What gets taxed on a Long Island wedding bill

Suffolk charges 8¾ percent and Nassau 8⅝ percent, and both include a transit surcharge

Publication 718 is the state's own list of rates by jurisdiction. The edition in force is marked Effective March 1, 2025. It prints Nassau at 8⅝ and Suffolk at 8¾, and both rows carry an asterisk explained at the foot of the page.

“*Rates in these jurisdictions include 3/8% imposed for the benefit of the Metropolitan Commuter Transportation District.” Publication 718

One detail worth knowing if you are comparing an old quote with a new one: Suffolk's row is set in boldface italics, and the publication's own legend says “Any items changed from the previous version appear in boldface italics.” So Suffolk's rate changed with this edition. The statutory date of that change sits in Publication 718A, whose layout we could not read reliably, so we are not printing a date for it. The transit surcharge is confirmed separately in Tax Bulletin ST-825.

The state counts your wedding planner as a caterer, and that decides most of the bill

Tax Bulletin ST-110, issue date 8 April 2019, is the document that governs a wedding invoice. It names weddings outright.

“Party planners and event coordinators who plan weddings and similar functions are also caterers when they arrange for and bill for food, beverages, and other services at an event.” Tax Bulletin ST-110

The same bulletin adds that a church, temple, synagogue, VFW post or community centre is also a caterer when it sells food and drink for an event, which catches a good number of Long Island reception rooms.

The general rule is broader than most couples expect. Separating a line out on the invoice does not make it untaxed.

“In general, all charges by caterers related to a customer's event are taxable. Any expenses incurred by the caterer for an event that are included in the overall charge to the customer are also taxable. This is true even if the charges are separately listed on the customer's bill or invoice.” ST-110

Who hires the caterer decides whether the room is taxed

This is the rule with real money in it, and it is the reason the question of who you hire matters beyond the food.

“When the catering service is sold by a hotel or a caterer hired by the hotel, the charge for rental of the room is part of the charge for the event and is taxable. It doesn't matter if the room charge is separately stated on the bill to the customer or included in the charge for catering. When a customer rents a room from a banquet facility but hires a separate caterer to conduct the event, the room rental charge is not taxable.” ST-110

So the site fee at a venue where you bring your own caterer sits outside sales tax, while the same room booked through the venue's own catering is inside it. We keep a list of the Long Island venues whose own sites say the caterer is yours to hire: venues that let you bring your own caterer.

A service charge is always taxed. A mandatory gratuity is not, if three conditions hold

Almost every Long Island catering hall adds a percentage to the bill. Whether that percentage is taxed depends on what it is called and where it goes.

“However, a mandatory gratuity is not taxable if all of these conditions are met: the charge is shown separately on the bill, the charge is identified as a gratuity, and all of the money collected is given to the employees. If any of these conditions is not met, the mandatory gratuity is taxable along with the rest of the catering bill.” ST-110

“Many caterers bill a service charge on banquets or on parties of more than eight or ten people. Since these charges are not specifically listed as gratuities on the bill or invoice, the service charge is always subject to sales tax.” ST-110

That gives you a question to ask in writing before you sign: is the percentage on our contract a gratuity paid entirely to staff, or an administrative or service charge. The answer changes what you owe the state, and the venue's own paperwork has to say which it is. Our quote checker adds the county rate to figures you enter from your own proposal, and nothing else.

The tent, the chairs and the linens are taxed once, to the caterer

Couples often ask whether rentals are taxed twice. The bulletin's answer is that the caterer pays tax on what it rents in, and cannot pass that tax through as a credit, while your bill is taxed in full on its own.

“A caterer's entire charge to its customer is taxable, even if charges for items like those listed above are separately listed on the bill or invoice. A caterer cannot claim a credit on its sales tax return for the tax paid on these purchases.” ST-110

The items named in that list include tables, chairs, tents, portable bars, dance floors, linens, napkins, chair covers, silverware, glassware, serving utensils, audio and visual equipment, ice, ice carvings and uniforms for wait staff.

The wedding cake is not taxed, and neither is a gallery delivered only as files

ST-110 lists wedding cakes with pastries and desserts under nontaxable food and beverages. Photography is governed elsewhere, and the line runs on how the images reach you. New York issued an advisory opinion, TSB-A-20(66)S, which sets out the principle. An advisory opinion binds the state only as to the taxpayer who asked for it, so treat this as the department's stated reasoning rather than a rule written for your photographer.

“Sales of photographic images delivered solely electronically are not subject to sales tax, whether transferred permanently or temporarily.” TSB-A-20(66)S

The same opinion says a photograph handed over on a tangible medium, and it names paper, slide, negative and CD, is a sale of tangible personal property and taxable if delivered in New York. An album is a thing; a download link is not. If your photographer's invoice charges tax on a digital only package, that is a question worth asking, and the opinion is the document to ask it with.

What this page does not tell you

We have not printed a tax figure for your wedding, because we do not know what your contract says. We do not know whether your venue's percentage is a gratuity or a service charge, and that single fact moves the number. Nothing here is tax advice, and the department's own bulletins are the authority rather than us.

If a figure on this page looks wrong, the sources are linked in full below and the Department of Taxation and Finance is the office to write to. All Long Island wedding guides.

Sources: NYS Department of Taxation and Finance, Tax Bulletin ST-110, Caterers and Catering Services, issue date 8 April 2019 · Publication 718, New York State Sales and Use Tax Rates by Jurisdiction, effective 1 March 2025 · Publication 718A, Enactment and Effective Dates of Sales and Use Tax Rates · Tax Bulletin ST-825, Sales Tax Rates, Additional Sales Taxes, and Fees · Advisory Opinion TSB-A-20(66)S
Publications read on 27 September 2026. Rates and bulletins change; confirm with the Department of Taxation and Finance before you rely on a figure.

Short answers, with the source for each