What is sales or use tax?
You owe sales or compensating use tax if you:
- purchased an item or service subject to tax that is delivered to
you in New York State without payment of New York State and
local tax to the seller; or
- purchased an item or service outside New York State that is
subject to tax in New York State (and you were a resident of
New York State at the time of purchase) with subsequent use
in New York State.
Note: You may be entitled to a credit for sales tax paid to another state. See the exact calculation method in the
instructions for Form ST-140, Individual Purchaser's Annual
Report of Sales and Use Tax.
For sales and use tax purposes, a resident includes persons who
have a permanent place of abode in the state. Accordingly, you
may be a resident for sales tax purposes even though you may
not be a resident for income tax purposes. See the instructions
for Form ST-140 for more information.
You may not use this line to report:
- any sales and use tax on business purchases if the business is
registered for sales and use tax purposes. You must report this
tax on the business's sales tax return.
- any unpaid sales and use tax on motor vehicles, trailers,
all-terrain vehicles, vessels, or snowmobiles. This tax is paid
directly to the Department of Motor Vehicles. If you
will not be registering or titling it at the DMV, you should remit
the tax directly to the Tax Department using Form ST-130,
Business Purchaser's Report of Sales and Use Tax, or
Form ST-140.
An unpaid sales or use tax liability commonly arises if you made
purchases through the Internet, by catalog, from television
shopping channels, or on an Indian reservation, or if you
purchased items or services subject to tax in another state and
brought them back to New York for use here.
Example 1: You purchased a computer over the Internet
that was delivered to your house in Monroe County,
New York, from an out-of-state company and did not
pay sales tax to that company.
Example 2: You purchased a book on a trip to
New Hampshire that you brought back to your residence
in Nassau County, New York, for use there.
You may also owe an additional local tax if you use property
or services in another locality in New York State, other than the
locality to which you paid tax. You owe use tax to the second
locality if you were a resident of that locality at the time of
the purchase, and its rate of tax is higher than the rate of tax
originally paid.
Failure to pay sales or use tax may result in the imposition of
penalty and interest. The Tax Department conducts routine
audits based on information received from third parties,
including the U.S. Customs Service and other states.
Using the sales and use tax chart below is an easy way to
compute your liability for all your purchases of items or services
costing less than $1,000 each (excluding shipping and handling)
that are not related to a business, rental real estate, or royalty
activities.
| If your federal adjusted gross income | Enter |
| Up to $15,000 | $12 |
| $15,001 - $30,000 | $23 |
| $30,001 - $50,000 | $39 |
| $50,001 - $75,000 | $59 |
| $75,001 - $100,000 | $78 |
| $100,001 - $150,000 | $102 |
| $150,001 - $200,000 | $119 |
| $200,001 and greater | .060% (.00060)
of income, or $250, whichever amount is smaller |
You may use this chart for purchases of items or services
costing less than $1,000 each (excluding shipping and
handling). You may not use this chart for purchases related
to a business, rental real estate, or royalty activities,
regardless of the amount.
If you maintained a permanent place of abode in New York State
for sales and use tax purposes for only part of the year, multiply
the tax amount from the chart by the number of months you
maintained the permanent place of abode in New York State and
divide the result by 12. (Count any period you maintained the
abode for more than one-half month as one month.)