Bill Text: NY A05633 | 2019-2020 | General Assembly | Amended
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Bill Title: Provides for the adjustment of the minimum amount of tax delinquency for which the driver's license of a taxpayer may be suspended, based on inflation; prohibits inclusion in the license suspension program of a taxpayer who receives public assistance or supplemental security income, or whose income does not exceed 250% of the poverty level; authorizes the commissioner to grant exemptions to taxpayers whose payment of past due tax liabilities would create a hardship to the taxpayer in meeting necessary living expenses.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 4-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2020-01-29 - print number 5633b [A05633 Detail]
Download: New_York-2019-A05633-Amended.html
Bill Title: Provides for the adjustment of the minimum amount of tax delinquency for which the driver's license of a taxpayer may be suspended, based on inflation; prohibits inclusion in the license suspension program of a taxpayer who receives public assistance or supplemental security income, or whose income does not exceed 250% of the poverty level; authorizes the commissioner to grant exemptions to taxpayers whose payment of past due tax liabilities would create a hardship to the taxpayer in meeting necessary living expenses.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 4-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2020-01-29 - print number 5633b [A05633 Detail]
Download: New_York-2019-A05633-Amended.html
STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 5633--A 2019-2020 Regular Sessions IN ASSEMBLY February 14, 2019 ___________ Introduced by M. of A. WEINSTEIN, TAYLOR -- read once and referred to the Committee on Ways and Means -- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said committee AN ACT to amend the tax law, in relation to the enforcement of delin- quent tax liabilities by means of the suspension of licenses to oper- ate a motor vehicle The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. Subdivisions 1, 3 and 5 of section 171-v of the tax law, as 2 added by section 1 of part P of chapter 59 of the laws of 2013, are 3 amended to read as follows: 4 (1) The commissioner shall enter into a written agreement with the 5 commissioner of motor vehicles, which shall set forth the procedures for 6 the two departments to cooperate in a program to improve tax collection 7 through the suspension of drivers' licenses of taxpayers with past-due 8 tax liabilities equal to or in excess of ten thousand dollars multiplied 9 by the applicable inflation adjustment. For the purposes of this 10 section, the term "tax liabilities" shall mean any tax, surcharge, or 11 fee administered by the commissioner, or any penalty or interest due on 12 these amounts owed by an individual with a New York driver's license, 13 the term "driver's license" means any license issued by the department 14 of motor vehicles, except for a commercial driver's license as defined 15 in section five hundred one-a of the vehicle and traffic law, and the 16 term "past-due tax liabilities" means any tax liability or liabilities 17 which have become fixed and final such that the taxpayer no longer has 18 any right to administrative or judicial review, and the "applicable 19 inflation adjustment" for a calendar year shall be determined under the 20 principles of section 7345(f) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, 21 using the calendar year of the effective date of the chapter of the laws 22 of two thousand nineteen which amended this subdivision as the base 23 period. The ten thousand dollar limitation in this subdivision shall not EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [] is old law to be omitted. LBD00879-04-9A. 5633--A 2 1 apply to a taxpayer that the commissioner determines has taken affirma- 2 tive steps to evade or avoid the collection of tax, such as by hiding 3 assets. 4 (3) The department shall provide notice to the taxpayer of his or her 5 inclusion in the license suspension program no later than sixty days 6 prior to the date the department intends to inform the commissioner of 7 motor vehicles of the taxpayer's inclusion. However, no such notice 8 shall be issued to a taxpayer: (i) whose wages are being garnished by 9 the department for the payment of past-due tax liabilities or past-due 10 child support or combined child and spousal support arrears; (ii) who 11 receives public assistance or supplemental security income; or (iii) 12 whose income does not exceed two hundred fifty percent of the poverty 13 level as reported by the federal Department of Health and Human Services 14 or any successor agency. Notice shall be provided by first class mail to 15 the taxpayer's last known address as such address appears in the elec- 16 tronic systems or records of the