Letter Rulings

RCNY tit. 19, ch. 16

in effect

19 RCNY § 16-01 General – Definition and Nature of Letter Rulings.

§ 16-01 General – Definition and Nature of Letter Rulings. (a) A letter ruling is a written statement setting forth the applicability of statutory and regulatory provisions of any tax or charge administered by the Department of Finance, to a specified set of facts. Letter rulings are issued on behalf of the Commissioner of Finance by the Deputy Commissioner for Legal Affairs, to whom the Commissioner of Finance's authority to issue letter rulings is delegated. (b) Areas in which letter rulings may be requested. Any person may request a ruling relating to any tax or charge administered by the Department of Finance. A letter ruling may be sought with respect to a substantive question or a procedural one. Rulings may be requested with respect to questions arising in the course of an audit or an examination of a tax return, or with respect to questions relating to a taxpayer's claim for refund or credit. (c) Areas in which letter rulings will not be issued. No ruling will be issued: (1) covering an issue or set of facts regarding which a notice of determination or a notice of disallowance of a claim for refund or credit has been issued to the taxpayer; or (2) covering an issue or set of facts regarding which any taxpayer has been granted leave to appeal or regarding which the Department of Finance is seeking or has been granted leave to appeal an adverse decision to any court of the State of New York or the United States; or (3) covering an issue which is clearly and adequately addressed by statutes, regulations, published rulings or other official pronouncements of the Department of Finance; or (4) where the issue presented pertains to subject matter which, in accordance with a public pronouncement, is under study by the Department of Finance; or (5) if the conclusion reached in such a ruling would require a factual determination which is properly an audit function. (d) Areas in which rulings will be issued at the discretion of the Deputy Commissioner for Legal Affairs. The Department of Finance reserves the right not to issue a ruling on hypothetical facts.

19 RCNY § 16-02 Requests for Letter Rulings.

§ 16-02 Requests for Letter Rulings. (a) Requests for a ruling should be typewritten, if possible, but handwritten requests will be accepted. The request must set forth the name, address and identification number (social security or federal employer identification number), the specific set of facts to which the request for a ruling relates, the exact issue to be resolved and all parties relative thereto. Copies of all tax returns, contracts, deeds, instruments or other documents relevant to the issues to be decided must be submitted. The request may include a presentation of the taxpayer's contentions as to the appropriate resolution of the issue raised in the request, together with any supporting arguments and citations of pertinent law or regulations. The taxpayer must state in the request whether or not the request relates to any matter currently under audit, or for which a notice of determination or a notice of disallowance of a claim for credit or refund has been issued, or for which there is a pending claim for credit or refund. (b) Representation of taxpayer. (1) A request for a ruling may be made by an individual on his or her own behalf, by a member of a partnership (without filing any power of attorney) on behalf of the partnership, or by an officer or employee of a corporation on behalf of the corporation. Where a corporation acts through an employee, a power of attorney executed by an officer of the corporation must be filed. (2) The adult spouse, parent, guardian or any person having legal custody of a minor, or a person who prepared the tax return of a minor, may request a ruling on behalf of such minor. A committee or conservator appointed pursuant to the Mental Hygiene Law, an attorney-in-fact acting pursuant to section 5-1601 of the General Obligations Law, or other person authorized by law, may request a ruling on behalf of an individual who is mentally or physically incapable of making such request. (3) Any of the following may also file a request for a ruling on behalf of another individual or business entity if authorized by a power of attorney signed by such individual, by a member of a partnership or by an officer of a corporation: (i) an attorney-at-law licensed to practice in any state; (ii) a certified public accountant duly qualified to practice in any state; (iii) a person admitted to practice before the Internal Revenue Service or before the Tax Court of the United States; (iv) the taxpayer's spouse, domestic partner, child or parent. For purposes of this subparagraph, "domestic partner" means a person who has registered a domestic partnership in accordance with applicable law with the City Clerk, or has registered such partnership with the former City Department of Personnel pursuant to Executive Order 123 (dated August 7, 1989) during the period August 7, 1989 through January 7, 1993. (The records of domestic partnerships registered at the former City Department of Personnel have been transferred to the City Clerk.) The power of attorney required by this section should be filed with the Office of Legal Affairs before or concurrent with the request for a ruling. (c) Method for requesting a ruling. (1) A request for a ruling must be made on an application form prescribed by the Department of Finance and must be accompanied by a non-refundable processing fee as provided in the Regulations Relating to Fees to Be Charged by the Commissioner of Finance, in Addition to Those Now Fixed by Statute. (2) A request for a ruling must be submitted in accordance with the instructions accompanying the prescribed application form. (Amended City Record 1/16/2020, eff. 2/15/2020)

