N.Y. Tax Law § 270 — Amount of tax

§ 270. Amount of tax. 1. There is hereby imposed and shall\nimmediately accrue and be collected a tax, as herein provided, on all\nsales, or agreements to sell, or memoranda of sales and all deliveries\nor transfers of shares or certificates of stock, or certificates of\nrights to stock, or certificates of interest in property or\naccumulations, or certificates of deposit representing certificates\ntaxable under this article, in any domestic or foreign association,\ncompany or corporation, or certificates of interest in business\nconducted by a trustee or trustees, made after the first day of June,\nnineteen hundred five, whether made upon or shown by the books of the\nassociation, company, corporation, or trustee, or by any assignment in\nblank, or by any delivery, or by any paper or agreement or memorandum or\nother evidence of sale or transfer, whether intermediate or final, and\nwhether investing the holder with the beneficial interest in or legal\ntitle to said stock, or other certificates taxable hereunder, or merely\nwith the possession or use thereof for any purpose, or to secure the\nfuture payment of money, or the future transfer of any such stock, or\ncertificates. The purchase, redemption or other reacquisition of its\nown shares by a corporation is subject to tax under this article unless\nsuch shares are cancelled on reacquisition pursuant to the provisions of\nsection five hundred fifteen of the business corporation law, or unless\nwithin one year of the date of such purchase, redemption or other\nreacquisition, such shares are cancelled by an appropriate amendment to\nthe corporation's certificate of incorporation or by action of the board\nof directors of such corporation.\n 2. Except as otherwise provided by section two hundred seventy-a of\nthis chapter, the tax imposed by this section shall be two and one-half\ncents for each share, except in cases where the shares or certificates\nare sold, in which cases the tax shall be at the rate of one and\none-quarter cents for each share where the selling price is less than\nfive dollars per share; two and one-half cents for each share where the\nselling price is five dollars or more per share and less than ten\ndollars per share; three and three-quarters cents for each share where\nthe selling price is ten dollars or more per share and less than twenty\ndollars per share and five cents for each share where the selling price\nis twenty dollars or more per share.\n 3. It shall be the duty of the person or persons making or\neffectuating the sale or transfer, including the person or persons to\nwhom the sale or transfer is made, to pay the tax provided by this\narticle; provided, however, that this subdivision shall not apply to any\nsale or transfer wherein the vendor or transferor is a governmental\nentity or international organization which is not subject to the tax.\n 4. The payment of such tax shall be denoted by an adhesive stamp or\nstamps affixed as follows: In the case of a sale or transfer, where the\nevidence of the transaction is shown only by the books of the\nassociation, company, corporation or trustee, the stamp shall be placed\nupon such books, and it shall be the duty of the person making or\neffectuating such sale or transfer to procure and furnish to the\nassociation, company, corporation or trustee the requisite stamps, and\nof such association, company, corporation or trustee to affix and cancel\nthe same. Where the transaction is effected by the delivery or transfer\nof a certificate, the stamp shall be placed upon the surrendered\ncertificate and canceled; and in cases of an agreement to sell, or where\nthe sale is effected by delivery of the certificate assigned in blank,\nthere shall be made and delivered by the seller to the buyer, a bill or\nmemorandum of such sale to which the stamp provided for by this article\nshall be affixed and canceled. Every such bill or memorandum of sale or\nagreement to sell shall show the date of the transaction which it\nevidences, the name of the seller, the stock, or other certificate, to\nwhich it relates, and the number of shares thereof. All such bills or\nmemoranda of sale shall bear a number upon the face thereof and no more\nthan one such bill or memorandum of sale made by the seller on any given\nday shall bear the same number. The aforesaid identification number of\nthe bill or memorandum of sale shall in all cases be entered and\nrecorded in the book of account required to be kept by section two\nhundred seventy-six of this chapter; and no further tax is hereby\nimposed upon the delivery of the certificate, or upon the actual issue\nof a new certificate when the original certificate is accompanied by the\nduly stamped memorandum of sale as herein provided.