Zelinsky v. Tax Appeals Tribunal

301 A.D.2d 42, 753 N.Y.S.2d 144, 2002 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 11667

This text of 301 A.D.2d 42 (Zelinsky v. Tax Appeals Tribunal) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Zelinsky v. Tax Appeals Tribunal, 301 A.D.2d 42, 753 N.Y.S.2d 144, 2002 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 11667 (N.Y. Ct. App. 2002).

Opinion

OPINION OF THE COURT

Lahtinen, J.

The issue before the Court is whether the Department of Taxation and Finance (hereinafter Department) violated the Commerce Clause or the Due Process Clause of the Federal Constitution when they allocated all of the income of a nonresident, petitioner Edward A. Zelinsky (hereinafter petitioner), to New York under the so-called “convenience of the employer” test. The stipulated facts provide in relevant part that, during 1994 and 1995, petitioner was a resident of Connecticut and was employed as a professor of law at Cardozo Law School in New York City. His duties included teaching classes, meeting with students, preparing and grading examinations, writing recommendations for students and conducting scholarly research and writing. During the 28 weeks constituting the two academic semesters in 1994, petitioner spent three days each workweek in New York City teaching classes and meeting with students. He remained in Connecticut two days each workweek performing the balance of his duties. When classes were not in session, petitioner worked exclusively in Connecticut. His work was similarly split between New York and Connecticut in 1995, except that he spent less time in New York because he was on sabbatical leave during the fall semester of 1995.

On the 1994 and 1995 New York nonresident income tax returns filed by petitioner and his wife, petitioner apportioned to New York the percentage of his total salary that reflected the days he was actually present at Cardozo Law School in New York. The Department issued notices of deficiency for [44]*44both years, maintaining that petitioner’s entire salary from Cardozo Law School was subject to taxation by New York. The deficiencies were sustained following a conciliation conference. At a hearing before an Administrative Law Judge (hereinafter ALJ), petitioners advanced a federal constitutional challenge to the convenience of the employer test, which the Department had relied upon to tax all his income from Cardozo Law School. Petitioners’ constitutional challenge was rejected by the ALJ and, thereafter, respondent Tax Appeals Tribunal affirmed the ALJ. This proceeding ensued.

The income of nonresidents is taxed by New York if it is “derived from or connected with New York sources” (Tax Law § 631 [a] [1]). Nonresidents are permitted to apportion their income for work conducted outside New York as provided in the regulations of the tax commission (see Tax Law § 631 [c]). The relevant regulation limits apportionment and allocation pursuant to the “convenience of the employer” test, which states in part that “any allowance claimed for days worked outside New York State must be based upon the performance of services which of necessity, as distinguished from convenience, obligate the employee to out-of-state duties in the service of his employer” (20 NYCRR 132.18 [a]). The Court of Appeals has stated that “[t]he policy justification for the ‘convenience of the employer’ test lies in the fact that since a New York State resident would not be entitled to special tax benefits for work done at home, neither should a nonresident who performs services or maintains an office in New York State” (Matter of Speno v Gallman, 35 NY2d 256, 259; see Matter of Kitman v State Tax Commn., 92 AD2d 1018, 1019, lv denied 59 NY2d 603). A previous challenge to the convenience of the employer test on the grounds that it violated the Commerce Clause and Due Process Clause was rejected by this Court in Matter of Colleary v Tully (69 AD2d 922).

Petitioners contend that Colieary failed to directly address the arguments raised herein and, further, that decisions subsequent to Colieary by the United States Supreme Court and the New York Court of Appeals point to a conclusion contrary to the holding in that case. The Commerce Clause, which contains an affirmative grant of regulatory power to Congress, has been consistently construed to also include a “negative” or “dormant” aspect that prohibits states from interfering with interstate commerce (see Camps Newfound/Owatonna, Inc. v Town of Harrison, Me., 520 US 564, 571-572; Quill Corp. v North Dakota By and Through Heitkamp, 504 US 298, 309; [45]*45City of New York v State of New York, 94 NY2d 577, 596). The tax in dispute, while facially neutral regarding interstate commerce, has the effect, based upon the stipulated facts, of resulting in a portion of petitioner’s income being taxed both in New York and Connecticut. However, the fact that Connecticut may tax a portion of the same income as New York, causing additional taxation from the combined effect of the laws of the two states, does not necessarily lead to the conclusion that the New York tax violates the Commerce Clause (see Moorman Mfg. Co. v Bair, 437 US 267, 277 n 12; Curry v McCanless, 307 US 357, 368 [“there are many circumstances in which more than one state may have jurisdiction to impose a tax”]).

