Broadway Shows Don’t Owe NYC Commercial Rent Tax on Billboards

Four Broadway productions aren’t required to pay New York City commercial rent tax on their billboard advertising because they contracted with third parties for advertising services, not the use of the billboards, a city tribunal ruled.

The city’s commercial rent tax applies to tenants of taxable premises, including advertising signs. The productions, among them The Phantom of the Opera and Mamma Mia, asked the New York City Tax Appeals Tribunal to overturn the city’s rent tax on their billboard advertising because their contracts didn’t allow them use of the billboard space.

In a decision posted Friday, Administrative Law Judge John ...