Our great state strikes again - the games they play....

[GeorgeB]

Our great state strikes again - and they wonder why there are so few companies that are willing to stay or open for business in NYS.

Has anyone else experienced this?

I am the president/sole shareholder of a one-man corporation, and have not had employees since incorporating.

Our great state keeps trying to assess penalties and fines for my lack of compliance because I don't carry worker's compensation insurance - which is not required because I do not have employees.

Every single month for the past 4 months I've received notices that I'm not in compliance, and each time I've filled out the proper paperwork indicating that I am exempt from carrying this insurance. Yet the notices keep coming, and now they've assessed fines and penalties for my non-compliance.

Calling on the phone is useless - I'd get more accomplished by banging my head against the wall, I know because I've tried multiple times. (As an aside, apparently the employees at the state level forget that they WORK FOR THE TAXPAYER, not the other way around... but I digress...)

So I will continue as I have been, I'll send the proper paperwork back - AGAIN - and wait for another round next month.

But in the meantime, my question to the board is this - has anyone else experienced this? If so, do you have any hints for correcting this once and for all?

I have to tell you, this feels an awful lot like a game to try and suck money out of little companies like mine. I wonder how many of my peers would just bite the bullet and pay the fine because they don't have the time to deal with this? Not many, I'd hope, but I'm a realist and know better. So has anyone else experienced this? Is my situation common? Can anyone here tell me if this is just 'the state being the state', in that they are behind the ball, or is this yet another 'hidden tax' that the pols. are trying to slip through to the little guys?

In the grand scheme of things it's really not a big deal, I realize. I am exempt from carrying this insurance, and am not liable for the penalties so say the lawyer and accountant. However it's inconvenient to have to deal with month after month, I'd much rather spend the time on, well, business!

And maybe I need to take off my tinfoil hat, but this just doen't seem fully above-board. Hopefully someone here can shed some light on this, or at least point me in the right direction to resolving this once and for all.

Why post this to the message board, you might ask? The reason is simple, I don't believe that I am the only person/company this is affecting, and I believe that the state should be making it as easy as possible for companies to do business, and shouldn't be putting up roadblocks at every turn. Perhaps enough people will say, "yes, that happened to me also" and we can find a common thread to use to take to the pols. to get this fixed for everyone, once and for all.

...end rant... thanks for listening.

[concernedwnyer]

Our great state strikes again - and they wonder why there are so few companies that are willing to stay or open for business in NYS.

Has anyone else experienced this?

I am the president/sole shareholder of a one-man corporation, and have not had employees since incorporating.

Our great state keeps trying to assess penalties and fines for my lack of compliance because I don't carry worker's compensation insurance - which is not required because I do not have employees.

Every single month for the past 4 months I've received notices that I'm not in compliance, and each time I've filled out the proper paperwork indicating that I am exempt from carrying this insurance. Yet the notices keep coming, and now they've assessed fines and penalties for my non-compliance.

Calling on the phone is useless - I'd get more accomplished by banging my head against the wall, I know because I've tried multiple times. (As an aside, apparently the employees at the state level forget that they WORK FOR THE TAXPAYER, not the other way around... but I digress...)

So I will continue as I have been, I'll send the proper paperwork back - AGAIN - and wait for another round next month.

But in the meantime, my question to the board is this - has anyone else experienced this? If so, do you have any hints for correcting this once and for all?

I have to tell you, this feels an awful lot like a game to try and suck money out of little companies like mine. I wonder how many of my peers would just bite the bullet and pay the fine because they don't have the time to deal with this? Not many, I'd hope, but I'm a realist and know better. So has anyone else experienced this? Is my situation common? Can anyone here tell me if this is just 'the state being the state', in that they are behind the ball, or is this yet another 'hidden tax' that the pols. are trying to slip through to the little guys?

In the grand scheme of things it's really not a big deal, I realize. I am exempt from carrying this insurance, and am not liable for the penalties so say the lawyer and accountant. However it's inconvenient to have to deal with month after month, I'd much rather spend the time on, well, business!

And maybe I need to take off my tinfoil hat, but this just doen't seem fully above-board. Hopefully someone here can shed some light on this, or at least point me in the right direction to resolving this once and for all.

Why post this to the message board, you might ask? The reason is simple, I don't believe that I am the only person/company this is affecting, and I believe that the state should be making it as easy as possible for companies to do business, and shouldn't be putting up roadblocks at every turn. Perhaps enough people will say, "yes, that happened to me also" and we can find a common thread to use to take to the pols. to get this fixed for everyone, once and for all.

