2006 New York Code - General Powers Of The Commissioner Of Finance.

 
    §  11-687  General  powers of the commissioner of finance. 1. General.
  The commissioner of finance shall administer and enforce the tax imposed
  by the named subchapters and the commissioner is authorized to make such
  rules and regulations, and to require such facts and information  to  be
  reported,  as  the  commissioner  may  deem  necessary  to  enforce  the
  provisions of this subchapter and of  the  named  subchapters;  and  the
  commissioner  may delegate the commissioner's powers and functions under
  all subchapters of this chapter to one of the commissioner's deputies or
  to any employee or employees of his or her department.
    2. Examination of books and witnesses. The  commissioner  of  finance,
  for  the  purpose  of ascertaining the correctness of any return, or for
  the purpose of making an estimate of tax liability of  any  corporation,
  shall  have  power to examine or to cause to have examined, by any agent
  or representative designated by the commissioner for that  purpose,  any
  books, papers, records or memoranda bearing upon the matters required to
  be  included  in  the  return,  and  may  require  the attendance of the
  corporation rendering the return through any officer or employee of such
  corporation, or the attendance of any other person having  knowledge  in
  the  premises, and may take testimony and require proof material for the
  commissioner's information, with  power  to  administer  oaths  to  such
  person or persons.
    3.   Abatement   authority.   The  commissioner  of  finance,  of  the
  commissioner's own motion, may abate any  small  unpaid  balance  of  an
  assessment  of  tax,  or  any  liability  in  respect  thereof,  if  the
  commissioner of finance determines under uniform rules prescribed by the
  commissioner that the administration and collection costs involved would
  not warrant collection of the amount  due.  The  commissioner  may  also
  abate, of his or her own motion, the unpaid portion of the assessment of
  any  tax  or  any  liability  in  respect thereof, which is excessive in
  amount, or is assessed after the expiration of the period of  limitation
  properly applicable thereto, or is erroneously or illegally assessed. No
  claim for abatement under this subdivision shall be filed by a taxpayer.
    4.  Special  refund  authority.  Where no questions of fact or law are
  involved and it appears from the records of the commissioner of  finance
  that  any  moneys  have been erroneously or illegally collected from any
  taxpayer or other person, or paid by such taxpayer or other person under
  a mistake of facts, pursuant to the provisions of this subchapter or any
  of the named  subchapters,  the  commissioner  of  finance  at  anytime,
  without  regard to any period of limitations, shall have the power, upon
  making a record of his or her reasons therefor in writing, to cause such
  moneys so paid and being erroneously and illegally held to be refunded.
    5. (a) Authority to set interest rates. The  commissioner  of  finance
  shall  set the overpayment and underpayment rates of interest to be paid
  pursuant to sections 11-606, 11-608, 11-645, 11-647, 11-675, 11-676, and
  11-679 of this chapter, but if no such rate or  rates  of  interest  are
  set,  such  rate  or  rates shall be deemed to be set at six percent per
  annum. Such overpayment  and  underpayment  rates  shall  be  the  rates
  prescribed  in  paragraph  (b)  of this subdivision but the underpayment
  rate shall not be less than six percent per annum. Any such rates set by
  the commissioner of  finance  shall  apply  to  taxes,  or  any  portion
  thereof,  which remain or become due or overpaid on or after the date on
  which such rates become effective and shall apply only with  respect  to
  interest  computed  or  computable  for  periods  or portions of periods
  occurring in the period during which such rates are in effect.
    (b) General rule. (A) Overpayment rate. The overpayment rate set under
  this subdivision shall be the sum of (i) the federal short-term rate  as
  provided  under  paragraph  (c)  of  this  subdivision,  plus  (ii)  two
  percentage points.


    (B)  Underpayment  rate.  The  underpayment  rate   set   under   this
  subdivision  shall  be  the  sum  of  (i) the federal short-term rate as
  provided under  paragraph  (c)  of  this  subdivision,  plus  (ii)  five
  percentage points.
    (c) Federal short-term rate. For purposes of this subdivision:
    (A)  The  federal  short-term  rate for any month shall be the federal
  short-term rate  determined  by  the  United  States  secretary  of  the
  treasury  during such month in accordance with subsection (d) of section
  twelve hundred seventy-four of the internal  revenue  code  for  use  in
  connection  with  section  six  thousand  six  hundred twenty-one of the
  internal revenue code. Any such rate shall be  rounded  to  the  nearest
  full  percent  (or,  if a multiple of one-half of one percent, such rate
  shall be increased to the next highest full percent).
    (B) Period during which rate applies.
    (i)  In  general.  Except  as  provided  in  clause   (ii)   of   this
  subparagraph,  the  federal  short-term rate for the first month in each
  calendar quarter shall apply during the first calendar quarter beginning
  after such month.
    (ii) Special  rule  for  the  month  of  September,  nineteen  hundred
  eighty-nine.  The  federal  short-term  rate  for  the  month  of April,
  nineteen hundred eighty-nine shall apply with  respect  to  setting  the
  overpayment  and underpayment rates for the month of September, nineteen
  hundred eighty-nine.
    (d) Publication of interest rates. The commissioner of  finance  shall
  cause  to  be  published  in the city record, and give other appropriate
  general notice of, the interest rates to be set under  this  subdivision
  no  later  than  twenty  days  preceding  the  first day of the calendar
  quarter  during  which  such  interest  rates  apply.  The  setting  and
  publication  of  such  interest  rates  shall  not  be  included  within
  paragraph (a) of subdivision five of section one thousand  forty-one  of
  the city charter relating to the definition of a rule.
    (e)  Cross-reference.  For  provisions  relating  to  the power of the
  commissioner  of  finance  to  abate  small  amounts  of  interest,  see
  subdivision three of this section.
    6.  In  computing the amount of any interest required to be paid under
  this subchapter or any of the named subchapters by the  commissioner  of
  finance  or by the taxpayer, or any other amount determined by reference
  to such amount of interest, such  interest  and  such  amount  shall  be
  compounded daily. The preceding sentence shall not apply for purposes of
  computing the amount of any addition to tax for failure to pay estimated
  tax under subdivision three of section 11-676 of this subchapter.