About This Blog
Taxes in New York (TiNY) is a blog by the Hodgson Russ LLP State and Local Tax Practice Group members Chris Doyle, Peter Calleri, and Zoe Peppas. The weekly reports are intended to go out every Tuesday after the New York State Division of Tax Appeals (DTA) publishes new ALJ Determinations and Tribunal Decisions. In addition to the weekly reports, TiNY may provide analysis of and commentary on other developments in the world of New York tax law.
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LinkedIn ProfileTiNY Report for July 30, 2020 (reporting on DTA cases issued July 23)
The output this week from the DTA is a bit lackluster – just two determinations, and both of them are timies.
I’m writing solo this week from the Great White North (aka Canada), and my computer keeps trying to auto-correct “timies” to “Timmies.” Our readers who haven’t enjoyed the pleasure of its semi-massed produced donuts (a far cry from the delicious fried-dough confections lovingly produced at Paula’s) and coffee, may be unaware that the donut shop chain “Tim Hortons” is “Timmies” in the local vernacular. I am not a huge fan, although I find the coffee in the Canadian Timmies palatable—likely because of the cream’s higher fat content.
I’m currently in the birth place of Timmies, and one can’t go more than a few blocks without being in front of another Tim Hortons. If I wasn’t in quarantine, I could walk to one of the five(!) Timmies within a one-mile radius of my temporary home office. So, I’m wondering if my computer’s GPS knows when I’ve come to Canada and somehow adjusts the autocorrect lexicon and preferences to reflect the change of venue. If so . . . I’m totally impressed with the technology!
Anyway, now that you know that I wrestle with my computer every time I try to spell the word “timies,” here are two run-of-the-mill timies.
Comment
TiNY Report for July 23, 2020 (reporting on DTA cases issued July 16)
A decision and four determinations this week. The decision is a little interesting. The determinations each involve jurisdictional, procedural necessities that are routine.
TiNY Report for July 16, 2020 (reporting on DTA cases issued July 2 and July 9)
Mea culpa, baby! Yes, your senior editor, who was in charge last week, neglected to post a summary of the solitary timy ALJ Order that hit the DTA’s website last week. There were many, many priorities in front of TiNY last week. And many, many phone calls from CPAs wondering just how one is supposed to apply New York’s “de-coupling” from the CARES Act in practice. Not an excuse . . . an explanation. We stand behind the timeliness of our publication. So feel free to contact the senior editor (at tiny@hodgsonruss.com) to request a ratable refund of the subscription fee you pay. He has agreed to pay these out of his own pocket!
There are two decisions, four determinations, and last week’s order to report on this week. I was hoping to report that the Tribunal had continued down a path away from the “only reasonable construction standard,” but . . . no.
TiNY Report for July 2, 2020 (reporting on DTA cases issued June 25)
Pretty small output from the DTA this week, but maybe that’s just the DTA’s present to us (well, me) before a long weekend.
From all your authors at TiNY, we hope everyone has a safe and socially distant Fourth of July Weekend!
TiNY Report for June 25, 2020 (reporting on DTA cases issued June 18)
A light lift this week with two determinations and an ALJ order. There were no earthshaking rulings in the trio. However, there were a few interesting tidbits . . . and one run-of-the-mill timy.
TiNY Report for June 18, 2020 (reporting on DTA cases issued June 8)
Below are Emma’s reports on a Tribunal decision and a very rare Tribunal order. The last time we saw a Tribunal order was in 2018.
But before we get into all that, let me tell a true story about my trip back to the office on Friday. My visit to the office was necessary because I needed to get out a document with a “wet” signature. While I was there, I looked through the hard-copy mail that had been previously scanned and emailed to me. I do this from time to time to make sure that no time sensitive documents have missed my consideration. One of the documents was a Notice and Demand for $500,000 issued to one of our residency clients. It should not have been issued because the client (through Hodgson Russ) filed a timely request for conciliation conference. And once we drew the Department’s attention to the error, the Notice was promptly and courteously rescinded. The point of this story is not that a Notice had been issued in error, or that it had been rescinded, but that the Department sent an insert with the Notice requesting that my nonresident client sign up at http://donatelife.ny.gov/register to be a New York organ donor.
There’s nothing wrong with being an organ donor. I am registered with New York as an organ donor. And if you are reading this and live in New York, I encourage you to register as a donor too (just go to the link in the last paragraph). But it seems a little over the top for New York to ask a person who moved (or even just claimed to have moved) out of the State for a literal “pound of flesh” in addition to resident taxes and interest. It used to be that penalties were rare. Now penalties are the norm and the State wants your kidneys too!
TiNY Report for June 11, 2020 (reporting on DTA cases issued June 3 and 4)
Four determinations and three ALJ Orders this week. That’s a pretty big haul. But the cases were yawners from a substantive legal perspective. Timies galore!
TiNY Report for May 28, 2020 (reporting on DTA cases issued May 21)
Now we’re talking! There are two Tribunal decisions and four ALJ Determinations this week. Yeah, there are three timies and one other dismissal in the bunch, but one of the timies is a Tribunal reversal of an ALJ dismissal, and there are two cases that have some pretty involved substantive legal analysis. And, on balance, it was a pretty good day for taxpayers. Unfortunately, due to the complexity of the cases, our summaries are a bit more long-winded than usual.
TiNY Report for May 15, 2020 (reporting on DTA cases issued May 7)
After going “oh-for-April,” the DTA seems to be easing back into the swing of things by posting three Decisions last week and then two ALJ Orders this week. And thank goodness. We have been busy on client matters, but those don’t really invite inventive prose. TiNY, on the other hand, lets us write creatively and be opinionated, and that is a welcome diversion.
One of this week’s DTA postings is a mundane timy. But when your last meal was more than a month ago, even a couple of stale crackers looks like a feast!
TiNY Report for May 8, 2020 (reporting on DTA cases issued May 1)
May Day. MAY DAY. MAY DAAAAAAAAY!!!!!
How very exciting! After a month of sitting on our pens (ouch), the TiNY editorial team finally has something on which to write. The Tribunal issued three decisions on May 1, ergo my “May day” reference. And if you are a fan of the Buffalo Sabres, you’ll recognize the line from the famous call, by play-by-play announcer Rick Jeanneret, of Brad May’s overtime goal to sweep the Bruins in the 1993 playoffs. And by “famous,” I mean legitimately famous. Jeanneret was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2011, and the May day call was the one played as he mounted the stage to give his acceptance speech. If you can spare 53 seconds from your busy schedule, you can watch/listen to the call here.
There were two timies in the trio, and I am going to give those only a cursory review. The third decision is a partial reversal of an ALJ determination in an Article 9-A case dealing with the old capital base tax.