19 RCNY § 16-03 Procedure After Filing a Request for a Ruling.

§ 16-03 Procedure After Filing a Request for a Ruling. (a) The Office of Legal Affairs will issue an acknowledgement letter upon receipt of a request for a ruling which, on its face, meets the procedural requirements of 19 RCNY §§ 16-01 and 16-02. Thereafter, the request will be reviewed for completeness and if it is determined that the request is not complete, or that additional information is required, a notice will be sent to the taxpayer advising him of the nature of the additional information required. The taxpayer may then revise and resubmit his request. (b) A taxpayer may withdraw a request for a ruling at any time within 30 days of the date of the acknowledgement letter. Thereafter, no request for a ruling may be withdrawn without the approval of the Office of Legal Affairs. Where a taxpayer withdraws a request for a ruling, the Department of Finance will not return the application fee accompanying such request. For purposes of the preceding sentence, failure to provide information requested by the Office of Legal Affairs may be deemed a withdrawal of a request for a ruling.

19 RCNY § 16-04 Contents.

§ 16-04 Contents. A ruling will identify the person to whom it is addressed by name and address. It will contain (a) a recitation of the facts having a bearing on the issue sought to be resolved, (b) a discussion of the pertinent statutory provisions, regulations and other precedential material relied upon, (c) a description of the reasoning upon which the conclusions are based, and (d) a statement of conclusions. Such stated conclusions will give direct answers, where possible, to the specific questions raised by the taxpayer. The discussion contained in the ruling will be set forth with a sufficient degree of detail as to fairly apprise the taxpayer of the bases for the conclusions reached.

19 RCNY § 16-05 Effect.

§ 16-05 Effect. (a) A ruling represents an expression of the views of the Department of Finance as to the application of law, regulations and other precedential material to the set of facts specified in the ruling request. A ruling shall be binding upon the Department of Finance only with respect to the person to whom the ruling is rendered, provided that the facts are as stated in the ruling request. A taxpayer may not rely on a ruling issued to another taxpayer. All bureaus of the Department of Finance must follow the conclusions stated in the ruling where the factual situations are the same. (b) A ruling may be revoked or modified at any time under appropriate circumstances. If a ruling is revoked or modified, the revocation or modification applies to all years open under the statutes, unless the Commissioner or the Commissioner's delegate exercises discretionary authority to limit the retroactive effect of the revocation or modification. (c) Except in rare or unusual circumstances, the revocation or modification of a ruling will not be applied retroactively to the taxpayer for whom the ruling was issued or to a taxpayer whose tax liability was directly involved in the ruling if (1) there has been no misstatement or omission of material facts, (2) the facts developed later are not materially different from the facts on which the ruling was based, (3) there has been no change in the applicable law, (4) the ruling was originally issued with respect to a prospective or proposed transaction, and (5) the taxpayer directly involved in the ruling acted in good faith in reliance upon the ruling and the retroactive revocation would be to the taxpayer's detriment.

19 RCNY § 16-06 Issuance, Publication and Availability.

§ 16-06 Issuance, Publication and Availability. (a) For all requests for rulings received by the Office of Legal Affairs, a ruling will be mailed to the taxpayer or the taxpayer's authorized representative within 90 days of the receipt of a complete request for such a ruling. The mailing of a ruling will constitute the rendering of a ruling. The 90-day period within which a ruling must be issued may be extended by the Commissioner of Finance for a period of up to 30 additional days. In such case, the taxpayer or the taxpayer's authorized representative will be notified of the extension and the reason therefor. At any time before their expiration, the 90-day or additional 30-day periods may be extended by a written agreement between the taxpayer and the Office of Legal Affairs. (b) Letter rulings may be published and made available to the public. The complete text of a letter ruling may be published, or made available, except that the taxpayer's name, address, identifying numbers and other factual information which may identify the taxpayer will be deleted. Requests for copies of a letter ruling may be made to the Department of Finance, Records Access Officer. Copies will be furnished at a cost of 25 cents per page. (Amended City Record 1/16/2020, eff. 2/15/2020)

Source: City of New York, Charter, Administrative Code and Rules (American Legal Publishing XML export, codelibrary.amlegal.com)URL: https://codelibrary.amlegal.com/codes/newyorkcity/latest/NYCrules/0-0-0-38001Fetched: 10/24/2026