N.Y. Tax Law § 186-f: Public safety communications surcharge

§ 186-f. Public safety communications surcharge. 1. Definitions. As

used in this section, where not otherwise specifically defined and

unless a different meaning is clearly required:

(a) "Place of primary use" has the same meaning as that term is

defined in paragraph twenty-six of subdivision (b) of section eleven

hundred one of this chapter.

(b) "Wireless communications customer" means mobile telecommunications

customer as defined in subparagraph (i) of paragraph twenty-seven of

subdivision (b) of section eleven hundred one of this chapter, who

contracts for or is the end user of wireless communications service.

(c) "Wireless communications device" means any equipment used to

access a wireless communications service.

(d) "Wireless communications service" means all commercial mobile

services, as that term is defined in section 332(d) of title 47 of the

United States Code, as amended from time to time, including, but not

limited to, all broadband personal communications services, wireless

radio telephone services, geographic area specialized and enhanced

specialized mobile radio services, and incumbent-wide area specialized

mobile radio licensees, which offer real time, two-way voice or data

service that is interconnected with the public switched telephone

network or otherwise provides access to emergency communications

services.

(e) "Wireless communications service supplier" means a home service

provider as defined in subparagraph (ii) of paragraph twenty-seven of

subdivision (b) of section eleven hundred one of this chapter, provided

that the home service provider provides wireless communications service

and has one or more wireless communications customers in New York state.

(f) "Prepaid wireless communications seller" means a person making a

retail sale of prepaid wireless communications service.

(g) "Prepaid wireless communications service" means a prepaid mobile

calling service as defined in paragraph twenty-two of subdivision (b) of

section eleven hundred one of this chapter.

2. Public safety communications surcharge. (a) (1) A surcharge on

wireless communications service provided to a wireless communications

customer with a place of primary use in this state is imposed at the

rate of one dollar and twenty cents per month on each wireless

communications device in service during any part of each month. The

surcharge must be reflected and made payable on bills rendered to the

wireless communications customer for wireless communication service.

(2) A surcharge is imposed on the retail sale of each prepaid wireless

communications service, whether or not any tangible personal property is

sold therewith, at the rate of ninety cents per retail sale. A sale of a

prepaid wireless communications service occurs in this state if the sale

takes place at a seller's business location in the state. If the sale

does not take place at the seller's place of business, it shall be

conclusively determined to take place at the purchaser's shipping

address or, if there is no item shipped, at the purchaser's billing

address, or, if the seller does not have that address, at such address

as approved by the commissioner that reasonably reflects the customer's

location at the time of the sale of the prepaid wireless communications

service.

(b) The surcharges must be reported and paid to the commissioner on a

quarterly basis on or before the twentieth day of the month following

each quarterly period ending on the last day of February, May, August

and November, respectively. The payments must be accompanied by a return

in the form and containing the information the commissioner may

prescribe.

(c) The surcharges must be added as a separate line item to bills

furnished by a wireless communications service supplier to its

customers, or must be added as a separate line item to a sales slip,

invoice, receipt, or other statement of the price, if any, that is

furnished by a prepaid wireless communications seller to a purchaser,

and must be identified as the "public safety communications surcharge".

(d) Each wireless communications service supplier and prepaid wireless

communications seller is entitled to retain, as an administrative fee,

an amount equal to three percent of fifty-eight and three-tenths percent

of the total collections of the surcharges imposed by this section,

provided that the supplier or seller files any required return and

remits the surcharge due to the commissioner on or before its due date.

3. Exemption. Lifeline consumers shall be exempt from the surcharges

imposed by this section.

