Afici0nados of tax law, pole dancing, or the intersection thereof will be eager to read the decision of the State of New York Division of Tax Appeals in the Matter of 677 New Loudon Corporation d/b/a Nite Moves. Previously, the establishment -- a purveyor of "semi-nude and nude dancing by females"--had been ordered to pay sales tax on cover charges paid by customers for the privilege of entering the establishment and on the sale of private dances known as "couch dances." The most recent decision exempts the cover charges, on the grounds that these were the cost of admission to a choreographed dance performance, and thus exempt from sales tax. But the taxpayer did not prove that the private "couch" dances were choreographed dances. Because the private dances did not rise to the level of a dramatic or musical arts performance, they were subject to sales tax.
The ABA Journal has a write-up here. Lawyers at MoFo covered the case in its New York Tax Insights newsletter here.
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