2023 New York Laws › TAX - Tax › Article 9 - Corporation Tax › 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
state  fiscal  years  two  thousand  eleven--two  thousand  twelve,  two
thousand  twelve--two  thousand  thirteen,  two  thousand  fourteen--two
thousand  fifteen,  two  thousand  fifteen--two  thousand  sixteen,  two
thousand  sixteen--two  thousand  seventeen, two thousand seventeen--two
thousand eighteen, two thousand  eighteen--two  thousand  nineteen,  two
thousand   nineteen--two   thousand  twenty,  two  thousand  twenty--two
thousand twenty-one, two thousand twenty-one--two  thousand  twenty-two,
two   thousand   twenty-two--two  thousand  twenty-three,  two  thousand
twenty-three--two thousand twenty-four,  two  thousand  twenty-four--two
thousand   twenty-five,   and  two  thousand  twenty-five--two  thousand
twenty-six;
(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.