By Samantha Trencs and Eric Tresh

The New York State Department of Taxation and Finance issued an advisory opinion concluding that a detailed report of customer behavior that includes both client-specific and industry-related information is a service subject to sales and use tax. Tax Law § 1105(c)(1) imposes sales and use tax on information services; however, the tax is not imposed on information that is personal or individual in nature which cannot be substantially incorporated in reports furnished to other persons. The Department determined that the personal or individual information exclusion did not apply in this case because a portion of the information in the client reports came from public sources that could be utilized in other reports for similarly situated clients and thus was not personal or individual in nature. The Department further determined that the non-personal information included in the client reports was not de minimis. Without the use of the non-personal information about a client’s particular industry, a comparison of the client’s performance relative to its competitors would not be possible. TSB-A-16(33)S. The advisory opinion is consistent with the Department’s expansive interpretation of sales tax on information services.