New York Court Revives Site Inspectors’ Sales Tax Challenges

Four of 11 site safety management firms may proceed with their claims that their services aren’t subject to New York sales tax, a state appeals court ruled Thursday.

Safety and Quality Plus Inc., AP Tristate-Safety Corp., Menotti Enterprise LLC, and The Casa Group had been audited and informed by the Department of Taxation and Finance that they owed sales tax.

Those companies weren’t required to exhaust administrative remedies because they attacked the sales tax statute as wholly inapplicable to their work, Justice Andrew G. Ceresia wrote for the New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division, Third Judicial Department.

The trial court ...