Much to the frustration of the practitioner community, the New York Tax Department’s extension of certain filing deadlines last month due to Hurricane Ida (sorry, we’re not calling it a “Post-Tropical Depression!”) did not cover October 15-related deadlines, unlike the extensions offered by the IRS and New Jersey. But late on October 12, with only a couple days left in the filing season, the Tax Department finally capitulated, issuing Notice N-21-5, extending many (but not all) of the due dates coming up for taxpayers and practitioners impacted by Ida.
Some quick highlights:
-- First, what it does NOT cover: the order does not extend the time to make the election to participate in the Pass-through Entity Tax (PTET). Such elections must still be made on or before October 15, 2021. This was probably the due date most practitioners were hoping would get extended, and the State Society of CPAs actually made a last-minute plea for extra time from the State. But no dice. Get those elections in Friday!
-- Otherwise, the extension applies to most other filing and payment deadlines, including filing tax returns, making installment payments, filing requests for refund, etc. It allows taxpayers and the Tax Department additional time to deal with certain tax liability-related deadlines that occurred during the period beginning on or after September 2, 2021, and ending on or before October 17, 2021, including filing appeals, assessing tax, suing the State, and ”any other act required or permitted under the Tax Law or specified in the New York State Tax Regulations.”
-- Eligibility is similar to the federal relief, although some of our accountant colleagues have pointed out that the NY notice on its face only applies to taxpayers “impacted” by Ida, even if taxpayer resides in or has principal place of business in a designated county. The same goes for practitioners, with the extension applicable to those who “were unable to complete work” because of Ida. These qualifications were not included in the Federal extension notice, though the language appears similar, with the federal relief applicable to “individuals and households affected by Hurricane Ida that reside or have a business in Bronx, Dutchess, Kings, Nassau, New York, Orange, Putnam, Queens, Richmond, Rockland, Suffolk, Sullivan, Ulster, and Westchester counties.” Whatever the case, in reality, we would not expect New York to force a taxpayer or practitioner to prove that some papers got wet or their phones were down. And for what it’s worth, the tax department used the exact same language in all the extensions that were applied years ago after Hurricane Sandy, and we didn’t hear of anyone getting “audited” to prove they really were impacted by the storm.
That’s it for now….gotta get back to answering endless questions about the PTET.
