The New York State Department of Taxation and Finance kicked off the holiday shopping season today by reminding New York consumers and merchants that items of clothing and footwear sold for less than $110 are exempt from New York State’s 4% sales tax.

“In effect, every day is a New York sales tax holiday,” Tax Department Commissioner Thomas H. Mattox said. “This exemption is especially relevant as we start our holiday shopping. Thanks in part to this exemption, holiday bargains are available from our own neighborhood merchants, making it even more appealing to buy locally and support community businesses.”

In New York City and the eight counties listed below, clothing and footwear items under $110 are completely tax free. Thanks to the actions taken by these counties, the local portion of the sales tax (ranging from 3 1/2% to 4 7/8%) for these items is also exempted and customers can shop sales tax free year-round.    

Localities exempting clothing/footwear under $110

·         New York City

·         Chautauqua County

·         Chenango County

·         Columbia County

·         Delaware County

·         Greene County

·         Hamilton County

·         Tioga County

·         Wayne County

Online service improvements for businesses

While shoppers enjoy the benefits of New York’s sales tax “holiday” throughout the year, New York businesses are enjoying the benefits of a new online system to file and remit sales taxes.

New York collects roughly $25 billion in sales tax annually, with more than half of that distributed to counties and local governments each month.  So far in 2014, the Tax Department has collected $20.5 billion in sales taxes and distributed $11.4 billion to localities.

In just over two years, a state-of-the-art online system has simplified the filing process for businesses, improved collections on behalf of New York taxpayers, and streamlined distribution of funds to localities.     

Of the 1.8 million returns received annually, 86% are filed electronically, saving New York taxpayers millions of dollars in paper processing costs each year.  In 2010, only 35% of the sales tax returns were Web-filed.  

The new system walks businesses through the return, much like commercial income tax software, and includes an array of modern financial features, such as “file now/pay later” payment scheduling.  

As a result, in just two years errors have decreased 15% and late returns are down by an average of 42%, saving businesses and New York taxpayers time and money.

“Online returns contain far fewer computational errors when compared with paper returns,” Commissioner Mattox said. “By dramatically reducing errors and late returns, we’re reducing the workload for businesses and enabling the Department to more accurately distribute sales tax funds to local governments.” 

“Sales Tax Web File” also enables merchants to grant access to tax professionals and view a summary of their tax accounts and past tax filings. Businesses can also respond directly to important notices online (rather than talking to a representative) and be reminded of important deadlines directly by email.