How to Complete and File New York Form ST-100: Sales Tax Return

New York Form ST-100 is the quarterly sales and use tax return that businesses holding a Certificate of Authority file with the Department of Taxation and Finance to report the sales tax they collected and remit it to the state. The return is due within 20 days after each sales tax quarter ends, and most filers must submit it electronically through Sales Tax Web File. You report taxable sales and use tax purchases jurisdiction by jurisdiction, applying the 4% state rate plus whatever local rate and Metropolitan Commuter Transportation District surcharge apply.

Who Files Form ST-100

If you hold a New York Certificate of Authority to collect sales tax, you file quarterly on ST-100 unless the Department has assigned you a different frequency. Most vendors start out as quarterly filers when they first register.¹

Two thresholds move you off ST-100:

If your taxable receipts, purchases subject to use tax, rents, and amusement charges hit $300,000 or more in any quarter, you switch to monthly filing on Form ST-810 starting the first month after that quarter.¹
If you owe $3,000 or less in sales tax for the full annual filing period, the Department may assign you to annual filing on Form ST-101.¹

You can check your current frequency by logging into Business Online Services at tax.ny.gov. The Department also notifies vendors in writing when it changes an assignment. If your sales push you past the $300,000 threshold, you’re expected to switch on your own rather than wait for a notice.

Quarterly Due Dates

New York’s sales tax quarters don’t line up with the calendar year. Returns are due within 20 days after each quarter closes, and when the 20th falls on a weekend or legal holiday the deadline slides to the next business day.¹ The current cycle’s dates:²

1st quarter (March 1 – May 31): due June 20, 2025
2nd quarter (June 1 – August 31): due September 22, 2025
3rd quarter (September 1 – November 30): due December 22, 2025
4th quarter (December 1 – February 28): due March 20, 2026

Timely filing is judged by the date of your electronic submission or the postmark on a mailed return.

What to Have Ready Before You Start

Pull these figures together before you open the form:

Gross sales for the quarter, before any deductions.
Exempt and nontaxable sales, with a properly completed exemption certificate on file for each one. Form ST-120 covers resale purchases.
Taxable sales broken out by the county or city where delivery occurred. Each locality has its own combined rate and reporting code.
Purchases subject to use tax, meaning items you bought for business use where the seller didn’t collect New York sales tax. Out-of-state purchases are the common example.
Credits you’re claiming, such as tax you already paid on inventory that was later resold.

Jurisdiction codes and combined rates are published in the Department’s sales tax rate publications, searchable at tax.ny.gov.³ You need the correct code for every locality where you made taxable deliveries.

Filling Out the Return

ST-100 is built around jurisdiction-level reporting. Instead of one statewide total, you report taxable amounts on a separate line for each locality where transactions took place. Two columns do most of the work:

Column C is taxable sales and services for that jurisdiction. Enter the sale amount without sales tax included.
Column D is purchases subject to tax: items you bought without paying New York sales tax and then used in that jurisdiction, including out-of-state purchases and purchases made in a lower-rate area for use in a higher-rate one.⁴

The system multiplies each jurisdiction’s taxable amount by its combined rate, then totals the results to produce your overall liability. Don’t repeat a sale on a jurisdiction line if you already reported it on one of the supplemental schedules.

State Rate, Local Rates, and the MCTD Surcharge

The base state rate is 4%. Local jurisdictions add their own rates, and an additional 0.375% surcharge applies to taxable sales within the Metropolitan Commuter Transportation District, which covers New York City plus Dutchess, Nassau, Orange, Putnam, Rockland, Suffolk, and Westchester counties.⁵ Combined rates around the state run roughly 7% to 8.875%.⁶

Supplemental Schedules

Some categories of sales need their own schedule attached to the return, with the totals carried into boxes 3, 4, and 5 on page 2 of ST-100.² The ones filers run into most often:

Schedule A (ST-100.2) for selected sales and services in Nassau and Niagara Counties.
Schedule B (ST-100.3) for utilities and heating fuels.
Schedule N (ST-100.5) for selected sales and services in New York City, with Schedule N-ATT for New York City parking.
Schedule H (ST-100.7) for clothing and footwear eligible for exemption.
Schedule T (ST-100.8) for telephone services.
Schedule FR for qualified motor fuel and highway diesel motor fuel.
Schedule E for the paper carryout bag reduction fee.
Schedule CW for calculating credits against your liability.

