When Is NYS Sales Tax Due? Quarterly, Annual and Monthly
Short answer: When is NYS sales tax due? For most businesses, quarterly: by June 20, September 20, December 20 and March 20, which is 20 days after each New York sales tax quarter ends. Annual filers file once, by March 20. Monthly filers file by the 20th of every month.
The catch is that New York’s quarters end in May, August, November and February, not March, June, September and December. When the 20th lands on a weekend or holiday, the due date moves to the next business day, and a return is due even if you sold nothing taxable.
It’s the first week of April and Dolores — I’ll call her Dolores — is closing up her candle shop in Albany. Behind the counter sits a mint-green cash register she bought at an estate sale and named Gus. Next to Gus is a sticky note she wrote in January: “Q1 sales tax — due April 20.”
It is a perfectly reasonable note. It is also wrong in two places. New York’s first quarter didn’t end in March, and the return she was thinking of was due on March 20.
Dolores isn’t careless. She is using the calendar everyone else uses, and New York’s sales tax doesn’t.
Here is the calendar New York actually runs on, checked against the Tax Department’s own publications: the quarters, the three filing schedules, the weekend rule, and what each missed 20th costs.
New York starts its sales tax year in March
The Tax Department’s bulletin on filing requirements for sales and use tax returns sets out the quarters. They are shifted two months later than the calendar quarters most people carry in their heads.
- March 1 to May 31. The first quarter of the New York sales tax year.
- June 1 to August 31. The summer quarter.
- September 1 to November 30. The quarter you are probably in right now, if you are reading this in the fall.
- December 1 to the last day of February. The holiday quarter, which straddles two calendar years and includes a leap day when there is one.
It is a bit like a school year. Nobody thinks the year starts in January if they have children in school, and nobody filing New York sales tax should either. The difference is that school sends a reminder home in a backpack.
Your income tax still runs on the calendar year, and so does your federal estimated tax schedule. That is why the mistake is so easy: you are keeping two calendars, and only one of them is printed on the wall.
The four quarterly due dates
Quarterly is the default schedule for most small businesses. Quarterly returns are due no later than 20 days after the end of the quarter they cover, which gives you four dates to remember.
- 1. June 20, for March through May. In 2026 the 20th was a Saturday, so the Tax Department’s calendar moved it to June 22.
- 2. September 20, for June through August. In 2026 the 20th was a Sunday, so it moved to September 21.
- 3. December 20, for September through November. December 20, 2026 is a Sunday, so the return for the current quarter is due Monday, December 21, 2026.
- 4. March 20, for December through February. March 20, 2027 is a Saturday, so under the weekend rule that return is due Monday, March 22, 2027.
You can check any year’s dates on the Tax Department’s 2026 tax calendar, which lists the quarterly returns on March 20, June 22, September 21 and December 21.
Notice the December one. It lands in the busiest retail week of the year, the week when you are least likely to sit down with a spreadsheet. New York did not plan that to annoy candle shops. It just works out that way, every single year.
Annual and monthly filers run on different clocks
Quarterly is the middle setting. Very small vendors file less often and large vendors file more often, and the thresholds are set by the Tax Department, not chosen by you.
- Annual filers: once a year, by March 20. The annual period runs March 1 through the last day of February. You qualify only if you owe $3,000 or less in sales and use tax for that period.
- Part-quarterly filers: every month, by the 20th. If your taxable receipts, purchases subject to use tax, rents and amusement charges reach $300,000 or more in a quarter, you switch to monthly filing starting with the first month of the next quarter.
- Monthly filers still file a quarterly return. For the first two months of each quarter you file a short monthly return on the Form ST-809 series, due the 20th of the following month. The quarterly Form ST-810 then covers the full quarter and reports sales by locality.
- The biggest vendors prepay through PrompTax. Vendors with annual sales and use tax liability over $500,000 generally must use PrompTax, an electronic program that replaces the monthly return with prepayments.
Think of it as a gym membership in reverse. The more you use New York, the more often New York wants to see you.
The $3,000 annual threshold is tax owed, not sales. At an 8% combined rate, $3,000 of tax is roughly $37,500 of taxable sales a year, so a side business or a seasonal stall can easily qualify, while a busy storefront usually will not.
How to tell which schedule you are on
You do not pick your filing frequency off a menu. New York assigns it when you register for your Certificate of Authority and changes it when your numbers change, and it tells you when it does.
- Look in your Online Services account. Your account shows the returns you are expected to file and the periods they cover. If the list shows quarterly periods ending in May, August, November and February, you are a quarterly filer.
- Quarterly can become annual. The Tax Department may reclassify you as an annual filer if your tax for the four most recent quarters totals $3,000 or less.
- Annual can become quarterly. If your annual tax goes over $3,000, you may be moved back to quarterly.
- Quarterly can become monthly. Cross $300,000 in a quarter and the switch takes effect the first month after that quarter.
- Read the letter from the Tax Department. Reclassification arrives as a notice. It looks exactly like every other envelope you have been meaning to open.
That last one is where most schedule mistakes come from. Not misunderstanding the rule, just a letter sitting under a catalog for three months. We are an accounting firm and we have our own pile. Ours is tidier, but it is still a pile.
