New York Mileage Tax and Thruway Exemption

[ATeam]

I have known for a long time that New York charges a mileage tax (state highway use tax) to trucks that most other states do not. But I only learned today that toll-paid miles driven on the New York State Thruway are mileage tax exempt. I also learned that our carrier will do the paperwork that is necessary to get our truck credited with the exemption if we provide thruway toll receipts.

It irks me that I did not know about this before. It could have saved Diane and me some money if we knew about the thruway exemption (assuming our former carrier of eight years was willing to do the paperwork to claim the exemption on our behalf).

I'd like to know from the FedEx'ers out there. Did it happen that contractors were told of this thruway exemption and Diane and I simply missed it? We don't remember hearing about it but that does not mean the information was not shared. In the spirit of kicking ourselves, we are wondering how much New York tax money we paid that we could have kept if we knew about the exemption.

If, like me, you did not know of the thruway exemption, you might want to check into it. It could mean more money in your pocket.

If you did not know about the New York state highway use tax that is charged to trucks, you might want to look into that too. It costs more to drive in New York than neighboring states. Are you giving away your money or protecting your profits by charging more to drive there?

 

[greg334]

Phil, I learned this a long time ago but never used it. LS does indeed do the paper work and you get the benefit but others don't because they don't care. Your former carrier's division as I was told does not like to bother with trivial things like that.

Remember Phil, you belong to a company that's purpose is hauling freight, not package delivery.

 

[paullud]

It says at the bottom of the receipts to keep them to support your claim of the mileage tax exemption. I would imagine it wouldn't take to many trips on 90 to add up to a good amount.

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[greg334]

I looked at my receipts from 2010 and some from 2011 just now and it has nothing on them about the exemption. from the trip in August 2011, it appears on some of the receipts.

 

[OntarioVanMan]

I just talked with some one in the know....yes the Tollways are IFTA exempt and most carriers break out the miles so most trucks don't pay NYS road tax....the tax is included in the tolls....

 

[moose]

Before you trigger an audit on your self,
you might be better off calling the IRP office in St. Paul,
and ask to speak with the state auditor.
they are auditing 4% of class 8 trucks annually.
2 month ago, while renewing the Base plate, i asked to meet her in person,
and asked that very same question.
was told that the M.A turnpike was the only road of such exemption.

 

[ATeam]

Before you trigger an audit on your self, ...

Too late. We already have been audited by the Minnesota pro-rate office (or whatever it is called).

It was no big deal. All they wanted was the miles we have driven in each state for the audit period. We know to track that because early in our expediting career, a fleet owner told us. When our audit came, it was a simple matter to print out the report from our database.

If we did not have that information, I suppose we would have asked our carrier for a report and I assume the carrier would have provided one. But what if you changed carriers and your former carrier could not or would not provide the info? That's why we document the miles ourselves.

It's easy. All you do is write down the odometer reading when you cross a state line. (or speak it into a voice recorder and write it down later). Minnesota does not want anything more than that. However, there are states that want much more.

Back to the original topic....

I was not talking about IFTA or fuel tax. I am talking about the New York State Highway Use Tax, informally called a mileage tax. Fuel tax is something different.

 

[paullud]

Before you trigger an audit on your self,
you might be better off calling the IRP office in St. Paul,
and ask to speak with the state auditor.
they are auditing 4% of class 8 trucks annually.
2 month ago, while renewing the Base plate, i asked to meet her in person,
and asked that very same question.
was told that the M.A turnpike was the only road of such exemption.

If you remember trucks used to display a NY HUT decal up until about 3 years ago. They got rid of the decal but kept the tax.

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