New York imposes sales tax on transactions made within the state, and certain businesses are required to make prepayments. This guide provides an overview of New York’s sales tax prepayment requirements, to help you stay compliant and avoid potential issues.
First, it’s important to understand that New York’s quarters do not follow a regular quarterly schedule — that is, January, February, and March being the first quarter; April, May, and June being the second quarter; and so on.
New York follows the following schedule:
Filing Period | Months | Filing Due |
Quarter 1 | March, April, May | June |
Quarter 2 | June, July, August | September |
Quarter 3 | September, October, November | December |
Quarter 4 | December, January, February | March |
What are sales tax prepayments?
A sales tax prepayment is an advance payment that a business makes toward their sales tax liability for a specific period. This system helps ensure that sales tax revenues are collected in a timely manner and supports state budget management. In New York, not all businesses are required to make prepayments, but for those that are, understanding how and when to do so is crucial.
Who needs to make prepayments?
Businesses that meet certain criteria must make sales tax prepayments. Typically, they are businesses with a significant amount of sales or those that owe substantial sales tax amounts. The New York Department of Taxation and Finance determines whether a business needs to make prepayments, based on its sales tax reporting history.
What do prepayments look like in the New York portal?
You can easily see whether your account is set up with prepayments by logging in to the New York portal.
Navigate to the Tax Online Services section; then click on Sales Tax > Select the Filing Period.
If you see something like the table below, you are required to submit monthly reports and prepayments to the state:
How are prepayments calculated?
Sales tax prepayments in New York are based on your monthly taxable sales. This essentially means, for each quarter, two filings and prepayments that take monthly data into account, and a quarterly filing that takes the quarter’s sales into account, as well as the previous prepayments. Here is an example:
Quarter 1
Filing | Sales Data (Month) | Filing Due | Tax Due | Tax Paid |
Prepayment 1 (ST-809) | April | May | $1000 | $1000 |
Prepayment 2 (ST-809) | May | June | $1000 | $1000 |
Quarter end (ST-810) | April, May, June | July | $3000 | $3000 - $1000 (April) - $1000 (May) = $1000 |
What happens if I don’t file my ST-809 prepayment forms and submit prepayments?
New York will levy penalties and interest on each period that you fail to file your ST-809 forms and submit prepayments or monthly payments.
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