N.Y. Tax Law § 186-F — Public safety communications surcharge

§ 186-f. Public safety communications surcharge. 1. Definitions. As\nused in this section, where not otherwise specifically defined and\nunless a different meaning is clearly required:\n (a) "Place of primary use" has the same meaning as that term is\ndefined in paragraph twenty-six of subdivision (b) of section eleven\nhundred one of this chapter.\n (b) "Wireless communications customer" means mobile telecommunications\ncustomer as defined in subparagraph (i) of paragraph twenty-seven of\nsubdivision (b) of section eleven hundred one of this chapter, who\ncontracts for or is the end user of wireless communications service.\n (c) "Wireless communications device" means any equipment used to\naccess a wireless communications service.\n (d) "Wireless communications service" means all commercial mobile\nservices, as that term is defined in section 332(d) of title 47 of the\nUnited States Code, as amended from time to time, including, but not\nlimited to, all broadband personal communications services, wireless\nradio telephone services, geographic area specialized and enhanced\nspecialized mobile radio services, and incumbent-wide area specialized\nmobile radio licensees, which offer real time, two-way voice or data\nservice that is interconnected with the public switched telephone\nnetwork or otherwise provides access to emergency communications\nservices.\n (e) "Wireless communications service supplier" means a home service\nprovider as defined in subparagraph (ii) of paragraph twenty-seven of\nsubdivision (b) of section eleven hundred one of this chapter, provided\nthat the home service provider provides wireless communications service\nand has one or more wireless communications customers in New York state.\n (f) "Prepaid wireless communications seller" means a person making a\nretail sale of prepaid wireless communications service.\n (g) "Prepaid wireless communications service" means a prepaid mobile\ncalling service as defined in paragraph twenty-two of subdivision (b) of\nsection eleven hundred one of this chapter.\n 2. Public safety communications surcharge. (a) (1) A surcharge on\nwireless communications service provided to a wireless communications\ncustomer with a place of primary use in this state is imposed at the\nrate of one dollar and twenty cents per month on each wireless\ncommunications device in service during any part of each month. The\nsurcharge must be reflected and made payable on bills rendered to the\nwireless communications customer for wireless communication service.\n (2) A surcharge is imposed on the retail sale of each prepaid wireless\ncommunications service, whether or not any tangible personal property is\nsold therewith, at the rate of ninety cents per retail sale. A sale of a\nprepaid wireless communications service occurs in this state if the sale\ntakes place at a seller's business location in the state. If the sale\ndoes not take place at the seller's place of business, it shall be\nconclusively determined to take place at the purchaser's shipping\naddress or, if there is no item shipped, at the purchaser's billing\naddress, or, if the seller does not have that address, at such address\nas approved by the commissioner that reasonably reflects the customer's\nlocation at the time of the sale of the prepaid wireless communications\nservice.\n (b) The surcharges must be reported and paid to the commissioner on a\nquarterly basis on or before the twentieth day of the month following\neach quarterly period ending on the last day of February, May, August\nand November, respectively. The payments must be accompanied by a return\nin the form and containing the information the commissioner may\nprescribe.\n (c) The surcharges must be added as a separate line item to bills\nfurnished by a wireless communications service supplier to its\ncustomers, or must be added as a separate line item to a sales slip,\ninvoice, receipt, or other statement of the price, if any, that is\nfurnished by a prepaid wireless communications seller to a purchaser,\nand must be identified as the "public safety communications surcharge".\n (d) Each wireless communications service supplier and prepaid wireless\ncommunications seller is entitled to retain, as an administrative fee,\nan amount equal to three percent of fifty-eight and three-tenths percent\nof the total collections of the surcharges imposed by this section,\nprovided that the supplier or seller files any required return and\nremits the surcharge due to the commissioner on or before its due date.\n 3. Exemption. Lifeline consumers shall be exempt from the surcharges\nimposed by this section.\n 4. Applicable provisions. (a) Except as otherwise provided in this\nsection, the surcharges imposed under this section shall be administered\nand collected by the commissioner in a like manner as the taxes imposed\nby article twenty-eight of this chapter. All the provisions of article\ntwenty-eight of this chapter, including the provisions relating to\ndefinitions, exemptions, returns, personal liability for the tax,\ncollection of tax from the customer, payment of tax, and the\nadministration of the taxes imposed by such article, shall apply to the\nsurcharges imposed under the authority of this section so far as those\nprovisions can be made applicable to the surcharges imposed by this\nsection, with such modifications as may be necessary in order to adapt\nthe language of those provisions to the surcharges imposed by this\nsection. Those provisions shall apply with the same force and effect as\nif the language of those provisions had been set forth in full in this\nsection, except to the extent that any of those provisions is either\ninconsistent with a provision of this section or is not relevant to the\nsurcharge imposed by this section. For purposes of this section, any\nreference in this chapter to a tax or the taxes imposed by article\ntwenty-eight of this chapter shall be deemed also to refer to the\nsurcharges imposed by this section unless a different meaning is clearly\nrequired.