State Extends Sales Tax Deadline For NYC Restaurants to March 2021

Cuomo extends sales tax deadline to next year

NYC restaurants received a temporary reprieve over the weekend when Gov. Andrew Cuomo postponed the sales tax deadline. Initially due today, the sales tax deadline has now been extended to March 2021. The extension applies to all locales where indoor dining has been suspended, meaning all of NYC’s restaurants qualify for the extension.

“We’re taking measures that will provide much needed tax relief for some of those hardest hit by this pandemic,” Cuomo said in a statement. Previously, the state had waived late fees for sales tax payments that were due in March, just days after the state-mandated shutdown on restaurants went into effect due to the pandemic.

Many in the restaurant industry have called for these payments to be waived entirely or created into grant money for an industry that has been ravaged by the pandemic. So far, the state has declined to waive these payments, but the extension will still provide some short-term relief. Restaurants looking to qualify for the tax relief will need to apply on the state tax department’s website.

In other news

— Following the indoor ban, chef Hong Thaimee has added a few additions to her menu at Greenwich Village pop-up, Thaimee Love. Items include a lunch special with the option to choose between drunken noodles, pad Thai, or green curry along with soup, and several meal kits that can be prepared at home.

— Along with her other hit items, baker Melissa Weller is now selling her New York-style bagels from Williamsburg all-day cafe Gertie, from Thursday through Sunday. Pre-orders can be placed online.

— Finnerty’s, a longtime Manhattan bar dedicated to Bay Area sports, is permanently closing today after 11 years due to the drop in business caused by the pandemic, and the owners not being able to reach a favorable rent agreement, according to a spokesperson for the bar.

— Young Chinese Americans are rallying behind Chinatown restaurants that have been devastated by the pandemic, but that still might not be enough to keep them afloat.

— Yet another illegal party was busted this past weekend. The New York City Sheriff’s office broke up a 164-person party at a nightclub in Rosedale, Queens, early Sunday morning.

— East Village restaurateur Ravi DeRossi is temporarily closing all his restaurants, including Amor Y Amargo and Saramsam, until January. However, Amor Y Amargo will serve a three-course plant-based meal free of cost to anyone in need from 2 to 6 p.m. on Thursday, December 24.

— Thirty-year-old neighborhood establishment Bleecker Street Bar — which shuttered in August — is relocating to a new spot at 648 Broadway, between Bleecker and Bond Streets.

— No committee needed: