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§ 4-03 Exemptions.
This law provides that the tax shall not apply to:
   (a)   The use, otherwise than for sale, of four hundred cigarettes or less brought into the city, on or in possession of, any person;
   (b)   Cigarettes sold to the United States;
   (c)   Cigarettes sold to or by a voluntary unincorporated organization of the Armed Forces of the United States operating a place for the sale of goods pursuant to regulations promulgated by the appropriate executive agency of the United States;
   (d)   Cigarettes possessed in the city by an agent or wholesale dealer for sale to a dealer outside the city or for sale and shipment to any person in another state for use there, provided such agent or wholesale dealer complies with the regulations relating thereto;
   (e)   Cigarettes sold to the State of New York or any public corporation (including a public corporation created pursuant to agreement or compact with another state or the Dominion of Canada), improvement district or other political subdivision of the State where it is the purchaser, user or consumer and does not purchase said cigarettes for resale.
§ 4-04 Liability for the Tax.
   (a)   Article 4. Except as otherwise provided herein, the tax shall be advanced by the agent or distributor. The agent shall be liable for the collection and payment of the tax to the Commissioner of Finance by purchasing from the Commissioner of Finance adhesive stamps of such design and denomination as may be prescribed by the Commissioner of Finance, subject to the approval of the State Tax Commission. The tax may also be paid by the use of such metering machines as are prescribed by the Commissioner of Finance subject to the approval of the State Tax Commission. In addition, every person liable for the tax on the use of cigarettes must file a return, in such form as the Commissioner of Finance may prescribe, with the Commissioner of Finance within twenty-four hours after liability therefor accrues together with a remittance of the tax shown to be due thereon.
   (b)   The amount of taxes advanced and paid by the agent or distributor as above provided shall be added to and collected as part of the sales price of the cigarettes.
   (c)   It is intended that the ultimate incidence of and liability for the tax shall be upon the consumer, and that any agent, distributor, or dealer who shall pay the tax to the Commissioner of Finance shall collect the tax from the purchaser or consumer.
§ 4-05 Licenses.
   (a)   (1)   A wholesale or retail dealer must apply to the Commissioner of Finance for a license for each place of business that he desires to have for the sale of cigarettes in the City. Every application for a cigarette license shall be made upon a form prescribed and prepared by the Commissioner of Finance. At the time of applying for a license as a wholesale dealer, each applicant also seeking appointment as an agent must submit a current financial statement prepared and signed by a certified public accountant or an enrolled public accountant. At the discretion of the Commissioner of Finance, all other applicants for a license as a wholesale dealer may be required to submit a current financial statement prepared and signed by a certified public accountant or an enrolled public accountant. The Commissioner of Finance may, for cause, refuse to issue a license. Upon approval of the application, the Commissioner of Finance will grant and issue to the applicant a cigarette license for each place of business within the City set forth in the application. Cigarette licenses shall not be assignable and shall be valid only for the persons in whose names issued and for the transaction of business in the places designated therein and shall at all times be conspicuously displayed at the places for which issued. Whenever any license that has been issued is defaced, destroyed or lost, the Commissioner of Finance will issue a duplicate license to the holder of the defaced, destroyed or lost license upon the payment of a fee of $1.
      (2)   Cause for refusal of the Commissioner of Finance to issue a license or to relicense an applicant will generally exist where the applicant files an application for a license and, in considering such application, the Commissioner of Finance ascertains that:
         (i)   Within the preceding five years, the applicant or a controlling person has failed to comply with any of the provisions of Chapter 13 of Title 11 of the Administrative Code or any rules or regulations promulgated thereunder;
         (ii)   A warrant has been issued or a lien otherwise arises for any tax administered by the Department of Finance due from such applicant or a controlling person and such tax has not been paid in full, provided that liability for such tax arose out of the activities of the applicant or controlling person as a wholesale or retail dealer;
         (iii)   Such applicant or any controlling person was convicted of a crime provided for in Chapter 40 of Title 11 of the Administrative Code or any other criminal offense the nature of which has a direct bearing on the applicant's fitness or ability to perform any of the duties or responsibilities of a licensee under Chapter 13 of Title 11 of the Administrative Code within the preceding five years;
         (iv)   Such applicant or any controlling person was the controlling person in another wholesale or retail dealer at the time that:
            (A)   A warrant was issued or a lien otherwise arose for any tax administered by the Department of Finance due from such other dealer and such tax has not been paid in full, provided that liability for such tax arose out of the activities of such other dealer as a wholesale or retail dealer, or
            (B)   Such other dealer had been convicted of a crime provided for in Chapter 40 of Title 11 of the Administrative Code or any other criminal offense the nature of which has a direct bearing on the applicant's fitness or ability to perform any of the duties or responsibilities of a licensee under Chapter 13 of Title 11 of the Administrative Code within the preceding five years, or
            (C)   The license of such other dealer had been canceled or suspended pursuant to this section within the preceding five years.
         (v)   The license of such applicant has been canceled or suspended pursuant to this section within the preceding five years; or
         (vi)   Such applicant or any controlling person has been finally determined to have violated any of the provisions of Article 20 or Article 20-A of the New York State Tax Law.
   (b)   The Commissioner of Finance may suspend or, after hearing, revoke a cigarette license whenever he finds that the holder thereof has failed to comply with any of the provisions of the law or any rules or regulations of the Commissioner of Finance prescribed, adopted and promulgated thereunder. Upon suspending or revoking any cigarette license, the Commissioner of Finance will direct the holder thereof to surrender to the Commissioner of Finance immediately all licenses or duplicates thereof issued to him and the holder shall surrender promptly all such licenses to the Commissioner of Finance as directed. Before the Commissioner of Finance suspends or revokes a cigarette license, he will notify the holder and afford him a hearing, if desired. After such hearing, the Commissioner of Finance good cause appearing therefore, may suspend or revoke the license. A person who has been refused a license by the Commissioner of Finance may likewise apply to the Commissioner of Finance for a hearing. After such hearing the Commissioner of Finance may rescind or affirm the refusal to issue a license, or issue a license.
   (c)   No agent or dealer shall sell cigarettes to an unlicensed wholesale or retail dealer, or to a wholesale or retail dealer whose license has been suspended or revoked. No dealer shall purchase cigarettes from any person other than a manufacturer or a licensed wholesale dealer.
   (d)   It is unlawful for a person to engage in business as a wholesale dealer or retail dealer without a license as herein prescribed. It is unlawful for a person to permit any premises under his control to be used by any other person in violation of this paragraph.
§ 4-06 Licensee Fees; Term.
   (a)   The annual fee for a wholesale cigarette dealer's license is $500. See Administrative Code § 11-1303(a) as add LL 34/87 § 2. The annual fee for a retail cigarette dealer's license is $10.
   (b)   Cigarette licenses will be regularly numbered and duly registered.
   (c)   Cigarette licenses expire on January 31st next succeeding the date of issuance unless sooner suspended or revoked. However, licenses issued prior to December 18, 1967 expire on March 16, 1968 unless sooner suspended or revoked.
§ 4-07 Adhesive Stamps.
   (a)   The Commissioner of Finance has prescribed adhesive stamps in two-cent and four-cent denominations. These stamps are on sale at banks throughout the city designated by the Commissioner of Finance as fiscal agents or sub-agents. Agents shall purchase stamps at the bank to which they have been assigned, either for each or upon thirty days' credit. An agent may purchase stamps from the banks over the counter or by mail. In the latter case, no shipping charge will be made by the bank. Payment for stamps shall be made by cash or by certified check.
   (b)   The Commissioner of Finance will prescribe and furnish stamps of such denominations and quantities and in such form as may be necessary for the payment of the tax imposed by the law. He may, from time to time, provide for the issuance and exclusive use of a new design and forbid the use of stamps of any other design. Such stamps shall be in the form of a single stamp for the payment of the tax imposed by the law, or in lieu thereof, a joint stamp prepared and issued by the State of New York and the city for the payment of both the tax imposed by the City Cigarette Tax Law and the tax imposed by Article 20 of the Tax Law (New York State Cigarette Tax), may be used.
   (c)   Whenever such a joint stamp is prescribed, it shall be used exclusively in lieu of any other form of stamp for the payment of the tax imposed by both the city and state laws. The Commissioner of Finance will appoint fiscal agents for the purpose of selling the stamps or may provide for the sale thereof at such other places as he may deem necessary. The Commissioner of Finance shall require each fiscal agent, appointed by him for the purpose of selling the stamps herein prescribed, to file with him a surety bond, in such form and in such amount as he deems appropriate, issued by a surety company licensed to do business in the State of New York, conditioned upon the faithful performance of any agreement made between the Commissioner of Finance of the City of New York and said fiscal agent, and to secure the Commissioner of Finance, or the City of New York against any loss or damage in any manner resulting from the acts of said fiscal agent or its employees. In lieu of the bond described in this paragraph, a fiscal agent may deposit with the Commissioner of Finance its personal bond together with securities, approved by the Commissioner of Finance, in such amounts as he may require. Such securities shall be kept in the custody of the Commissioner of Finance. Securities so deposited may be sold by the Commissioner of Finance, should it become necessary to do so, to recover any sums due from a fiscal agent pursuant to this article; but no such sale shall be had until a fiscal agent shall have had an opportunity to be heard regarding the amount due hereunder. Upon any such sale the surplus, if any, above the sums due shall be returned to such fiscal agent.
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