department. Such notice shall include: 17 (a) a clear statement of the past-due tax liabilities along with a 18 statement that the department shall provide to the department of motor 19 vehicles the taxpayer's name, social security number and any other iden- 20 tifying information necessary for the purpose of suspending his or her 21 driver's license pursuant to this section and subdivision four-f of 22 section five hundred ten of the vehicle and traffic law sixty days after 23 the mailing or sending of such notice to the taxpayer; 24 (b) a statement that the taxpayer may avoid suspension of his or her 25 license by fully satisfying the past-due tax liabilities [or], by making 26 payment arrangements satisfactory to the commissioner, [and information27as to how] by demonstrating any of the grounds for challenge set forth 28 in subdivision five of this section, or by presenting facts to the 29 commissioner resulting in the commissioner waiving suspension of his or 30 her license based on the equities of the case. Such statement shall 31 include information regarding all of the agency's programs through which 32 the taxpayer can pay the past-due tax liabilities to the department, 33 enter into a payment arrangement or request additional information need- 34 ed to challenge the suspension under subdivision five of this section or 35 demonstrate the equities of the case; 36 (c) a statement that the taxpayer's right to protest the notice is 37 limited to raising issues set forth in subdivision five of this section; 38 (d) a statement that the suspension of the taxpayer's driver's license 39 shall continue until the past-due tax liabilities are fully paid or the 40 taxpayer makes payment arrangements satisfactory to the commissioner; 41 and 42 (e) any other information that the commissioner deems necessary. 43 (5) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, and except as specif- 44 ically provided herein, the taxpayer shall have no right to commence a 45 court action or proceeding or to any other legal recourse against the 46 department or the department of motor vehicles regarding a notice issued 47 by the department pursuant to this section and the referral by the 48 department of any taxpayer with past-due tax liabilities to the depart- 49 ment of motor vehicles pursuant to this section for the purpose of 50 suspending the taxpayer's driver's license. A taxpayer may only chal- 51 lenge such suspension or referral on the grounds that (i) the individual 52 to whom the notice was provided is not the taxpayer at issue; (ii) the 53 past-due tax liabilities were satisfied; (iii) the taxpayer's wages are 54 being garnished by the department for the payment of the past-due tax 55 liabilities at issue or for past-due child support or combined child and 56 spousal support arrears; (iv) the taxpayer's wages are being garnishedA. 5633--A 3 1 for the payment of past-due child support or combined child and spousal 2 support arrears pursuant to an income execution issued pursuant to 3 section five thousand two hundred forty-one of the civil practice law 4 and rules; (v) the taxpayer's driver's license is a commercial driver's 5 license as defined in section five hundred one-a of the vehicle and 6 traffic law; [or] (vi) the department incorrectly found that the taxpay- 7 er has failed to comply with the terms of a payment arrangement made 8 with the commissioner more than once within a twelve month period for 9 the purposes of subdivision three of this section; (vii) the taxpayer 10 receives public assistance or supplemental security income; (viii) the 11 taxpayer's income does not exceed two hundred fifty percent of the 12 poverty level as reported by the federal Department of Health and Human 13 Services or any successor agency; or (ix) payment of the past due tax 14 liabilities will create a hardship for the taxpayer in meeting necessary 15 living expenses. 16 However, nothing in this subdivision is intended to limit a taxpayer 17 from seeking relief pursuant to an offer in compromise pursuant to 18 subdivision fifteenth of section one hundred seventy-one of this article 19 or from joint and several liability pursuant to section six hundred 20 fifty-four of this chapter, to the extent that he or she is eligible 21 pursuant to [that subdivision] such section, or establishing to the 22 department that the enforcement of the underlying tax liabilities has 23 been stayed by the filing of a petition pursuant to the Bankruptcy Code 24 of 1978 (Title Eleven of the United States Code). 25 § 2. The commissioner of taxation and finance is authorized and 26 directed to promulgate any rules and regulations necessary to implement 27 the provisions of this act in accordance with the provisions of the 28 state administrative procedure act. 29 § 3. This act shall take effect on the first of April next succeeding 30 the date on which it shall have become a law.