No sales still means a return
This is the rule that catches seasonal businesses, new businesses and anyone who registered “just in case.” Once you hold a Certificate of Authority, a return is due every period, whether or not anything was sold.
- Zero sales: still file by the due date. The Tax Department says you must file even if your business made no taxable sales or purchases during the period.
- A late zero return still costs $50. The minimum penalty for late filing is $50, even if no tax is due for the period.
- Closing down? Tell the state. If you stop making taxable sales for good, tell the Tax Department and file your final return. Until you do, the state keeps expecting one every period.
A $50 penalty on a return that says “0” is the purest fee in American tax. You are not paying for tax. You are paying for silence.
Dolores runs a summer pop-up at a lake as well as the shop. The pop-up is closed from September to May, and its quarter still needs a return. Filing a zero takes a few minutes online. Skipping it costs $50 a time.
Filing, paying and the weekend rule
The return and the payment share one due date, and most of the mechanics are simpler than the calendar.
- File online through Web File. Web filing is required if you prepare your own return using a computer and have broadband internet access, which describes almost everyone reading this.
- Weekends and holidays push the date forward. If the due date falls on a Saturday, Sunday or legal holiday, the return is due the next business day. Never earlier.
- The return reports sales by location. New York collects state and local tax on one return, so your records need to show where each taxable sale happened, not just the total.
- Interest compounds daily. The rate can change every quarter, so the cost of waiting grows a little every day rather than once a month.
Here is the honest part. If you sell from one location, file quarterly and your point-of-sale system already reports taxable sales by quarter, you do not need an accountant for this. Put the four dates in your phone, set the reminder a week early, and file it yourself. It is a twenty-minute job that we would be embarrassed to charge you for.
Help pays for itself when the picture gets crowded: several locations, a monthly schedule, services that may or may not be taxable, or online sales into other states. Our guide to sales tax compliance services covers how New York taxes contractor labor and what a multi-state setup looks like, and does Shopify collect sales tax explains where online sales leave you on your own.
If that is you, our services page shows what we take on, and our pricing is flat and published. We work with New York owners remotely. Njock is an accountant, not a CPA or a tax attorney; if you are already disputing an assessment with the Tax Department, we will tell you that you need one of those instead.
What a missed 20th actually costs
Take Dolores’s holiday quarter. Say she collects $4,000 of sales tax from customers between December and February. That money was never hers. She was holding it for the state, the way a coat check holds your coat.
If she pays a month late, the penalty is generally 10% of the tax for the first month: $400. Each further month or part of a month adds 1%, which is $40, up to a cap of 30%, which is $1,200. Interest runs on top, compounded daily. And a late return is never cheaper than $50, even if it shows no tax at all.
The worse version is the quiet one: a note that says “April 20” for a return that was due March 20, repeated every quarter for a year. Each quarter is late by about a month, and each one picks up its own 10%.
None of this needs anything clever. It needs the right four dates. Dolores threw away the sticky note, wrote June 20, September 20, December 20 and March 20 on a new one, and stuck it to Gus, who has been keeping better time ever since.
Frequently asked questions
- When is NYS sales tax due?
- Most New York vendors file quarterly, and quarterly returns are due 20 days after each sales tax quarter ends: June 20, September 20, December 20 and March 20. If the 20th falls on a Saturday, Sunday or legal holiday, the return is due the next business day. Annual filers file once, by March 20, and part-quarterly filers file every month.
- What are the New York sales tax quarters?
- New York sales tax quarters do not follow the calendar year. They run March 1 to May 31, June 1 to August 31, September 1 to November 30, and December 1 to the last day of February.
- When is the NYS annual sales tax return due?
- The annual return covers March 1 through the last day of February and is due by March 20. You can be an annual filer only if you owe $3,000 or less in sales and use tax for the annual period, and the Tax Department tells you if you are reclassified.
- Who has to file NYS sales tax monthly?
- Vendors whose taxable receipts, purchases subject to use tax, rents and amusement charges total $300,000 or more in a quarter become part-quarterly filers. They file a monthly return by the 20th of the following month for the first two months of each quarter and a full quarterly return for the quarter as a whole.
- Do I have to file a NYS sales tax return if I had no sales?
- Yes. New York requires a sales and use tax return by the due date even if you made no taxable sales or purchases during the period. The minimum penalty for filing late is $50, even when no tax is due.
- What is the penalty for filing NYS sales tax late?
- For tax that is not paid on time, the penalty is generally 10% of the tax due for the first month plus 1% for each additional month or part of a month, up to 30% of the tax. Interest is charged on top, compounded daily. A late return is never cheaper than $50.
- What happens if the NYS sales tax due date is on a weekend?
- The return and payment are due on the next business day. In 2026 that moved the June 20 due date to June 22, the September 20 due date to September 21, and the December 20 due date to December 21.
- How do I file and pay NYS sales tax?
- Most vendors file and pay online through the Tax Department's Web File system in their Online Services account. Web filing is required if you prepare your own return using a computer and have broadband internet access. Vendors with more than $500,000 a year in sales and use tax liability generally must use the PrompTax electronic payment program instead.
More plain-English answers.
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