\n (b) Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraph (a) of this\nsubdivision:\n (1) the exemptions provided for in section eleven hundred sixteen of\nthis chapter, other than the exemptions in paragraphs one, two and three\nof subdivision (a) of that section, shall not apply to the surcharges\nimposed by this section.\n (2) the credit provided in subdivision (f) of section eleven hundred\nthirty-seven of this chapter shall not apply to this section.\n 5. Deposits of surcharge monies collected and received.\nNotwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, all surcharge\nmonies collected and received by the commissioner under this section\nmust be deposited daily to the credit of the comptroller with those\nresponsible banks, banking houses or trust companies the comptroller may\ndesignate. Those deposits must be kept separate and apart from all other\nmonies in the possession of the comptroller. The comptroller must\nrequire adequate security from all such depositories. Of the total\nrevenue collected or received under this section, the comptroller must\nretain in the comptroller's hands an amount determined by the\ncommissioner to be necessary for refunds under this section, out of\nwhich the comptroller will pay any refunds to which taxpayers are\nentitled under the provisions of this section. The comptroller, after\nreserving the amount to pay refunds, must, on or before the tenth day of\neach month, pay all surcharge monies collected and received under this\nsection and remaining to the comptroller's credit as follows:\n (a) forty-one and seven-tenths of the revenues collected and received\nunder this section into the state general fund; and\n (b) after deducting the amount paid under paragraph (a) of this\nsubdivision and the amount retained by wireless communications suppliers\npursuant to paragraph (d) of subdivision two of this section, the\nbalance of the revenues collected under this section into the statewide\npublic safety communications account of the miscellaneous special\nrevenue fund, created pursuant to section ninety-seven-qq of the state\nfinance law.\n 6. Distribution. The monies collected from the surcharge imposed by\nthis section must be distributed to include the following:\n (a) The sum of twenty-five million five hundred thousand dollars must\nbe allocated to the state police pursuant to appropriation by the\nlegislature annually;\n (b) The sum of one million five hundred thousand dollars must be\ndeposited into the New York state emergency services revolving loan fund\nannually; provided, however, that such sums shall not be deposited for\nstate fiscal years two thousand eleven--two thousand twelve, two\nthousand twelve--two thousand thirteen, two thousand fourteen--two\nthousand fifteen, two thousand fifteen--two thousand sixteen, two\nthousand sixteen--two thousand seventeen, two thousand seventeen--two\nthousand eighteen, two thousand eighteen--two thousand nineteen, two\nthousand nineteen--two thousand twenty, two thousand twenty--two\nthousand twenty-one, two thousand twenty-one--two thousand twenty-two,\ntwo thousand twenty-two--two thousand twenty-three, two thousand\ntwenty-three--two thousand twenty-four, two thousand twenty-four--two\nthousand twenty-five, and two thousand twenty-five--two thousand\ntwenty-six;\n (c) Up to the sum of seventy-five million dollars annually may be used\nfor the provision of grants or reimbursements to counties for the\ndevelopment, consolidation, or operation of public safety communications\nsystems or networks designed to support statewide interoperable\ncommunications for first responders, to be distributed pursuant to\nstandards and guidelines issued by the state. Annual grants may consider\ncosts borne by a municipality related to the issuance of local public\nsafety communications bonds pursuant to section twenty-four hundred\nthirty-two of the public authorities law, when the municipality has\nqualified as an approved participant in a statewide interoperable\ncommunications system under the standards and guidelines issued by the\nstate, and maintains compliance with such standards and guidelines. The\ngrant amount will be prescribed pursuant to an agreement with the\nmunicipality, and may not exceed thirty percent of the annual cost borne\nby the municipality in relation to such bonds;\n (d) To provide the costs of debt service for bonds and notes issued to\nfinance expedited deployment funding pursuant to the provisions of\nsection three hundred thirty-three of the county law and section sixteen\nhundred eighty-nine-h of the public authorities law; and\n (e) services and expenses that support the operations and mission of\nthe division of homeland security and emergency services as appropriated\nby the legislature.\n (g) The sum of ten million dollars annually shall be used for the\nprovision of grants to counties for costs related to the operations of\npublic safety dispatch centers, to be distributed pursuant to a plan\ndeveloped by the commissioner of homeland security and emergency\nservices and approved by the director of the budget. Such plan may\nconsider such factors as population density and emergency call volume.\n