\n 5. The tax imposed by this section shall not apply to the following,\nprovided the transaction in each case is accompanied by a certificate\nsetting forth the facts or such other certificate or record as the tax\ncommission may require:\n (a) A sale, agreement to sell, memorandum of sale, or delivery or\ntransfer of shares or certificates of stock or any certificates taxable\nunder this section, made on an organized securities exchange within this\nstate registered with the securities and exchange commission of the\nUnited States, of less than one hundred shares and less than the unit of\ntrading on such exchange, by any person, firm, company, association or\ncorporation registered with such exchange, and engaged thereon, as\ndealer in less than the unit of trading;\n (b) An agreement evidencing the deposit of certificates as collateral\nsecurity, which certificates are not actually sold, or such certificates\nso deposited, or transfers of such certificates to the person with whom\nthey are deposited as collateral security or to a nominee of such person\nor from one nominee of such person to another, provided the same\ncontinue to be held by such person or nominee or nominees as collateral\nsecurity as aforesaid, or the retransfer of such certificates to the\ndepositor;\n (c) Transfers or deliveries of certificates pursuant to a statutory\nprovision, to a trustee or public officer to secure the performance of\nobligations, or retransfers or redeliveries of such certificates to the\ntransferer or depositor;\n (d) Transfers of certificates from the name of a fiduciary to a\nnominee of such fiduciary, or from one nominee of such fiduciary to\nanother, provided the same continue to be held by such nominee or\nnominees for the same purpose for which they would be held if retained\nby such fiduciary, or from the nominee to such fiduciary;\n (e) Transfers of certificates from the name of the owner thereof to a\ncustodian where the certificates are to be held or disposed of by such\ncustodian for and subject to the instructions of the owner, or from the\nname of such custodian to the owner by whom the certificates were\ntransferred to such custodian, or from the name of such custodian to a\nnominee of such custodian, or from one nominee of such custodian to\nanother, provided the same continue to be held by such nominee or\nnominees for the same purpose for which they would be held if retained\nby such custodian, or from the nominee to such custodian;\n (f) Mere loans of stock or certificates, or the return thereof;\n (g) Deliveries or transfers from the name of the owner to a broker\nfor sale, or deliveries by or transfers from the name of a broker to a\ncustomer for whom and upon whose order he has purchased the same;\n (h) Deliveries or transfers of shares or certificates from a\ncorporation to its registered nominee, or from one registered nominee of\nsuch corporation to another such nominee, provided the shares or\ncertificates continue to be held by such nominee for the same purpose\nfor which they would be held if retained by such corporation, or from\nsuch nominee to such corporation.\n (i) Transfers or deliveries of shares or certificates upon the\ninstructions of a broker, whether doing business as a corporation,\npartnership or individually, from his name or from the name of his\ncustomer to such broker's registered nominee for the purpose of holding\nsuch shares or certificates subject to the instructions of a clearing\ncorporation affiliated with any securities exchange in this state, as\nagent for such broker, and transfers or deliveries upon the instructions\nof such clearing corporation from the name of such broker's registered\nnominee to such broker or customer. For the purposes of this paragraph,\nthe term "broker" shall include any banking corporation or trust company\nincorporated under the laws of this or another state of the United\nStates and any bank organized under the laws of the United States.\n (j) Transfers or deliveries of shares or certificates upon the\ninstructions of a depositor in a system for the central handling of\nsecurities (including the clearing and settling of securities\ntransactions) (a) established by a national securities exchange or\nassociation registered with the securities and exchange commission of\nthe United States or (b) maintained by a clearing corporation as defined\nin section 8--102 of the uniform commercial code, from the name of such\ndepositor or his nominee or from the name of his customer or the nominee\nof such customer to the registered nominee of any such system for the\npurpose of holding such shares or certificates, as agent for such\ndepositor, and transfers or deliveries upon the instructions of any