I run trucks that only haul household goods for moving customers. Are those vehicles exempt from New York's Highway Use Tax?

Plain-English summary

An interstate motor carrier that transports household goods and other items for a fee asked whether its vehicles are exempt from New York's Highway Use Tax (HUT), which otherwise applies to the privilege of operating vehicles on the state's public highways (Tax Law § 503.1).

Tax Law § 504.5 exempts a vehicle used exclusively to transport "household goods" if the carrier is authorized by the state Commissioner of Transportation or the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC). The catch: Congress abolished the ICC in 1995 through the Interstate Commerce Commission Termination Act (ICCTA), shifting its regulatory functions first to the Surface Transportation Board and then, for household-goods-carrier determinations specifically, to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. The ICCTA also supplied its own federal definition of "household goods" in 49 U.S.C. § 13102(10).

New York's Transportation Law has its own definition of "household goods" too, but the Tax Law's HUT exemption doesn't reference it directly — it points to whatever the state Transportation Commissioner and the (now-succeeded) ICC/ICCTA regime define as household goods. The Department found that the federal government's ICCTA definition preempts part of the state Transportation Law's definition, but the property described in the core part of the state definition (personal effects and property used in a dwelling, as part of its furnishing) also independently qualifies as "household goods" under the federal ICCTA definition. Net result: a carrier's vehicles that are properly authorized and used exclusively to haul goods meeting both the state core definition and the ICCTA definition are exempt from HUT.

What this means for you

Household-goods moving and storage companies

If your trucks are properly authorized (by the state Transportation Commissioner or under federal motor-carrier authority) and used only to transport genuine household goods — personal effects and dwelling furnishings, not general freight — those vehicles are exempt from New York's Highway Use Tax. Mixing in non-household-goods freight on the same vehicle can jeopardize the "exclusively" requirement.

Trucking companies more broadly

This exemption is narrow and use-specific: it turns on what the vehicle actually hauls, not on the nature of your business generally. Keep documentation of your Transportation Commissioner or federal motor-carrier authorization and confirm the cargo definition matches both the state Transportation Law core definition and 49 U.S.C. § 13102(10).

Common questions

Q: Does the ICC still control this exemption since it no longer exists?
A: No. Its household-goods-carrier authority passed to the Surface Transportation Board and then to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, and the operative federal "household goods" definition now comes from the ICCTA, codified at 49 U.S.C. § 13102(10).

Q: Does New York's own Transportation Law definition of household goods still matter?
A: Yes, in part. The Department found that the items described in the primary/core clause of the state definition (Transportation Law § 2.15(a)) qualify as "household goods" under both the state definition and the federal ICCTA definition, so carriers properly authorized to haul that core category of goods qualify for the exemption.

Q: What if my truck also carries non-household-goods freight sometimes?
A: The exemption requires the vehicle be used exclusively to transport household goods — mixed use could take the vehicle out of the exemption for those trips.

Q: Can I rely on this ruling for my own trucking operation?
A: No. This advisory opinion binds the Department only as to the petitioner and the specific facts described.

Citations and references

Statutes:

• Tax Law § 503.1 (Highway Use Tax imposition)
• Tax Law § 504.5 (exemption for vehicles used exclusively to transport household goods)
• 49 U.S.C. § 13102(10) (ICCTA federal definition of "household goods")
• NY Transportation Law § 2.15(a) (state definition of household goods, core clause)

Related opinions

• TSB-A-95(2)M — an earlier Highway Use Tax opinion on the separate truck-mileage-tax laden/unladen-mile test, where (unlike here) the Department found NO connection to any ICC definition.
• TSB-A-92(1)M — an earlier ruling applying this same § 504.5 exemption to a household-goods mover's post-move disposal of packing debris (a byproduct-of-the-move extension of the exemption).

