ALBANY, N.Y. – Federally chartered credit unions–more than 95% of the state’s 400 credit unions– are exempt from a new commuter tax assessed employers in New York City and seven surrounding counties, the state’s Tax Department ruled last week.
The new commuter tax law exempts employers who are “an agency or instrumentality of the United States,” which includes credit unions as defined under the Federal CU Act, the tax agency said in a ruling issued to Putnam FCU.
In its ruling, the tax department told the credit union, located in the Putnam County town of Camel, to ignore a tax bill for the first quarterly payment of the new tax that will be sent out this week.
Under the new tax, passed to help close a gaping state budget deficit, employers in New York City, and the counties of Nassau, Suffolk, Dutchess, Orange, Putnam, Rockland and Westchester, must pay a quarterly assessment of 34 cents per $1 of payroll for the employees working in those counties.
The new tax will only apply to the state’s 10 state chartered credit unions. But state officials are also considering whether the exemption may be extended to those credit union as well.