such\ndepositor from the name of the registered nominee of such system to same\ndepositor, customer or nominee. For the purposes of this paragraph, a\n"depositor" shall include such securities exchanges or associations,\nregistered under a statute of the United States such as the Securities\nExchange Act of 1934 as amended, and their affiliated clearing\ncorporations, such banks, trust companies, investment companies,\ninsurance companies and other financial organizations as are subject to\nsupervision or regulation pursuant to the provisions of federal or state\nbanking laws or state insurance laws and such brokers, dealers and\ninvestment companies as are registered under the Securities Exchange Act\nof 1934 as amended, or the Investment Company Act of 1940 as amended, if\nthe foregoing individuals or organizations have been accepted by such\nsystem for the central handling of securities as participants therein.\n (k) Transfers or deliveries of shares or certificates upon the\ninstructions of a depositor in a system for the central handling of\nsecurities as described in paragraph (j) of this subdivision from the\nname of the nominee of any such system to the name of the nominee of\nanother such system, provided the same continue to be held by the\nnominee of such other system for the same purpose as previously held for\nsuch depositor by the nominee of such other system.\n (l) Where the sale, agreement of sale, memorandum of sale, delivery\nor transfer of a security is effected in a manner which would not\notherwise subject such transaction to a tax, the tax shall not apply\nsolely by reason of the receipt or payment of cash in this state as part\nof a system for the central handling of securities described in\nparagraph (j) of this subdivision or the making of an accounting,\nbookkeeping or similar entry in records maintained in this state as part\nof such system. The tax commission shall prescribe rules and regulations\nto effectuate the purposes of this paragraph and paragraphs (i), (j) and\n(k) of this subdivision, and shall have all the rights and powers as set\nforth in section two hundred seventy-six of this chapter to examine any\ntransactions or records of any nature of such system.\n 6. The tax imposed by this section shall not apply to shares or\ncertificates of stock, or certificates of rights to stock, or\ncertificates of deposit representing certificates of the character taxed\nby this article, in any domestic association, company or corporation,\neven though a record of the transfer is made in the stock book kept in\ncompliance with section ten of the stock corporation law, if the\ntransfer is made upon the books of such association, company or\ncorporation regularly kept at a transfer office or by a transfer agent\noutside the state, provided the keeping of such books outside the state\nis necessary or convenient for the transaction of the ordinary business\naffairs of such association, company or corporation and is approved by\nthe tax commission, and neither the sale, nor the agreement to sell, nor\nthe memorandum of sale, nor the delivery is made in this state and no\nact necessary to effect the transfer (other than the making of a record\nin the stock book kept in compliance with section ten of the stock\ncorporation law) is done in this state.\n 7. As used in this section, the term "registered nominee" means any\nperson registered with the tax commission in accordance with such rules\nand regulations as it shall prescribe.\n 8. Nothing in this section contained shall be construed to impose a\ntax upon sales, agreements to sell, memoranda of sales, deliveries or\ntransfers of shares or certificates\n (a) issued under a noncorporate investment trust agreement of the\nfixed type and no such sale, agreement to sell, memorandum of sale,\ndelivery or transfer shall result in imposing a tax under this section\non the securities held in such an investment trust; or\n (b) of an investment trust between the investment trust and an\nunderwriter, between an underwriter and a dealer in securities or\nbetween an underwriter or dealer and an investor. As used in this\nparagraph, the term "investment trust" means an investment trust of the\nmanagement type, the shareholders of which are, upon reasonable notice,\nentitled to require the investment trust to redeem or repurchase their\nshares or certificates for their proportionate interest in the property\nof the investment trust, or the cash equivalent thereof, less a discount\nof not more than three per centum thereof, and the term "underwriter"\nmeans a person, firm or corporation who has entered into an agreement\nwith such investment trust to effectuate, alone or through others, sales\nof shares or certificates of the investment trust.\n