Re: NY tax on information services

[David Farber <farber@central.cis.upenn.edu>]

Posted-Date: Sat, 11 Sep 1993 23:01:40 -0400 (EDT)
Date: Sat, 11 Sep 1993 23:01:40 -0400 (EDT)
From: Jean Armour Polly <jpolly@nysernet.ORG>
Subject: Re: NY tax on information services
To: David Farber <farber@central.cis.upenn.edu>


Dear David- I called the NYS Tax and Finance folks on Friday and they
faxed me info on this bill.
Briefly (though I am not a lawyer, pun intended), based on a phone
conversation with them:
 There is a tax if
-- the "bbs operator" charges a membership fee AND
-- the host computer is in NYS AND
-- the operator sells to NYS residents.


If the host computer is out of state it does not apply at all.
If the host is in NY but the customer is out of state it does not apply.
If the service is run by a non-profit it does also not apply.


Also, SHAREWARE is affected. If you download shareware and subsequently
send in the registration fee, the software producer has to charge you NYS
tax-- if he's in NY and the customer is in NY. This particular part is
written very poorly IMHO.


Hope this helps. I have the text of the memo and some examples I can send
to you monday if you want.


Best,
JP