10/07/2024 Assessment Community Weekly

Reminder: Homeowner receiving inappropriate STAR exemption benefit?

After school tax bills have been issued, we occasionally hear of property owners receiving a STAR exemption benefit they’re not entitled to or who should have received the Enhanced exemption but received Basic (or vice versa). Here are some examples:

• Changes from the Final Roll Corrections Report were not applied, and now some homeowners are receiving the Enhanced STAR exemption rather than Basic (or vice versa) on their school tax bills.
• The Enhanced STAR exemption wasn’t granted because it seemed that the property owners didn’t meet the residency, age, or ownership requirements. Now the assessor has information to confirm they are eligible for Enhanced.
• The Basic STAR exemption was removed in error.

If you have a similar case, first consider whether it can be addressed locally via a corrected school tax bill or correction of errors.

If it cannot be fixed locally, email the details to assessor.hotline@tax.ny.gov.

We have the authority to issue bills for inappropriately granted STAR benefits and to issue a check for an exemption benefit that should have been received.

New email address for RPS Online input

We appreciated the opportunity to share an early demonstration of RPS Online with hundreds of you at the New York State Assessors Association last month. We value your feedback, and we look forward to more dialogue about the upcoming system (including a similar demonstration at the County Directors Association conference later this month).

If you have questions or input about RPS Online, please send them to RPSOnline@tax.ny.gov. We will use your questions to build a frequently asked questions webpage for the assessment community, and your feedback is valuable as we continue to design and develop the system.