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.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
1147--A
2023-2024 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
January 10, 2023
___________
Introduced by Sens. KRUEGER, BAILEY, LIU, MAY -- read twice and ordered
printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Investi-
gations and Government Operations -- recommitted to the Committee on
Investigations and Government Operations in accordance with Senate
Rule 6, sec. 8 -- 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,
2 subdivision 1 as added by section 1 of part P of chapter 59 of the laws
3 of 2013, and subdivisions 3 and 5 as amended by section 1 of part EEE of
4 chapter 59 of the laws of 2019, are amended to read as follows:
5 (1) The commissioner shall enter into a written agreement with the
6 commissioner of motor vehicles, which shall set forth the procedures for
7 the two departments to cooperate in a program to improve tax collection
8 through the suspension of drivers' licenses of taxpayers with past-due
9 tax liabilities equal to or in excess of ten thousand dollars multiplied
10 by the applicable inflation adjustment. For the purposes of this
11 section, the term "tax liabilities" shall mean any tax, surcharge, or
12 fee administered by the commissioner, or any penalty or interest due on
13 these amounts owed by an individual with a New York driver's license,
14 the term "driver's license" means any license issued by the department
15 of motor vehicles, except for a commercial driver's license as defined
16 in section five hundred one-a of the vehicle and traffic law, and the
17 term "past-due tax liabilities" means any tax liability or liabilities
18 which have become fixed and final such that the taxpayer no longer has
19 any right to administrative or judicial review, and the "applicable
20 inflation adjustment" for a calendar year shall be determined under the
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD03422-02-4
S. 1147--A 2
1 principles of section 7345(f) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986,
2 using the calendar year of the effective date of the chapter of the laws
3 of two thousand twenty-four which amended this subdivision as the base
4 period. The ten thousand dollar limitation in this subdivision shall not
5 apply to a taxpayer that the commissioner determines has taken affirma-
6 tive steps to evade or avoid the collection of tax, such as by hiding
7 assets.
8 (3) The department shall provide notice to the taxpayer of his or her
9 inclusion in the license suspension program no later than sixty days
10 prior to the date the department intends to inform the commissioner of
11 motor vehicles of the taxpayer's inclusion. However, no such notice
12 shall be issued to a taxpayer: (i) whose wages are being garnished by
13 the department for the payment of past-due tax liabilities or past-due
14 child support or combined child and spousal support arrears; (ii) who
15 receives public assistance or supplemental security income; or (iii)
16 whose income does not exceed two hundred fifty percent of the poverty
17 level as reported by the federal Department of Health and Human Services
18 or any successor agency. Notice shall be provided by first class mail
19 to the taxpayer's last known address as such address appears in the
20 electronic systems or records of the department. Such notice shall
21 include:
22 (a) a clear statement of the past-due tax liabilities along with a
23 statement that the department shall provide to the department of motor
24 vehicles the taxpayer's name, social security number and any other iden-
25 tifying information necessary for the purpose of suspending his or her
26 driver's license pursuant to this section and subdivision four-f of
27 section five hundred ten of the vehicle and traffic law sixty days after
28 the mailing or sending of such notice to the taxpayer;
29 (b) a statement that the taxpayer may avoid suspension of his or her
30 license by fully satisfying the past-due tax liabilities, by making
31 payment arrangements satisfactory to the commissioner, or by demonstrat-
32 ing any of the grounds for challenge set forth in subdivision five of
33 this section, or by presenting facts to the commissioner resulting in
34 the commissioner waiving suspension of his or her license based on the
35 equities of the case. Such statement shall include information regarding
36 programs through which the taxpayer can pay the past-due tax liabilities
37 to the department, enter into a payment arrangement or request addi-
38 tional information needed to challenge the suspension under subdivision
39 five of this section or demonstrate the equities of the case;
40 (c) a statement that the taxpayer's right to protest the notice is
41 limited to raising issues set forth in subdivision five of this section;
42 (d) a statement that the suspension of the taxpayer's driver's license
43 shall continue until the past-due tax liabilities are fully paid or the
44 taxpayer makes payment arrangements satisfactory to the commissioner;
45 and
46 (e) any other information that the commissioner deems necessary.
47 (5) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, and except as specif-
48 ically provided herein, the taxpayer shall have no right to commence a
49 court action or proceeding or to any other legal recourse against the
50 department or the department of motor vehicles regarding a notice issued
51 by the department pursuant to this section and the referral by the
52 department of any taxpayer with past-due tax liabilities to the depart-
53 ment of motor vehicles pursuant to this section for the purpose of
54 suspending the taxpayer's driver's license. A taxpayer may only chal-
55 lenge such suspension or referral on the grounds that (i) the individual
56 to whom the notice was provided is not the taxpayer at issue; (ii) the
S. 1147--A 3
1 past-due tax liabilities were satisfied; (iii) the taxpayer's wages are
2 being garnished by the department for the payment of the past-due tax
3 liabilities at issue or for past-due child support or combined child and
4 spousal support arrears; (iv) the taxpayer's wages are being garnished
5 for the payment of past-due child support or combined child and spousal
6 support arrears pursuant to an income execution issued pursuant to
7 section five thousand two hundred forty-one of the civil practice law
8 and rules; (v) the taxpayer's driver's license is a commercial driver's
9 license as defined in section five hundred one-a of the vehicle and
10 traffic law; (vi) the department incorrectly found that the taxpayer has
11 failed to comply with the terms of a payment arrangement made with the
12 commissioner more than once within a twelve month period for the
13 purposes of subdivision three of this section; (vii) the taxpayer
14 receives public assistance or supplemental security income; [or] (viii)
15 [the taxpayer demonstrates that suspension of the taxpayer's driver's
16 license will cause the taxpayer undue economic hardship] the taxpayer's
17 income does not exceed two hundred fifty percent of the poverty level as
18 reported by the federal Department of Health and Human Services or any
19 successor agency; or (ix) payment of the past-due tax liabilities will
20 create a hardship for the taxpayer in meeting necessary living expenses.
21 However, nothing in this subdivision is intended to limit a taxpayer
22 from seeking relief pursuant to an offer in compromise pursuant to
23 subdivision fifteenth of section one hundred seventy-one of this article
24 or from joint and several liability pursuant to section six hundred
25 fifty-four of this chapter, to the extent that he or she is eligible
26 pursuant to such section, or establishing to the department that the
27 enforcement of the underlying tax liabilities has been stayed by the
28 filing of a petition pursuant to the Bankruptcy Code of 1978 (Title
29 Eleven of the United States Code).
30 § 2. The commissioner of taxation and finance is authorized and
31 directed to promulgate any rules and regulations necessary to implement
32 the provisions of this act in accordance with the provisions of the
33 state administrative procedure act.
34 § 3. This act shall take effect on the first of April next succeeding
35 the date on which it shall have become a law.
