Volume 9 - Opinions of Counsel SBEA No. 26
Veterans exemption (transfer of proportional exemption) - Real Property Tax Law, § 458(5);
A pro rata veterans exemption may be transferred to replacement property purchased in the same assessing unit. The exemption on the replacement property may not exceed the dollar amount granted on the formerly exempt property.
A veteran sold property receiving a pro rata veterans exemption (RPTL, § 458(5)) and purchased replacement property in another town. May the veteran receive a pro rata exemption on the new parcel?
Paragraph (a) of subdivision 5 of section 458 of the RPTL authorizes tax districts that implement a full value revaluation program to grant “pro rata” veterans exemptions, that is, to increase or decrease the veterans exemptions in the same proportion as the total assessed value of the property increased or decreased. To grant this pro rata exemption, a tax district must have adopted a local law to that effect on or before October 31, 1985.
Paragraph (b) of subdivision 5 of section 458 (added L.1984, c.525), provides that, where property receiving a pro rata veterans exemption is sold, and other real property is acquired in the same assessing unit to replace the formerly owned property, the pro rata exemption amount granted on the formerly owned property, expressed as a percentage, shall be granted on the newly acquired property. The dollar amount of the pro rata exemption granted on the newly acquired property, however, may not exceed the dollar amount of the exemption on the formerly owned property. That is, the pro rata exemption may be transferred only if the property receiving such exemption is sold and replacement property is purchased within the same assessing unit. Accordingly, in the instant case, where the new property is located in a different assessing unit, the veteran’s pro rata exemption may not be transferred to his new parcel.
To the extent it provides otherwise, 7 Op.Counsel SBEA No. 66, issued before the enactment of chapter 525 of the Laws of 1984, is modified.
January 26, 1988