Is a separate annual vehicle registration fee that a SUNY college charges students, faculty, and staff subject to New York sales tax as a parking charge?

Plain-English summary

SUNY College at Oneonta charges every faculty member, staff member, and student who parks on campus a $5 annual vehicle registration fee, on top of a separate $85 (or $80 prepaid) parking fee charged to students and management-confidential employees. The registration fee is intended to cover the cost of processing registrations and issuing decals, and the college tracks it as a discrete line item, kept in its own account, separate from parking-fee revenue in its accounting, reporting, and published materials.

New York taxes "receipts from every sale... of... providing parking, garaging or storing for motor vehicles" (Tax Law § 1105(c)(6)). The Department had already ruled, in a 1998 opinion for SUNY Binghamton (TSB-A-98(5)S), that a similarly separate registration fee was not a receipt from parking because it wasn't a charge for the parking service itself — it paid for the registration/administrative process. Applying that same reasoning to Oneonta's facts (a genuinely separate fee, separately accounted for, tied to registering and decaling a vehicle rather than to the parking space itself), the Department reached the same conclusion: the $5 registration fee is not subject to sales tax.

What this means for you

Colleges, universities, and other institutions with campus parking programs

If you charge a genuinely separate administrative fee for registering vehicles (decals, processing, recordkeeping) apart from the fee for the parking space itself, that registration fee can escape the parking tax — but the ruling leans heavily on the fee being kept truly separate in both amount and bookkeeping, not just labeled differently on a receipt. The regular parking fee itself remains taxable.

Accountants and tax professionals

This opinion applies, rather than creates, the SUNY Binghamton precedent (TSB-A-98(5)S): a registration fee is not a "receipt... from providing parking" under § 1105(c)(6) where the institution can show the fee (1) is charged uniformly for registering the vehicle rather than for the parking space, (2) is accounted for in a separate account, and (3) is identified as a discrete charge in the institution's own records and publications. Facts that blur those lines (e.g., a registration fee that scales with parking-space value, or commingled bookkeeping) could support a different result.

Common questions

Q: Does this mean all vehicle registration fees are exempt from New York sales tax?
A: No. The result here depends on the fee genuinely being for registration/administrative processing, kept separate from the parking charge in both amount and accounting. A fee that is really just parking dressed up under a different name would remain taxable.

Q: Is the college's regular parking fee also exempt?
A: No, and this ruling doesn't address that — the college's separate parking fee for the use of the parking facility itself remains a taxable "receipt" from providing parking under § 1105(c)(6).

Q: Can another SUNY campus or private college rely on this ruling?
A: No. It binds the Department only for SUNY College at Oneonta on the exact facts described. Other institutions should compare their own fee structure and accounting closely, since this and the Binghamton opinion both turned on the fees being kept clearly separate.

Citations and references

Statutes and regulations:

• Tax Law § 1101(b)(3) (definition of "receipt")
• Tax Law § 1105(c)(6) (tax on parking, garaging, or storing motor vehicles)
• 8 NYCRR § 564.3 (SUNY Oneonta's own vehicle registration and parking fee regulations)

Prior rulings referenced:

• State University of New York at Binghamton, Adv Op Comm T&F, Feb. 2, 1998, TSB-A-98(5)S

Source

• Landing page: https://www.tax.ny.gov/pubs_and_bulls/advisory_opinions/sales_ao_2001.htm
• Opinion: https://www.tax.ny.gov/pdf/advisory_opinions/sales/a01_20s.pdf

Original ruling text

New York State Department of Taxation and Finance

Office of Tax Policy Analysis
Technical Services Division

TSB-A-01(20)S
Sales Tax
May 24, 2001

STATE OF NEW YORK
COMMISSIONER OF TAXATION AND FINANCE
ADVISORY OPINION

PETITION NO. S001218A

On December 18, 2000, the Department of Taxation and Finance received a Petition for
Advisory Opinion from SUNY College at Oneonta, 200 Netzer Administration Building, Oneonta,
NY 13820.
The issue raised by Petitioner, SUNY College at Oneonta, is whether fees collected from
students and others for the purpose of registering their vehicles (vehicle registration fees) are subject
to sales tax.
Petitioner submits the following facts as the basis for this Advisory Opinion.
Petitioner charges a $5 registration fee for all vehicles parked on campus. All vehicles
parking on campus must be registered annually. The fee is universally applied for each vehicle
registered by faculty, staff and students. The fee is intended to defray the costs of registration,
annual decals, and related processing. A parking fee is separately charged to students and
management confidential employees in the amount of $85 ($80 if paid in advance for the entire
year). As a special consideration, resident students who need only to bring a vehicle on campus for
the last week of a semester to transport their personal property home, pay a prorated parking fee of
$5. The registration fee for that week will still be $5. The registration fee is accounted for separately
from the parking fee charged by Petitioner and is identified as a discrete fee in accounting and
reporting procedures, as well as publications and other information distributed by Petitioner.
Applicable Law and Regulations
Section 1101(b)(3) of the Tax Law defines the term “receipt”, in part, as follows:
The amount of the sale price of any property and the charge for any service
taxable under this article...valued in money, whether received in money or otherwise,
including any amount for which credit is allowed by the vendor to the purchaser,
without any deduction for expenses or early payment discounts and also including
any charges by the vendor to the purchaser for shipping or delivery...regardless of
whether such charges are separately stated in the written contract, if any, or on the
bill rendered to such purchaser and regardless of whether such shipping or delivery...
is provided by such vendor or a third party....
Section 1105 of the Tax Law provides, in part:

-2­
TSB-A-01(20)S
Sales Tax
May 24, 2001

Imposition of sales tax.--... there is hereby imposed and there shall be paid a
tax ... upon:
*

*

*

(c) The receipts from every sale, except for resale, of the following services:
*

*

*

(6) Providing parking, garaging or storing for motor vehicles by persons
operating a garage (other than a garage which is part of premises occupied solely as
a private one or two family dwelling), parking lot or other place of business engaged
in providing parking, garaging or storing for motor vehicles provided, however, this
paragraph shall not apply to such facilities owned and operated by a public
corporation, as defined by section sixty-six of the general construction law, other than
a public benefit corporation, as defined by such section sixty-six, created by interstate
compact or at least half of whose members are appointed by the governor, or any
agency or instrumentality of a municipal corporation or district corporation as
defined by such section sixty-six....
Part 564 of 8 NYCRR contains the regulations of the State University College at Oneonta
dealing with vehicular and pedestrian traffic and parking on the Oneonta campus. Section 564.3 of
these regulations provides, in part:
Vehicle Registration and Parking Fees.
(a) Parking fees as approved by the chancellor, or designee, shall be charged
for motor vehicles parked within designated lots, consistent with applicable
collective bargaining agreements and in accordance with guidelines established by
the chancellor or designee. Such guidelines shall provide that the determination of
the amount of the fee be substantially based on an analysis of the costs attributable
to the operation and maintenance of the parking facilities owned and operated by the
College at Oneonta.
(b) All students, eligible by college standards, who drive to the campus and
park must register their vehicles and apply for parking decals on or before the first
day of classes. Graduate students and assistants will be registered as residents or
commuter students. Parking decals must be obtained from the public safety office
in person or by mail.
(c) All faculty and staff must register their vehicle annually. Faculty and staff
decals may be issued on a multi-year basis at the discretion of the college president.

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TSB-A-01(20)S
Sales Tax
May 24, 2001

(d) The identification decal shall be permanently affixed as determined by the
director of public safety. It is the responsibility of the owner to insure that the decal
remains affixed at all times, and is legible. Taping or clipping on of decals is not
considered as being permanently affixed, and registration will not be considered
complete unless decal is properly affixed.
Opinion
State University of New York at Binghamton, Adv Op Comm T&F, February 2, 1998,
TSB-A-98(5)S, concluded that the registration fees received by the petitioner (SUNY at
Binghamton) from vehicle registration were not considered to be receipts received from parking,
garaging or storing of motor vehicles and, therefore, were not subject to sales tax. The registration
fees and parking fees charged separately by SUNY at Binghamton were two separate fees for
accounting and reporting purposes. The revenue generated from the registration fee was held in a
separate account and was applied to the cost of paying staff who input data collected concerning
identification and ownership of the vehicles.
In this case, Petitioner charges a $5 registration fee for vehicles parked on campus by faculty,
staff and students. All such vehicles parked on campus must be registered annually. The fee is
universally applied for each vehicle registered by faculty, staff and students. The fee is intended to
defray the costs of registration, annual decals, and related processing. The registration fee is charged
separately from the parking fee charged by Petitioner, and is identified as a discrete fee in accounting
and reporting procedures, as well as publications and other information distributed by Petitioner.
The service of registering a motor vehicle is not specifically enumerated in Section 1105(c)
of the Tax Law. The vehicle registration fees separately charged and administered by Petitioner, as
described above, are not considered to be receipts attributable to providing parking, garaging or
storing of motor vehicles. See State University of New York at Binghamton, supra. Accordingly,
the vehicle registration fees charged by Petitioner are not subject to sales tax imposed by Section
1105(c)(6) of the Tax Law.

DATED: May 24, 2001

NOTE:

/s/
Jonathan Pessen
Tax Regulations Specialist III
Technical Services Division

The opinions expressed in Advisory Opinions are
limited to the facts set forth therein.