A state tax survives a Commerce Clause challenge “when the tax is applied to an activity with a substantial nexus with the taxing State, is fairly apportioned, does not discriminate against interstate commerce, and is fairly related to the services provided by the State” (Complete Auto Tr., Inc. v Brady, 430 US 274, 279; see Quill Corp. v North Dakota By and Through Heitkamp, supra at 310-311). Petitioners’ constitutional challenge is limited to the fair apportionment prong of the four-part test set forth in Complete Auto Tr., Inc. v Brady (supra). The fair apportionment element is analyzed for internal and external consistency (see Oklahoma Tax Commn. v Jefferson Lines, Inc., 514 US 175, 185; Goldberg v Sweet, 488 US 252, 261). Petitioners concede internal consistency and, thus, their Commerce Clause argument distills to whether the convenience of the employer test is externally consistent.

Unlike the internal consistency test, external consistency “looks not to the logical consequences of cloning [the taxing statute to all other states], but to the economic justification for the State’s claim upon the value taxed, to discover whether a State’s tax reaches beyond that portion of value that is fairly attributable to economic activity within the taxing State” (Oklahoma Tax Commn. v Jefferson Lines, Inc., supra at 185). It is “essentially a practical inquiry” in which factors such as “administrative and technological barriers” are relevant (Goldberg v Sweet, supra at 264-265). The United States Supreme Court has stated, regarding the external consistency aspect of the fair apportionment element, that “[w]e have never required that any particular apportionment formula or method be used, and when a State has chosen one, an objecting taxpayer has the burden to demonstrate by clear and cogent evidence that the income attributed to the State is in fact out of all appropriate proportions to the business transacted * * * in that State, [46]*46or has led to a grossly distorted result” (Oklahoma Tax Commn. v Jefferson Lines, Inc., supra at 195 [internal quotation marks omitted]).

The Department’s economic justification in taxing petitioner’s income begins with the fact that the entire source of his disputed income is a law school located in New York (cf. Oklahoma Tax Commn. v Chickasaw Nation, 515 US 450, 463 n 11 [“as to nonresidents, ‘the tax is only on such income as is derived from * * * sources (within the State)’ ”]).

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Related

Curry v. McCanless
307 U.S. 357 (Supreme Court, 1939)
Wisconsin v. J. C. Penney Co.
311 U.S. 435 (Supreme Court, 1941)
Central Greyhound Lines, Inc. v. Mealey
334 U.S. 653 (Supreme Court, 1948)
Complete Auto Transit, Inc. v. Brady
430 U.S. 274 (Supreme Court, 1977)
Moorman Manufacturing Co. v. Bair
437 U.S. 267 (Supreme Court, 1978)
Commonwealth Edison Co. v. Montana
453 U.S. 609 (Supreme Court, 1981)
Goldberg v. Sweet
488 U.S. 252 (Supreme Court, 1989)
Quill Corp. v. North Dakota Ex Rel. Heitkamp
504 U.S. 298 (Supreme Court, 1992)
Oklahoma Tax Commission v. Jefferson Lines, Inc.
514 U.S. 175 (Supreme Court, 1995)
Oklahoma Tax Commission v. Chickasaw Nation
515 U.S. 450 (Supreme Court, 1995)
Camps Newfound/Owatonna, Inc. v. Town of Harrison
520 U.S. 564 (Supreme Court, 1997)
Speno v. Gallman
319 N.E.2d 180 (New York Court of Appeals, 1974)
City of New York v. State
730 N.E.2d 920 (New York Court of Appeals, 2000)
Colleary v. Tully
69 A.D.2d 922 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 1979)
Kitman v. State Tax Commission
92 A.D.2d 1018 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 1983)
Phillips v. New York State Department of Taxation & Finance
267 A.D.2d 927 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 1999)

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Bluebook (online)
301 A.D.2d 42, 753 N.Y.S.2d 144, 2002 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 11667, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/zelinsky-v-tax-appeals-tribunal-nyappdiv-2002.