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N.Y.’s 2018 Budget Proposal: Tax Proposals To Watch

February 21, 2017

Last month, Governor Cuomo presented his budget proposal for NY State’s 2017- 2018 fiscal year. Included in the proposal were a number of tax provisions that should be of interest to closely-held businesses and their owners.

S-Corporation Conformity with IRS Return

Under current NY law, a federal S-corporation that is subject to tax in NY (e.g., the corporation is doing business or owns property in NY) can “elect” to be taxed as an S-corporation or as a C-corporation for NY purposes. If a federal S-corporation is taxed as a NY S-corporation, the corporation is responsible only for the fixed dollar minimum tax, and the corporation’s income is passed through, and taxed, to its shareholders. Conversely, if a federal S-corporation is taxed as a NY C-corporation, it computes and pays tax on its apportioned entire net income or capital base.

Further, if a federal S-corporation has elected to treat its wholly-owned corporate subsidiary as a “qualified subchapter S subsidiary” (QSSS) for federal purposes, the QSSS is ignored as a separate taxable entity, and the assets, liabilities, income and deductions of the QSSS are included on the parent’s return. However, for NY purposes, the tax treatment of the QSSS is not required to be conformed to the federal treatment and the QSSS under certain circumstances can be a stand-alone C-corporation taxpayer.

While the Tax Law was amended a few years back to mandate that a federal S-corporation be treated as a NY S-corporation in any tax year in which its investment income exceeded 50% of its federal gross income, this mandate did not cover the entire universe of federal S-corporations that have elected to be taxed as NY C-corporations.

According to the budget proposal, the failure to mandate consistent treatment at the State level has resulted in a tax avoidance opportunity, as well as confusion and tax filing errors, for S-corporation shareholders.

For example, a federal S-corporation generally may choose to pay tax as a NY C-corporation when paying tax at the entity level reduces the corporation’s tax liability. It also may choose to pay corporate income tax in order to shield its nonresident shareholders from having a NY tax liability.

Under the budget proposal, NY’s tax law would be amended to require a federal S-corporation that is subject to tax in NY, or that has a QSSS subject to tax in NY, to be treated as an S-corporation for NY tax purposes.

According to the proposal, requiring conformity to the federal S-corporation status would simplify the corporation’s and its shareholders’ NY tax filings, and eliminate potential tax avoidance schemes. It would also result in NY-source income for nonresident shareholders.

Real Estate Transfer Tax on the Transfer of a Business Interest

Under current law, the transfer of a “controlling interest” in an entity that owns NY real property is subject to the real estate transfer tax (“RETT”), with the taxable consideration being determined by reference to the relative fair market value (FMV) of the entity’s NY real property. The RETT applies even where the FMV of the NY real property is not a significant part of the entity’s total FMV.

However, members of a closely-held business entity that owns real property are not subject to the RETT when they sell a minority (non-controlling) interest in the entity, even where the primary asset held by the entity is an interest in NY real property.

The budget proposal would amend the definition of “conveyance” to include the transfer of an interest in a partnership, LLC, S-corporation, or non-publicly traded C-corporation with fewer than 100 shareholders that owns an interest in NY real property with a FMV that equals or exceeds 50% of the FMV of all the assets of the entity on the date of the transfer of the interest in the entity. Only those assets that the entity owned for at least two years before the date of the transfer of the taxpayer’s interest in the entity would be used in determining the FMV of all the assets of the entity on the date of the transfer.

The consideration for such a conveyance would be calculated by multiplying (i) the FMV of the NY real property that is owned by the entity; and (ii) the percentage of the entity that is being conveyed.

As an aside, the proposal would effectively align the treatment of these conveyances, for purposes of RETT, with the personal income tax rules for determining the NY-source income of a nonresident individual when that individual sells an interest in an entity that owns NY real property.

