Sayville BOE Approves Property Tax Exemptions
Property Tax Exemptions:
for Senior Citizens as well as
Persons with Disabilities and Limited Incomes.
“New York State Real Property Tax Law (sections 467 and 459C) gives local governments and public school districts the option of granting a reduction in the amount of property taxes paid by Senior Citizens and qualifying persons with disabilities.”
Responding to this option, the Sayville Board of Education has approved the two property tax reductions, described as follows:.
“ To qualify, seniors generally must be 65 years of age or older and meet certain income limitations and other requirements. For the 50% exemption, the law allows each county, city, town, village, or school district to set the maximum income limit at any figure between $3,000 and $27,000.
The local option maximum income must not exceed $28,000, beginning July 1, 2008; or $29,000, beginning July 1, 2009.
Localities have the further option of giving exemptions of less than 50% to seniors whose incomes are more than $27,000. Under this option, called the sliding-scale” option, such owner can have a yearly income as high as $35,399.99 and get a 5% exemption in places that are using the maximum limit.
Please check with your local assessor, city/town clerk, or school district to determine which local options, if any, are in effect.
Q. Does the assessor automatically give the exemption when a taxpayer reaches 65 years of age?
A. No; this is not an automatic exemption. Certain qualifications must be met. You must timely file an initial application and annual renewal applications with the office of the assessor by "taxable status date." In most towns, this date is March 1, but check the deadline with your assessor to be sure.
When qualifying applicants buy property after taxable status date, then the application may be submitted to the assessor within 30 days of the transfer. The assessor then has 30 days to decide whether the applicant would have qualified for the exemption if the applicant had title as of taxable status date.
When the property is owned by one or more persons, some of whom qualify for this exemption and the others of whom qualify for the persons with disabilities and limited incomes exemption provided by RPTL §459-c, the owners have the option of choosing the more beneficial exemption. The owners may not be prohibited from taking one of these two exemptions solely because the owners qualify for more than one exemption.
Q. What are the requirements to qualify for this exemption?
A. The requirements are based on age, ownership status, residency and occupancy, and income.
Q. What are the age requirements?
A. Each of the owners of the property must be 65 years of age or over, unless the owners are husband and wife, or are siblings (two or more individuals having at least one common parent), when one spouse or sibling must be 65 years or over. Age generally is determined as of the appropriate taxable status date. (Some municipalities allow the exemption where an otherwise eligible owner becomes 65 years of age after taxable status date but on or before December 31. Check with your assessor to determine if this option is in effect.)
The first time you apply for the exemption, you must give satisfactory proof of your age, such as a birth certificate or baptismal certificate. If these are not available, an affidavit of age from the Social Security Administration, hospital birth record, marriage record, passport, military record, immigration documents or other reliable records that show your age would be considered.
Q. What are the ownership requirements?
A. The applicant(s) must show they have owned the property for at least 12 consecutive months prior to the date of filing the application, unless the owner received a senior citizen exemption for his or her previous residence, in which case the 12-month requirement is considered satisfied.
In computing the 12-month period, the period of ownership is not interrupted by the following:
- A transfer of title to one spouse from the other;
- A transfer of title to a surviving spouse from a deceased spouse either by will or operation of law;
- A transfer of title to the former owner(s), provided the reacquisition occurs within nine months after the initial transfer and the property was receiving the senior citizens' exemption as of such date;
- A transfer of title solely to a person(s) who maintained the property as a primary residence at the time of death of the former owner(s), provided the transfer occurs within nine months after the death of the former owner(s) and the property was receiving the senior citizens' exemption as of such date.
The period of ownership of a prior residence may be considered where:
- The property was sold by condemnation or other involuntary proceeding (except a tax sale) and another property has been acquired to replace the taken property;
- The prior residence has been sold and a replacement purchase made within one year if both residences are within the State.
Q. How do I prove ownership and the length of time I have owned it?
A. Submit a certified copy of the deed, mortgage, or other instrument by which you became owner of the property.
Municipalities are authorized to grant the exemption to otherwise eligible senior citizens who own shares in residential cooperatives. If granted, they would receive adjustments to their monthly maintenance fees to reflect the benefit of that exemption.
Q. How is the exemption administered where the property is in a life estate or trust?
A. The life tenant is entitled to possession and use of the property for the duration of his or her life and is deemed the owner for all purposes, including taxation. The exemption also may be allowed if the property is in trust and all the trustees or all the beneficiaries qualify.