...end rant... thanks for listening.

Send them a penny in an evelope with a message. They need it. You look at NY on a map the shape of the state seems to be that of a key but the state likes to emulate a huge vacuum cleaner in contrast. Oh, perhaps that is why the Western part of the state narrows and the Eastern part of the state is huge. It really is an Albany thing.
Come on George get on board with the way things are done.

[steven]

I am the president/sole shareholder of a one-man corporation, and have not had employees since incorporating.

I don't believe that I am the only person/company this is affecting, and I believe that the state should be making it as easy as possible for companies to do business, and shouldn't be putting up roadblocks at every turn. Perhaps enough people will say, "yes, that happened to me also" and we can find a common thread to use to take to the pols. to get this fixed for everyone, once and for all.

Not trying to give you a hard time or anything but I dont no of any one person operations that opted for incorporation. Why did you choose that route if I may ask?

[Curmudgeon]

Incorporate in Delaware. They're business friendly and everybody else does it.

[concernedwnyer]

Incorporate in Delaware. They're business friendly and everybody else does it.

That does not excuse you from ALL legal obligations while doing business in NY state.... Otherwise yes, Delaware is a small state that makes a lot of money by having businesses file for business license.

[concernedwnyer]

Not trying to give you a hard time or anything but I dont no of any one person operations that opted for incorporation. Why did you choose that route if I may ask?

Liability protection that is one important point. Many wholesale businesses will not do business with you unless you can provide a business license.
Doing Business As is old school. Establish a business name another reason..... many plus points.........

[steven]

Liability protection that is one important point. Many wholesale businesses will not do business with you unless you can provide a business license.
Doing Business As is old school. Establish a business name another reason..... many plus points.........

you dont need to incorporate to do business under another name.

[GeorgeB]

Not trying to give you a hard time or anything but I dont no of any one person operations that opted for incorporation. Why did you choose that route if I may ask?

I won't be one-man much longer, it looks like. Not sure exactly when, but soon, so incorporating was in preparation for growth.

[steven]

thanks, I was just curious

[Effigy]

Our great state strikes again - and they wonder why there are so few companies that are willing to stay or open for business in NYS.

Has anyone else experienced this?

I am the president/sole shareholder of a one-man corporation, and have not had employees since incorporating.

Our great state keeps trying to assess penalties and fines for my lack of compliance because I don't carry worker's compensation insurance - which is not required because I do not have employees.


...end rant... thanks for listening.

Hi George,

I'm a partner in a small Corporation (+ - 4 employees) and we've been fined by NYS twice in 2 years for nonexistant reasons. The last was $240.00 ($60 X # of employees) for late reporting of unemployment fees withheld. We pay a small fee every month to a payroll service to do these things for us. When I received the notice of the fine from the state, I immediately called the home office of the payroll service (in Arizona, IIRC) to inquire. When I got the proper individual on the phone, the first words out of her mouth were "Let me guess, you're in New York, right?" According to her, this is done all the time. Many companies will just pay the fine and not protest. At $60.00 per employee, the money adds up pretty quickly. I did send a check, but also requested an investigation, both by the State and by the payroll service. Several months later, I did receive a refund check that included a few dollars of interest. But how many people just pay it, figuring that it's not worth fighting?

[GeorgeB]

Hi George,

I'm a partner in a small Corporation (+ - 4 employees) and we've been fined by NYS twice in 2 years for nonexistant reasons. The last was $240.00 ($60 X # of employees) for late reporting of unemployment fees withheld. We pay a small fee every month to a payroll service to do these things for us. When I received the notice of the fine from the state, I immediately called the home office of the payroll service (in Arizona, IIRC) to inquire. When I got the proper individual on the phone, the first words out of her mouth were "Let me guess, you're in New York, right?" According to her, this is done all the time. Many companies will just pay the fine and not protest. At $60.00 per employee, the money adds up pretty quickly. I did send a check, but also requested an investigation, both by the State and by the payroll service. Several months later, I did receive a refund check that included a few dollars of interest. But how many people just pay it, figuring that it's not worth fighting?

Thanks for taking the time to respond. That's great to know. I've heard a handful of similar stories since I've posted this.

I think someone needs to look into this, this is completely at odds with trying to promote new business and business growth in NYS. I'm not sure where to go from here, but I really want to make a big deal out of this. Perhaps if the news does a story to this effect we can get some of the local pols. to take a close look. They might not be able to do anything about it, but I'd really like to compile a list of local companies that have been affected by these types of games so that we can use the critical mass to force this to be reviewed.

Thanks again for taking the time to share your experiences.