Most small retailers only use the main jurisdiction pages. The schedules matter mainly for businesses selling utilities, fuel, telephone service, or operating in localities with special rules.

Sales Through Marketplaces

When you sell through a marketplace provider such as Amazon, eBay, or Etsy, the provider collects and remits the sales tax on those transactions. You still need to reflect the sales on your ST-100. Include marketplace-facilitated sales in gross sales, then report the same amount as nontaxable sales so no tax calculates on them.⁷ Keep the Certificate of Collection the marketplace provides along with your records. Leaving these sales off the return entirely makes your gross sales look inconsistent with your actual revenue.

If You Had No Sales

Even a quarter with no taxable sales, no purchases subject to tax, and no credits still requires a filed return. Complete Step 1, write “none” in boxes 12, 13, and 14 on page 3, and complete Step 9. A late zero return still triggers a $50 penalty.⁴

How to File and Pay

Most vendors must file electronically through Sales Tax Web File. The mandate applies if you prepare your own tax documents, use a computer to calculate them, and have broadband internet access, which covers nearly every business today.¹⁸

Log into Business Online Services at tax.ny.gov with your NY.gov ID. The system prompts you through entering your figures by jurisdiction, calculates the tax for each locality, and produces a summary to review. After submission it issues a confirmation number; keep it as proof of filing.

Inside Web File you can pay by ACH debit, which authorizes the state to pull the exact amount from your business bank account, or by credit or debit card. Card payments carry a 2.20% convenience fee charged by the payment processor, Wells Fargo, so ACH is cheaper for anything but small amounts.⁹ Download and save both the filed return and the payment receipt.

Penalties and Interest

Filing or paying late runs up penalties fast. For returns up to 60 days late, the penalty is 10% of the tax due for the first month plus 1% for each additional month or partial month, capped at 30%, with a $50 minimum regardless of how small the tax is. More than 60 days late, or a failure to file, brings the greater of that percentage calculation, $100 (or 100% of the tax due, whichever is less), or $50.¹⁰

Interest accrues on any unpaid tax from the original due date until it’s paid. The Department sets the rate quarterly and posts it at tax.ny.gov. No interest is charged if the amount comes to less than a dollar.¹¹

Fixing an Error After You File

To correct a mistake on a filed return, prepare a new ST-100 for the same period as if you were filing for the first time, using the corrected figures, and submit every schedule that relates to what changed. You can Web File the amended return or mail it. If the correction produces an overpayment, you can request a refund or apply the credit to a future period.

Records to Keep

Keep every record that supports an ST-100 filing for at least three years from the return’s due date or the date you actually filed, whichever is later.¹² Exemption certificates like Form ST-120 follow the same three-year minimum.¹³ The Department can extend the period if your records become part of an audit or legal proceeding. If your point-of-sale system can’t hold three years of data, or if you switch systems, the older data has to be moved to a format the Department can still access and audit.

1
Department of Taxation and Finance. Filing Requirements for Sales and Use Tax Returns
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New York State Department of Taxation and Finance. Quarterly Filer Forms (Form ST-100 Series)
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New York State Department of Taxation and Finance. Sales Tax Rate Publications
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New York State Department of Taxation and Finance. Instructions for Form ST-100 New York State and Local Quarterly Sales and Use Tax Return
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Department of Taxation and Finance. Sales Tax Rates, Additional Sales Taxes, and Fees
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New York State Department of Taxation and Finance. Find Sales Tax Rates
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New York State Department of Taxation and Finance. Sales Tax Requirements for Marketplace Providers
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New York State Department of Taxation and Finance. File Online With Sales Tax Web File
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New York State Department of Taxation and Finance. Credit and Debit Card Payment Information
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New York Department of Taxation and Finance. New York Sales and Use Tax Penalties
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New York Codes, Rules and Regulations. 20 CRR-NY 536.1 – Penalties and Interest
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New York State Department of Taxation and Finance. Recordkeeping Requirements for Sales Tax Vendors
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New York State Department of Taxation and Finance. New York State and Local Sales and Use Tax Resale Certificate