NYS Department of Taxation and Finance issues checks drawn on a Fleet Bank account that has a Connecticut routing number. How do we treat checks deposited into accounts of payees for Reg CC purposes?

Because the check is issued by the state of New York, and you are in a New York bank according to your profile, these checks qualify for next-day availability. You may require your customers (after informing them of same in your disclosures) that they will need to use a special deposit ticket for these checks in order to obtain next-day availability.

The location of the drawee bank is not germane for state-issued checks. All that matters is that the check is deposited in an account of the payee in a bank office located in the state that issued the check.

Ironically enough, if the same checks were deposited in a Connecticut bank in the same check processing district as the Fleet Bank on which they are drawn, they would qualify as local items at that bank, even though issued by the state of New York. In that case, the routing number would be key.