Non-Resident Asset Sale “Loophole”

There are instances in which the purchase of a partnership interest may be treated, for federal tax purposes, as a purchase of the partnership’s underlying assets. In those situations, the consideration paid for the partnership interest must be allocated among the partnership’s underlying assets (which are deemed to have been acquired). As a result of this tax treatment, the buyer of the interest may receive a basis step-up with respect to his share of the partnership’s underlying assets. This step-up may afford the buyer additional depreciation deductions against his share of partnership income, and also may reduce the gain allocated to the buyer upon the partnership’s sale of the assets to which the basis step-up is allocated.

The selling partner, however, may nevertheless be treated as having sold his partnership interest, and not the underlying assets. Thus, a NY resident partner who sells his partnership interest will be subject to tax on the gain realized. On the other hand, the sale of an intangible – such a partnership interest – by a nonresident partner is not a taxable transaction, notwithstanding that the buyer may achieve a basis step-up in the partnership’s assets. As a result, non-residents are afforded an opportunity to avoid NY taxation on transactions that, in effect, involve the purchase of NY-source assets.

The budget proposal seeks to close this loophole by treating the transaction as a sale of the partnership’s underlying NY-based tangible assets for both the buyer and seller, so that the gains realized from the sale of an interest in the partnership by nonresident partners would be subject to NY tax as NY-source income.

Extend the Personal Income Tax Top Bracket

Currently, the top personal income tax bracket in NY, along with its associated tax rate of 8.82%, is scheduled to expire for taxable years beginning after 2017. Without legislative action, the top marginal tax rate will decline to 6.85%.

The budget proposal would extend the top tax bracket and the associated 8.82% personal income tax rate for taxable years 2018, 2019 and 2020.

Sales Tax Related Entity “Loopholes”

With certain exceptions, existing NY tax law allows a purchaser to buy tangible personal property or services that are intended for resale without paying sales tax. According to the budget proposal, however, certain related business entities have exploited this exemption by purchasing expensive property “for resale” and then leasing the property to a member or owner of the entity using long-term leases or lease payments that are a small fraction of the FMV of the property.

The budget proposal would amend the sales tax definition of “retail sale”, which currently contains the exception for resale, to include any transfer of tangible personal property to certain entities when the property would be resold to a related person or entities, including: (1) sales to single-member LLCs or subsidiaries that are disregarded for federal income tax purposes, for resale to a member or owner; and (2) sales to a partnership for resale to one or more partners. This change is intended to remove the incentive to use or create such entities to avoid sales tax.

In addition, current law allows a person or entity that is not a resident of NY to bring property or services into the State for use therein without incurring use tax. However, this construct has led to situations where a resident person or entity creates a new, non-NY entity, such as a single-member LLC, to purchase expensive property out-of-state and then bring the property into NY to avoid the use tax.

The budget proposal would provide that the use tax exemption does not apply when a person (other than an individual) brings property or services into NY unless that person has been doing business outside of NY for at least six months prior to the date the property is brought into the State. This amendment would still allow ongoing businesses to move into NY without incurring use tax on property or services brought into the State.

Looking Ahead

And you thought that tax relief was just around the corner. Silly rabbit.

While most eyes are focused on Washington, D.C. and the promised, but yet to be disclosed, “tax reduction and/or reform” legislation, states like NY are busy reviewing and amending their own tax laws and regulations to ensure the collection of much-needed revenues. Thus, in the case of NY, it may be that closely-held businesses and their owners will be faced with increased tax liabilities. We’ll know soon enough – the deadline for approving NY’s budget is April 1, 2017.

Speaking of Washington, the States themselves are undoubtedly waiting to see what comes out of the new administration and Congress and how it will impact them and their finances.

As always, until legislation is passed, it is imperative that taxpayers keep abreast of tax-related legislative developments that may impact their business and wallets. Increased tax liabilities will reduce the yield realized from one’s business efforts and investments; thus, it will be advisable for taxpayers to formulate a plan for addressing these developments and any resulting taxes.

It will be equally important that any business plans considered by a taxpayer be flexible enough to respond to, and accommodate, a changing tax environment, provided that doing so does not compromise business decisions.

Stay tuned.