Increases the tax from nine to sixteen percent of the amount charged for the sale or transfer of adult-use cannabis products to a retail customer; removes requirements that records reflect the total amount of THC content of the adult-use cannabis products sold to or produced by persons who sell such products; makes related provisions.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
4619
2023-2024 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
February 17, 2023
___________
Introduced by M. of A. PEOPLES-STOKES, LUPARDO, WOERNER -- read once and
referred to the Committee on Ways and Means
AN ACT to amend the tax law, in relation to the imposition of taxes,
registration and records of the sale of cannabis; and to repeal
certain provisions of such law relating thereto
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Subdivision (k) of section 492 of the tax law is REPEALED.
2 § 2. Section 493 of the tax law, as added by chapter 92 of the laws of
3 2021, is amended to read as follows:
4 § 493. Imposition of tax. (a) [There is hereby imposed a tax on
5 adult-use cannabis products sold by a distributor to a person who sells
6 adult-use cannabis products at retail at the following rates:
7 (1) cannabis flower at the rate of five-tenths of one cent per milli-
8 gram of the amount of total THC, as reflected on the product label;
9 (2) concentrated cannabis at the rate of eight-tenths of one cent per
10 milligram of the amount of total THC, as reflected on the product label;
11 and
12 (3) cannabis edible product at the rate of three cents per milligram
13 of the amount of total THC, as reflected on the product label. This tax
14 shall accrue at the time of such sale or transfer. Where a person who
15 distributes adult-use cannabis is licensed under the cannabis law as a
16 microbusiness or registered organization, such person shall be liable
17 for the tax, and such tax shall accrue at the time of the retail sale.
18 (b)] In addition to any other tax imposed by this chapter or other
19 law, there is hereby imposed a tax of [nine] sixteen percent of the
20 amount charged for the sale or transfer of adult-use cannabis products
21 to a retail customer by a person who sells adult-use cannabis products
22 at retail. This tax is imposed on the person who sells adult-use canna-
23 bis at retail and shall accrue at the time of such sale or transfer.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD08127-02-3
A. 4619 2
1 [(c)] (b) In addition to the taxes imposed by [subdivisions] subdivi-
2 sion (a) [and (b)] of this section, there is hereby imposed a tax on the
3 sale or transfer of adult-use cannabis products to a retail customer by
4 a person who sells adult-use cannabis products at retail at the rate of
5 four percent of the amount charged by such person for such adult-use
6 cannabis product, which tax shall accrue at the time of such sale or
7 transfer. The tax imposed by this subdivision is imposed on a person who
8 sells adult-use cannabis products at retail, and shall be paid to the
9 commissioner in trust for and on account of a city having a population
10 of a million or more, and counties (other than counties wholly within
11 such a city), towns, villages, and cities with a population of less than
12 a million in which a retail dispensary is located.
13 [(d)] (c) The taxes imposed by this section shall not apply to sales
14 of adult-use cannabis to a person holding a cannabis research license
15 under section thirty-nine of the cannabis law.
16 § 3. Paragraph (i) of subdivision (a) of section 494 of the tax law,
17 as added by chapter 92 of the laws of 2021, is amended to read as
18 follows:
19 (i) Every [distributor on whom tax is imposed under this article and
20 every] person who sells adult-use cannabis products at retail must file
21 with the commissioner a properly completed application for a certificate
22 of registration before engaging in business. An application for a
23 certificate of registration must be submitted electronically, on a form
24 prescribed by the commissioner, and must be accompanied by a non-refund-
25 able application fee of six hundred dollars. A certificate of registra-
26 tion shall not be assignable or transferable and shall be destroyed
27 immediately upon such person ceasing to do business as specified in such
28 certificate, or in the event that such business never commenced.
29 § 4. Section 496 of the tax law, as added by chapter 92 of the laws of
30 2021, is amended to read as follows:
31 § 496. Records to be kept; penalties. (a) Records to be kept. Every
32 [distributor on whom tax is imposed under this article and every] person
33 who sells adult-use cannabis products at retail shall maintain complete
34 and accurate records in such form as the commissioner may require
35 including, but not limited to, [such items as the total THC content of
36 the adult-use cannabis products sold to or produced by such person;]
37 complete records of every retail sale of adult-use cannabis, and any
38 other record or information required by the commissioner. Such records
39 must be preserved for a period of three years after the filing of the
40 return to which such records relate and must be provided to the commis-
41 sioner upon request.
42 (b) Penalties. In addition to any other penalty provided in this arti-
43 cle or otherwise imposed by law, [every distributor on whom tax is
44 imposed under this article and] every person who sells adult-use canna-
45 bis products at retail who fails to maintain or make available to the
46 commissioner the records required by this section is subject to a penal-
47 ty not to exceed five hundred dollars for each month or part thereof for
48 which the failure occurs. This penalty may not be imposed more than once
49 for failures for the same monthly period or part thereof. If the
50 commissioner determines that a failure to maintain or make available
51 records in any month was entirely due to reasonable cause and not to
52 willful neglect, the commissioner must remit the penalty for that month.
53 § 5. This act shall take effect immediately.
