Albany – Senator Ken LaValle, (R-Port Jefferson) and Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele, Jr. (I, D, WF-Sag Harbor) announced that their legislation (S.4668/A.6724) that exempts non-farm wineries which produce less than 150,000 gallons annually from filing annual information returns regarding their transactions with sales tax vendors has been signed by Governor Cuomo into law as Chapter 485 of the Laws of 2015.

Under State law, all beer, wine, and liquor wholesalers are required to report sales made to restaurants, bars and other retailers to the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance. Farm wineries and craft breweries were included within the definition of a wholesaler required to report such information until Senator LaValle and Assemblyman Thiele passed legislation in 2012 (Chapter 107 of the Laws of 2012) to exclude them.

This new law will now exempt non-farm wineries from this costly and burdensome paperwork requirement. Because of their restricted size, producing less than 150,000 gallons annually, it is difficult for many non-farm wineries to absorb the cost of complying with the annual filing requirement.