4. Applicable provisions. (a) Except as otherwise provided in this

section, the surcharges imposed under this section shall be administered

and collected by the commissioner in a like manner as the taxes imposed

by article twenty-eight of this chapter. All the provisions of article

twenty-eight of this chapter, including the provisions relating to

definitions, exemptions, returns, personal liability for the tax,

collection of tax from the customer, payment of tax, and the

administration of the taxes imposed by such article, shall apply to the

surcharges imposed under the authority of this section so far as those

provisions can be made applicable to the surcharges imposed by this

section, with such modifications as may be necessary in order to adapt

the language of those provisions to the surcharges imposed by this

section. Those provisions shall apply with the same force and effect as

if the language of those provisions had been set forth in full in this

section, except to the extent that any of those provisions is either

inconsistent with a provision of this section or is not relevant to the

surcharge imposed by this section. For purposes of this section, any

reference in this chapter to a tax or the taxes imposed by article

twenty-eight of this chapter shall be deemed also to refer to the

surcharges imposed by this section unless a different meaning is clearly

required.

(b) Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraph (a) of this

subdivision:

(1) the exemptions provided for in section eleven hundred sixteen of

this chapter, other than the exemptions in paragraphs one, two and three

of subdivision (a) of that section, shall not apply to the surcharges

imposed by this section.

(2) the credit provided in subdivision (f) of section eleven hundred

thirty-seven of this chapter shall not apply to this section.

5. Deposits of surcharge monies collected and received.

Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, all surcharge

monies collected and received by the commissioner under this section

must be deposited daily to the credit of the comptroller with those

responsible banks, banking houses or trust companies the comptroller may

designate. Those deposits must be kept separate and apart from all other

monies in the possession of the comptroller. The comptroller must

require adequate security from all such depositories. Of the total

revenue collected or received under this section, the comptroller must

retain in the comptroller's hands an amount determined by the

commissioner to be necessary for refunds under this section, out of

which the comptroller will pay any refunds to which taxpayers are

entitled under the provisions of this section. The comptroller, after

reserving the amount to pay refunds, must, on or before the tenth day of

each month, pay all surcharge monies collected and received under this

section and remaining to the comptroller's credit as follows:

(a) forty-one and seven-tenths of the revenues collected and received

under this section into the state general fund; and

(b) after deducting the amount paid under paragraph (a) of this

subdivision and the amount retained by wireless communications suppliers

pursuant to paragraph (d) of subdivision two of this section, the

balance of the revenues collected under this section into the statewide

public safety communications account of the miscellaneous special

revenue fund, created pursuant to section ninety-seven-qq of the state

finance law.

6. Distribution. The monies collected from the surcharge imposed by

this section must be distributed to include the following:

(a) The sum of twenty-five million five hundred thousand dollars must

be allocated to the state police pursuant to appropriation by the

legislature annually;

(b) The sum of one million five hundred thousand dollars must be

deposited into the New York state emergency services revolving loan fund

annually; provided, however, that such sums shall not be deposited for

any state fiscal year between two thousand eleven--two thousand twelve,

and two thousand twenty-seven--two thousand twenty-eight;

(c) Up to the sum of seventy-five million dollars annually may be used

for the provision of grants or reimbursements to counties for the

development, consolidation, or operation of public safety communications

systems or networks designed to support statewide interoperable

communications for first responders, to be distributed pursuant to

standards and guidelines issued by the state. Annual grants may consider

costs borne by a municipality related to the issuance of local public

safety communications bonds pursuant to section twenty-four hundred

thirty-two of the public authorities law, when the municipality has

qualified as an approved participant in a statewide interoperable

communications system under the standards and guidelines issued by the

state, and maintains compliance with such standards and guidelines. The

grant amount will be prescribed pursuant to an agreement with the

municipality, and may not exceed thirty percent of the annual cost borne

by the municipality in relation to such bonds;

(d) To provide the costs of debt service for bonds and notes issued to

finance expedited deployment funding pursuant to the provisions of

section three hundred thirty-three of the county law and section sixteen

hundred eighty-nine-h of the public authorities law; and

(e) services and expenses that support the operations and mission of

the division of homeland security and emergency services as appropriated

by the legislature.

(g) The sum of ten million dollars annually shall be used for the

provision of grants to counties for costs related to the operations of

public safety dispatch centers, to be distributed pursuant to a plan

developed by the commissioner of homeland security and emergency

services and approved by the director of the budget. Such plan may

consider such factors as population density and emergency call volume.