Source

• Landing page: https://www.tax.ny.gov/pubs_and_bulls/advisory_opinions/highway_use_ao.htm
• Opinion: https://www.tax.ny.gov/pdf/advisory_opinions/highway/a09_1m.pdf

Original ruling text

New York State Department of Taxation and Finance

Office of Counsel
Advisory Opinion Unit

TSB-A-09(1)M
Highway UseTax
January 15, 2009

STATE OF NEW YORK
COMMISSIONER OF TAXATION AND FINANCE
ADVISORY OPINION

PETITION NO. M080930A

A petition received September 30, 2008 from name and address information redacted, requests an advisory
opinion about whether its transportation of certain property is exempt from the Highway Use Tax (“HUT”)
imposed under Article 21 of the Tax Law. We conclude that Petitioner’s vehicles that are properly authorized and
used exclusively to transport household goods on New York State public highways are exempt from HUT. For
purposes of this exemption, the definition of “household goods” under federal law is applicable.
Petitioner is an interstate motor carrier that transports household goods and other items for a fee. A
highway use tax applies to the privilege of operating any vehicular unit upon the public highways of New York
State. (Tax Law § 503.1). Any vehicular unit, however, may be exempt from HUT if the vehicle is used
exclusively in the transportation of household goods (as defined by the Commissioner of Transportation of this
state or the Interstate Commerce Commission [“ICC”]) by a carrier under authority of the Commissioner of
Transportation of this state or the ICC. (Tax Law § 504.5).
The Interstate Commerce Commission Termination Act of 1995 (“ICCTA”) terminated the ICC. (49
U.S.C.A §§ 10101, et seq.). The ICCTA also transferred the governmental responsibilities pertinent to the
regulation of households goods carriers to the United States Department of Transportation’s Surface Transportation
Board (“STB”). The STB subsequently transferred to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration STB’s
authority to determine whether a trucking company qualifies as a “household goods carrier.” (Petition for
Declaratory Order—Household Goods Carriers’ Bureau Committee, STB Docket No. 42055 [STB served July 13,
2001]). Further, the ICCTA defines “household goods” as:
personal effects and property used or to be used in a dwelling, when a part of the equipment or supply of
such dwelling, and similar property if the transportation of such effects or property is—
(A)

arranged and paid for by the householder, except such term does not include property moving from a
factory or store, other than property that the householder has purchased with the intent to use in his or
her dwelling and is transported at the request of, and the transportation charges are paid to the carrier
by, the householder; or

(B)

arranged and paid for by another party. (49 U.S.C.A. § 13102[10]).

While the New York State Transportation Law contains a definition of “household goods1,” the Tax Law
does not reference that definition. Rather, the HUT exemption provides that vehicles that are properly authorized

1

New York State Transportation Law section 2.15(a) defines “household goods” as:

TSB-A-09(1)M
Highway Use Tax
January 15, 2009

-2-

and used exclusively in the transportation of “household goods,” as defined by the New York State Commissioner
of Transportation and the ICCTA, are exempt from HUT. The New York State Commissioner of Transportation
takes the position that the ICCTA preempts the definition of “household goods” in New York State Transportation
Law sections 2.15(b), (c). (U.S. Const, art. VI, § 2, see Howlett v. Rose, 496 U.S. 356, 371 [1990], quoting

Mondou v. New York, N.H. & H.R. Co., 223 U.S. 1, 57 [1912] [When Congress adopts an act it speaks
“‘for all the people and all the States, and thereby establishe[s] a policy for all. That policy is as much the
policy of [the State] as if the act had emanated from its own legislature, and should be respected
accordingly in the courts of the State’”]). The items described by New York State Transportation Law section
2.15(a), however, qualify for the “household goods” definition provided by the ICCTA. As a result, Petitioner’s
vehicles that are properly authorized and used exclusively to transport property that qualifies as “household goods”
under New York State Transportation Law section 2.15(a) and the ICCTA are exempt from HUT under Tax Law
section 504.5.

DATED: January 15, 2009

/S/
Jonathan Pessen
Director of Advisory Opinions
Office of Counsel

NOTE:

An Advisory Opinion is issued at the request of a person or entity. It is limited to the facts
set forth therein and is binding on the Department only with respect to the person or entity
to whom it is issued and only if the person or entity fully and accurately describes all
relevant facts. An Advisory Opinion is based on the law, regulations, and Department
policies in effect as of the date the Opinion is issued or for the specific time period at issue
in the Opinion.

(a) personal effects and property used or to be used in a dwelling when a part of the equipment or supply of such dwelling and
such other similar property as the commissioner may provide by regulation; except that this paragraph shall not be construed
to include property moving from a factory or store, except such property as the householder has purchased with intent to use in
his or her dwelling and which is transported at the request of, and the transportation charges paid to the carrier by, the
householder.