goods or Services

A digital good or service is anything electronically delivered, such as an album downloaded from iTunes or a film purchased from Amazon.

New York State does not require businesses to collect sales tax on the sale of digital goods or services.

However, New York has one exception to this policy. Businesses must collect sales tax on pre-written computer software that is sold online.

How to Register for New York Sales Tax

If you determined that you need to charge sales tax on some or all of the goods and services your business sells, your next step is to register for a Certificate of Authority. This allows your business to collect sales tax on behalf of your local and state governments.

In order to register, you will need the following information:

• Business identification information, including EIN number
• Primary business activity
• Business entity type
• Information pertaining to all business owners and officers
• Your business location(s) – if you have multiple locations in New York you’ll need to file for a New York sales tax permit for each location

Register for a Certificate of Authority

Register for a Certificate of Authority online through the Business Express Registration section of the New York Department of Revenue and Finance

Fee: None

Expiration: None

Save Money with a Resale Certificate

With a resale certificate, also known as a reseller's permit, your business does not have to pay sales tax when purchasing goods for resale.

Download Resale Certificate

Download the Resale Certificate through the  New York Department of Revenue and Finance website

Instruction: Present the certificate to the seller at the time of purchase.

Collecting Sales Tax

After getting your seller's permit and launching your business, you will need to determine how much sales tax you need to charge different customers. To avoid fines and the risk of costly audits, it's important for business owners to collect the correct rate of sales tax.

When calculating sales tax, you'll need to consider the following kinds of sales:

• Store Sales
• Shipping In-State
• Out-of-State Sales

Recommended: Use our Sales Tax Calculator to look up the sales tax rate for any Zip Code in the US.

Store Sales

For traditional business owners selling goods or services on-site, calculating sales tax is easy: all sales are taxed at the rate based on the location of the store.

Here's an example of what this scenario looks like:

Mary owns and manages a bookstore in Buffalo, New York. Since books are taxable in the state of New York, Mary charges her customers a flat-rate sales tax of 8.750% on all sales. This includes New York’s sales tax rate of 4.0% and Erie County’s sales tax rate of 4.750%.

In-State Sales

The state of New York follows what is known as a destination-based sales tax policy. This means that long-distance sales within New York are taxed according to the address of the buyer. This policy applies to state, county, and city sales taxes.

Consider the following example:

Steve runs his own business selling electronics on eBay out of his home in New York City, New York. A customer living in Syracuse finds Steve’s eBay page and purchases a $350 pair of headphones. When calculating the sales tax for this purchase, Steve applies the 4.000% tax rate for New York State, plus 4.000% for Onondaga County. At a total sales tax rate of 8.0%, the total cost is $378.00 ($28.00 sales tax).

Out-of-State Sales

New York businesses only need to pay sales tax on out-of-state sales if they have nexus in other states. Nexus means that the business has a physical presence in another state.

Common types of nexus include:

• A physical location, such as an office, store, or warehouse
• An employee who works remotely or who is a traveling sales representative
• A marketing affiliate
• Drop-shipping from a third party seller.
• A temporary physical location, including festival and fair booths.

File Your Sales Tax Return

Now that you’ve registered for your New York seller's permit and know how to charge the right amount of sales tax to all of your customers, you are all set to file your sales tax return. Just be sure to keep up with all filing deadlines to avoid penalties and fines.

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How to File

New York requires businesses to file sales tax returns and submit sales tax payments online.

File the New York Tax Return

You will do this with the Sales Tax Web File through the New York Department of Revenue.

How Often Should You File?

How often you need to file depends upon the total amount of sales tax your business collects.

• Annual filing: If your business collects less than $3,000.00 in sales tax per year and you have been notified that you should file annually, then your business should file returns on an annual basis.
• Quarterly filing: If your business’s gross receipts total less than $300,000 in taxable goods or services, then your business should file returns on a quarterly basis. Most companies will file their sales tax returns quarterly when they start their business.
• Monthly filing: If your business’s gross receipts total more than $300,000 in taxable goods or services, then your business should file returns on a monthly basis.

Note: New York requires you to file a sales tax return even if you have no sales tax to report.

Filing Deadlines

All New York sales tax return deadlines fall on the 20th day of the month unless it is a weekend or federal holiday, in which case the deadline is moved back to the next business day.

Annual filing: March 20th 2020

Quarterly filing:

• Q1 (Dec. - Feb.): Due March 20
• Q2 (March - May): Due June 20
• Q3 (June - Aug.): Due September 20
• Q4 (Sept. - Nov.): Due December 20

Monthly filing: The 20th of the following month, or the next business day, e.g. April 20 for the month of March, or May 22 for the month of April.

Penalties for Late Filing

New York Helpful Resources

TB-ST-175 - Do I need to Register for Sales Tax?

New York Tax Publications and Guidance

Publication 750 - A guide to Sales Tax in New York

Sales Tax Telephone Assistance Number: 
518 - 485 - 2889