Q. What are the residency and occupancy requirements?
A. The property must be the "legal residence" of, and must be occupied by, all of the owners of the property unless:
- a non-resident owner, who is the spouse or former spouse of the resident owner, is absent from the residence due to divorce, legal separation, or abandonment, or
- an owner is absent from the property while receiving health-related services as an in-patient of a residential health care facility, provided that during this period no one other than the spouse or co-owner of the absent co-owner occupies the property. A residential health care facility is a nursing home or other facility that provides or offers lodging, board and physical care including, but not limited to, the recording of health information, dietary supervision and supervised hygienic services.
The property must be used exclusively for residential purposes. However, if a portion of the property is used for other than residential purposes, the exemption will apply only to the portion used exclusively for residential purposes.
Q. What are the income requirements and what is considered income?
A. The exemption cannot be granted if the income of the owner, or the combined income of all the owners, exceeds the maximum income limit set by the locality. If the owner is married, the income of the spouse must be included in the total unless the spouse is absent from the residence due to a legal separation or abandonment. The income of a non-resident former spouse, who retains an ownership interest after the divorce, is not included. If the "sliding-scale" option is in effect, you must meet that income limitation; contact the assessor to determine what the income limits are.
Income is to be reported on the basis of the latest preceding "income tax year" prior to the date of application. This usually is the preceding calendar year.
Income includes:
- all Social Security payments, salary and wages (including bonuses),
- interest (including nontaxable interest on state or local bonds),
- total dividends, net earning from farming, rentals, business or profession (including amounts claimed as depreciation for income tax purposes),
- income from estates or trusts,
- gains from sales or exchanges,
- the total amount received from governmental or private retirement or pension plans,
- annuity payments (excluding amounts representing a return of capital),
- alimony,
- unemployment insurance payments,
- disability payments,
- workers compensation, etc.
Income does not include:
- Supplemental Security Income,
- welfare payments,
- gifts, inheritances,
- payments received as participants in the Federal Foster Grandparents Program,
- a return of capital, or
- reparation payments received by Holocaust survivors.
Municipalities have the option to permit applicants to subtract from their incomes all medical and prescription drug expenses that are not reimbursed or paid by insurance, as well as veterans' disability payments.
If an owner is an inpatient in a residential health care facility, the owner's other income is not considered income in determining exemption eligibility if it does not exceed the amount paid by such owner, spouse or co-owner for care at the facility. Proof from the facility of the amount paid for an owner's care must be submitted with the application.
Q. Must proof of income be submitted with the application?
A. Yes. If a Federal or
Q. Do manufactured homes on leased land qualify for the exemption?
A. Yes, on the manufactured home only. If it is located in a manufactured home park, you are entitled to a reduction in rent for the amount of the taxes paid.
Q. Can the exemption be granted for school taxes if a child resides on the property and attends any public school in the district or in another school district?
A. Yes, if a child residing on the property attends a private or parochial school, or if such child attends public school and the local school district has adopted a resolution to permit a school tax exemption for otherwise eligible residential property. However, the school district resolution authorizing the exemption must provide that satisfactory proof is required that the child was not brought into the residence primarily for the purpose of attending a particular school within the district.
The basic exemption is a 50% reduction in the assessed value of the legal residence of the qualifying disabled person. For the basic exemption, the law allows each county, city, town, village, or school district to set the maximum income limit at any figure between $3,000 and $27,000.
The local option maximum income must not exceed $28,000 beginning July 1, 2008; or $29,000, beginning July 1, 2009.
Localities have the further option of giving exemptions of less than 50% to persons with qualifying disabilities whose incomes are more than $27,000. Under this option, called the “sliding-scale” option, a qualifying owner can have a yearly income as high as $35,399.99 and get a 5% exemption in places that are using the maximum limit.
Please check with your local assessor or the clerks of the local governments and school district involved to determine which local options, if any, are in effect.
When the property is owned by one or more persons, some of whom qualify for this exemption and the others of whom qualify for the senior citizens' exemption provided by RPTL §467, the owners have the option of choosing the more beneficial exemption. The owners may not be prohibited from taking one of these two exemptions solely because the owners qualify for more than one exemption.
Q. What are the general requirements to qualify for this exemption?
A. The requirements are based on the person’s disability, ownership status, residency and occupancy status, and income.
Q. What are the disability requirements?
A. To be eligible, an applicant must have a physical or mental impairment, not due to current use of alcohol or illegal drug use, that substantially limits that person’s ability to engage in one or more major life activities, such as caring for one’s self, performing manual tasks, walking, seeing, hearing, speaking, breathing, learning or working.
The applicant must submit one of the following:
- An award letter from the Social Security Administration certifying the applicant’s eligibility to receive Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) or Supplemental Security Income (SSI).
- An award letter from the Railroad Retirement Board certifying the applicant’s eligibility to receive railroad retirement disability benefits.
