Does attending meetings in New York count as “working” in NY and owing state income tax?

I’m wondering if anyone knows if attending meetings in New York is considered working and income on those days is eligible for being taxed by NY? I attended meetings for 3 days in NY - seems like a stretch that 3 meetings is considered working in N Y.

Well, for football players (NFL) they would be considered to have NY State taxable income if they play a game in New York. Pro football players have very complicated tax returns.

JimA

1 Like

NY law considers income to be NY source income if it’s from a business, trade, profession, or occupation carried on in New York State whether or not as an employee Instructions for Form IT-203 (ny.gov) so, assuming the meetings were related to your occupation or profession, NY would consider the income to be NY source income, and eligible to be taxed by NY.

That said, your NY source income has to exceed your NY state standard deduction to be taxable:

(You mark Item C as “Yes” if you can be claimed as a dependent on someone else’s tax return.)

So you need to figure out how much of your 2023 compensation you earned during those 3 days and see if that exceeds your NY standard deduction.

Edited to add:

If your employer withheld NY state income tax and you want to claim some or all of that withholding as a refund, you will need to file a NY state return to claim that refund.

AJ

3 Likes

Professional sports fall in their own category.

Essentially you wind up filing a state return for each state you played in. In the NFL you play 20 games (17 regular 3 pre-season, 1/2 home 1/2 away) and up to 4 playoff games. So a potential max of 15 state returns just from playing and a 16th if you reside somewhere else. So 1/20th of your salary subject to the state for that game. Can’t have an agreement of live in Florida and just pay me twice for home games either to avoid California/NY taxes.

Something like baseball is even more complicated where you could play 30 of 162 in California and 8 of 162 in Illinois so you wind up with crazy fractions of your salary being subjected to various state taxes.

Thank you for the comments. It’s probably safest to file. The amount is minimal, but the pain in the #&% factor is high.

1 Like

When determining how much of your compensation is considered to be NY source income, this method of allocating your compensation may help:

It’s from a NY State memorandum for non-resident withholding for employers m12_5i.pdf (ny.gov) but it shows an allocation method that is approved by the Department of Taxation and Finance.

AJ

1 Like

What happens if you show up for a game but sit on the bench the whole game?
Or you are injured, don’t suit up, but stand on the sidelines>

Asking for a friend. :slight_smile:

Mike

1 Like

Most of these guys are getting paid; either for being on the active roster or inactive roster. If they are in the state they will get taxed whether they play or not. I’m wondering if the teams do the withholding?

JimA

Did you get paid for that game? If so, then you are subject to any income taxes imposed by the city and/or state.

AJ

They can, but don’t necessarily have to. In general in NY, an employer needs to withhold for an employee who works for more than 14 days in NY. However, there are exemptions to the 14 day rule, including, but not limited to: professional athletes, performers and public speakers. You can see the details of NY withholding requirements for non residents in the link I provided above, and will provide again m12_5i.pdf (ny.gov)

AJ