Banking Corporation Tax

New in 2009:

• Banks will be allowed to carry Net Operating Losses incurred in tax years after 2008  to future years.
• A single receipts factor will replace the current three-factor formula allocation for banking corporations that substantially provide management, administrative or distributive services to investment companies.  The new allocation formula will be phased in over a ten-year period beginning in 2009.
• A “captive” regulated investment company or a “captive” real estate investment trust must now be included in a combined banking corporation tax return with a related New York City taxpayer where the greater than 50 percent ownership test is satisfied.
• Certain companies owned by bank holding companies may no longer rely on “grandfathered” filing status provided in the Gramm Leach Bliley transitional provisions. They must now file a bank corporation tax return instead.
• Banks will be required to add back to their entire net income the amount of any “Metropolitan Commuter Transportation Mobility Tax” (payroll tax) deducted for federal income tax purposes.
• New York City now has the authority to adopt rules that require electronic filing of tax returns.
• The interest rate on underpayments has been increased from the federal short term rate plus five percent to the federal short-term rate plus seven percent.  Also, the default rate for underpayments has been increased from six percent to seven and one half percent.
• Certain taxpayers and tax preparers who file using tax software may be required to file electronically and could be subject to civil penalties for failure to do so.  The civil penalties for deficiencies due to fraud have been increased and a new false and fraudulent penalty has been added.
• Provisions detailing crimes applicable to the tax have been redefined to conform to recent New York State revisions.

Other changes:

• Beginning in 2011, for purposes of computing the alternative tax, foreign banks will use the same alternative tax base, i.e. taxable assets, as domestic banks.  Foreign banks will no longer be required to compute their alternative tax based upon the par value of issued common stock.
• Effective in 2011, credit card companies with customers having a mailing address in New York City are subject to the banking corporation tax regardless of whether the credit card company has any physical location within the City.

Who Is Subject to This Tax?
Who is Exempt from this Tax?
Tax Forms and Filing Information
Tax Rates
Legal Authority
Additional Information
Frequently Asked Questions
Contact Us

Who Is Subject to This Tax?
The Banking Corporation Tax is imposed on all corporations that are defined, under New York law, as authorized to do banking business, including banking corporations, commercial and savings banks, savings and loan associations, bank holding companies, trust companies, and certain subsidiaries of banks that are owned by a bank or bank holding company.

Banking corporations are defined as follows:

• Corporations or associations that are organized under New York law, the laws of any other state or country, or the laws of the United States that are authorized to do a banking business, including commercial and savings banks, savings and loan associations, and trust companies;
• Bank holding companies included in combined banking corporation tax returns; and
• Corporations owned by a bank or a bank holding company and principally engaged in a business that a bank might legally conduct or a business that is so closely related to banking or managing or controlling banks as to be a proper incident thereto.

NOTE: Provisions that are related to the enactment of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act of 1999 (applicable in tax years beginning after 1999 and before 2006) generally require that certain banking corporations be taxed during each of the transition years under whichever of the General Corporation Tax or the Banking Corporation Tax applied to that corporation for its immediately preceding taxable year.

These provisions generally also allow corporations that were formed after 1999, and that are financial subsidiaries owned by a financial holding company, to elect to be taxed under the General Corporation Tax or the Banking Corporation Tax in their first year but require them to be taxed under the tax elected for each subsequent transitional year. However, for tax years beginning in 2009, certain taxpayers who previously elected to be taxed under the General Corporation Tax based on these provisions, will now be required to be taxed under the Banking Corporation Tax if certain conditions are met.

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Who is Exempt from this Tax?
The following types of corporations are exempt from banking corporation tax:

• Trust companies wherein 20 or more savings banks that are organized under the laws of New York own all capital stock;
• Corporations that are subject to the General Corporation Tax;
• Real Estate Mortgage Investment Conduits (REMICs); and
• Corporations that are subject to tax as insurance companies under Article 33 of the New York State Tax Law, other than savings and insurance banks.

Tax Forms and Filing Information
 2009 Forms & Publications
 Forms & Publications Archive

Filing Deadlines

• Calendar year taxpayers must file annually, on or before March 15th of the following year.
• Fiscal year taxpayers must also file annually, by the 15th day of the third month after the close of their fiscal year.

Paying Estimated Tax
If the preceding year’s tax exceeds $1,000, the taxpayer must pay an amount equal to 25 percent of this tax at the time the preceding year’s tax return is filed or at the time a request for an extension is filed, as the first installment of estimated tax for the current year.

The other estimated tax payments are due as follows:

Estimated tax for fiscal year taxpayers
The corresponding months of the fiscal year should be substituted for the months specified above.

Tax Rates
The banking corporation tax rate is the largest of the following four options:

• Nine percent of the entire net income allocated to the City;
  
  OR
• (a) In the case of a corporation that is organized under US law, one-tenth of a mill per dollar of taxable assets allocated to the City, and
  (b) In the case of a corporation that is organized under non-US law, 2.6 mills per dollar of face value of issued capital stock (or, if without par value, of actual or market value, but not less than $5 per share), or
  (c) If the taxpayer does not have issued capital stock, 2.6 mills per dollar of the amount by which its average total assets exceeds its average total liabilities, or the portion thereof allocated to the City;
  
  OR
• Three percent of alternative entire net income allocated to the City;
  
  OR
• $125 minimum tax.

Important Definitions Related to Tax Rate
"Entire net income" is defined as the total net income from all sources, which is the same as the entire taxable income (i) that the taxpayer is required to report to the US Treasury Department, or (ii) that the taxpayer (in the case of a corporation that is exempt from federal income tax but subject to banking corporation tax) would have been required to report to the US Treasury but for the exemption, or (iii) that, in the case of a corporation that is organized under the laws of a country other than the United States, is effectively connected with the conduct of a trade or business within the US, subject to certain modifications.

NOTE: For the tax years beginning after 1996, S-corporations that are banking corporations must compute entire net income for bank tax purposes, as if an election under Subchapter S had not been made. In addition, banking corporation taxpayers must treat their qualified Subchapter S subsidiaries (QSSS) as separate and distinct corporations and determine income as if no QSSS election had been made.

"Alternative entire net income" is defined as the taxpayer’s entire net income, adjusted to eliminate the effect of certain tax benefits allowed in the calculation of entire net income.

"Taxable assets" are defined as the taxpayer’s balance sheet assets valued at their average value during the tax year, with certain exclusions and modifications.

"Allocation" - A taxpayer whose entire net income, alternative entire net income, taxable assets, or issued capital stock is derived from business that is carried on within and without the City is permitted to allocate those amounts under a formula. This formula takes into account the taxpayer’s payroll, receipts, and deposits within and without the City. The allocation, however, cannot include the issued capital stock percentage. For banking corporations that substantially provide management, administrative or distributive services to investment companies, a single receipts factor will replace the three-factor allocation formula used for tax years beginning before 2009. This begins for tax years starting in or after 2009 and is phased in over a ten-year period.
View Allocation Percentage Reports

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Legal Authority
Local Law: Title 11, Chapter 6 (Subchapter 3), Administrative Code Enabling Act: Chapter 772 Laws of 1966

Additional Information
Related Links:  Refunds, Forms, Finance Guidance

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I find a corporation issuer's allocation percentage?
Issuer's allocation percentage information is available online. The NYC Department of Finance keeps a record of the issuer's allocation percentages (IAP) for all general corporations and banking corporations.
View Allocation Percentage Reports

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Contact the Banking Corporation Tax Unit
Write to:
NYC Department of Finance
Banking Corporation Tax Unit
345 Adams Street – 5th Floor
Brooklyn, New York 11201