N.Y. Tax Law § 1299-b: Liability for surcharge

§ 1299-B. Liability for surcharge. (a) Notwithstanding any provision

of law to the contrary, any person that dispatches a motor vehicle by

any means that provides transportation that is subject to a surcharge

imposed by this article, including transportation network companies as

defined in article forty-four-B of the vehicle and traffic law, shall be

liable for the surcharge imposed by this article, except that in the

case of taxicab trips and HAIL vehicle trips that are also subject to

tax pursuant to article twenty-nine-A of this chapter: (1) a TSP that

collected the trip record and trip fare shall withhold from daily

collections the surcharges due on such trips, and shall withhold from

such collections the surcharges due on cash trips. If the TSP's daily

collections, after retaining any fees to which it is entitled pursuant

to a contract with such taxicab owner or HAIL vehicle owner, are

insufficient to cover the surcharges due on such cash trips, the TSP

shall withhold an amount from subsequent daily collections, to the

extent funds are available, until all surcharges due for a monthly

period have been withheld. If a TSP is unable to withhold all the

surcharges due in a monthly period, it shall withhold such unwithheld

surcharges from daily collections in the next monthly period. A TSP

shall be jointly liable for the surcharge imposed by this article for

all trips for which the TSP collected the trip record, but shall be

relieved of liability for any surcharges attributable to cash trips for

which it was unable to withhold the surcharges because there were

insufficient daily collections during twelve successive monthly periods.

(2) The TSP shall be responsible for filing monthly returns reporting

the surcharges due on all trips for which it collected trip records,

shall remit the surcharges withheld on all such trips and shall report

any unwithheld surcharges due because of insufficient daily collections

to cover the tax due on cash trips. For purposes of this section, the

terms "taxicab trips," "HAIL vehicle trips," "taxicab owner," "HAIL

base," "TSP" and "cash trip" shall have the same meaning as they do in

section twelve hundred eighty of this chapter.

(b) Notwithstanding any law to the contrary: (1) The surcharge imposed

by this article must be passed along to passengers and separately stated

on any receipt that is provided to such passengers. The passing along of

such surcharge shall not be construed by any court or administrative

body as the imposition of the surcharge on the person or entity that

pays for the for-hire transportation trip. All regulatory agencies must

adjust any fares that are authorized by them to include the surcharge

imposed by this article, and must require that any meter or other

instrument used in any for-hire vehicle regulated by it to calculate

fares be adjusted to include the surcharge.

(2) Neither the failure of a regulatory agency to adjust fares nor the

failure to adjust a meter or other instrument used in a for-hire vehicle

to calculate fares shall relieve any person liable for the surcharge

imposed by this article from the obligation to pay such surcharge.