- A certificate from the State Commission for the Blind and Visually Handicapped stating that the applicant is legally blind.
- An award letter from the United States Postal Service stating that the applicant is certified to receive a United States Postal Service disability pension.
If the award letter or certificate states that the applicant’s disability is permanent, there will be no need to refile evidence of disability in future years if renewal of the exemption is sought.
Q. What are the residency and occupancy requirements?
A. The property must be the “legal residence” of the disabled person and must be occupied by that person unless he or she is absent from the property while receiving health-related services as an inpatient of a residential health care facility. Such a facility is defined as a nursing home or other facility that provides or offers lodging, board, and physical care. Such care includes, but is not limited to, the recording of health information, dietary supervision, and supervised hygienic services.
The property for which the exemption is being sought also must be used exclusively for residential purposes. If a portion of the property is used for other than residential purposes, however, the exemption will apply only to the portion that is used exclusively for residential purposes.
Q. Must all owners of the property qualify for the exemption?
A. Yes. All of the owners must be persons with disabilities. Exceptions are made in cases where the property is owned by husband and wife, or by siblings. In those cases, only one needs to have a disability.
Q. What if the property is held in a life estate or trust?
A. If a person holds life estate in the property, that person is the legal owner of the property. If the property is held in trust, the exemption may be allowed if the trustee or beneficiary of the trust qualifies.
Q. Can qualified residents of cooperative apartments receive the exemption?
A. Yes. Municipalities that offer the exemption also may offer it to otherwise qualified persons who are tenant-stockholders of a cooperative apartment corporation. Any exemption granted will be credited by the taxing authority against the assessed value of the property. The reduction in property taxes resulting from the exemption will be credited by the cooperative apartment corporation against the amount of such taxes otherwise chargeable to the tenant-stockholder.
Q. What are the income requirements and what is considered income?
A. The exemption cannot be granted if the income of the owner, or the combined income of all of the owners, exceeds the maximum income limit set by the locality.
If the owner is married, the income of the spouse must be included in the total unless the spouse is absent from the residence due to a legal separation or abandonment. The income of a non-resident former spouse, who retains an ownership interest, is not included. Applicants should contact their local assessor to determine what the income limits are.
Income is to be reported on the basis of the latest preceding income tax year prior to the date of application. This usually is the preceding calendar year. If the owner, any of the owners, or the spouse of any of the owners filed a federal or
Income includes:
- disability payments,
- all Social Security payments,
- salary and wages (including bonuses),
- interest (including non-taxable interest on state and local bonds),
- total dividends,
- net earnings from farming, rentals, business or profession (including amounts claimed as depreciation for income tax purposes),
- income from estates or trusts,
- gains from sales and exchanges,
- the total amount received from governmental or private retirement or pension plans,<
- annuity payments (excluding amounts representing a return of capital),
- alimony,
- unemployment insurance payments,
- workers’ compensation, etc.
Income does not include:
- Supplemental Security Income,
- moneys received pursuant to the federal Foster Grandparent Program,
- welfare payments,
- inheritances,
- a return of capital, or
- reparation payments received by Holocaust survivors.
Municipalities have the option to permit applicants to subtract from their incomes all medical and prescription drug expenses that are not reimbursed or paid by insurance.
If the owner is an inpatient in a residential health care facility, the owner’s other income is not considered income in determining exemption eligibility if it does not exceed the amount paid by such owner, spouse, or co-owner for care at the facility. Proof from the facility of the amount paid for an owner’s care must be submitted with the exemption application.
Q. Are Social Security payments received by an owner as representative payee of another considered income to the recipient?
A. No. If the recipient can prove that the monies he or she receives are paid on behalf of another, such as the recipient's disabled adult child, those monies received in a fiduciary capacity are not considered income to the recipient.
Q. Can the exemption be granted for school taxes if a child resides on the property and attends any public school in the district or in another school district?
A. Yes, but only if a school district allowing the exemption also adopts a separate resolution to allow the exemption on such property. Moreover, the school district resolution authorizing the exemption must provide that satisfactory proof is required that the child was not brought into the residence primarily for the purpose of attending a particular school within the district.
There are exceptions for
Q. What is the deadline for filing?
A. The application generally must be filed in the local assessor’s office on or before the appropriate taxable status date. This date in most towns is March 1. In
A publication of the:
New York State Office of Real Property Services
16 Sheridan Avenue
Albany, NY 12210-2714
518-474-2982
Commission on Quality Care and Advocacy for Persons with Disabilities
401 State Street
Schenectady, NY 12305-2397
www.cqcapd.state.ny.us
1-800-624-4143