Coop Tax Abatement Question

When you purchased the apt. your attorney should have told you to apply for the NY Star program. If you did not apply, you will be out the assessment. You can also contact your building's mgmt office to see if they can help you.

If you apply now , you should be ok for 2017 . . . . but probably too late for 2016

A few years ago, New York State, in its infinite wisdom, changed the STAR property tax abatement from something that you were automatically enrolled for into something that you had to opt-in to get. So you, as an individual homeowner, do have to fill in a form.

But a couple quick points: 1) the scope of the abatement should be around $400 a year, not $400 a month, if that eases your worries. 2) you're generally not eligible if your household income is over $500K a year.

More here: [click on the link "administering STAR in co-operative apartments"]

https://www.tax.ny.gov/pit/property/star/special_eligibility.htm

ali r.
{downtown broker}

Actually there should be 2 abatements, one is the STAR rebate which is a modest amount of a couple to a few hundred dollars for the year as Ali indicated, the other is building wide ( i dont know the name of the program) at @ 17.5% of the buildings total tax bill.
Now that's the important one as it will affect your maintenance anywhere from 8% to 15% for the year.
It was never a big deal before as it was building wide, and you would get the once a year assessment against netting it to zero. Yes its true the assessment against has been common practice. The thinking is or was, this Rube Goldberg accounting method would show a "lower maintenance" bill which would be more attractive for resale value for individual units when on the market.
Recent changes have made this abatement stricter as well, primary residence, etc. and some people are losing it. Ive been arguing with my own board about doing away with the assessments against. If someone loses it unexpectedly, it could create a hardship getting whopped with a 15% maintenance hike in one year. Lets expectantly raise everyones maintenance and let individual owners get their check who qualify has been my argument as this rebate may be on borrowed time. Have everyone adjusted to the higher maintenance in case it goes bye bye, and treat the rebates similar to tax refunds. My board is finally starting to soften a bit and entertaining it.

In any case, I would make sure you are set up in that rebate, far more important than the STAR one.
http://www1.nyc.gov/site/finance/benefits/landlords-coop-condo.page

When I purchased my first co-op I didn't know anything applying for the rebate and I was out of pocket for the amount of the assessment that my building levied to claim the rebate.. When I moved to another apartment (in the same building) I knew to apply. I seem to remember being ineligible for that year because I had moved in after the deadline and also for the following year. Apparently, that is the rule. I also remember having to establish that the apartment is my primary residence. My building routinely claims the rebate as a one-off assessment each year. They factor the revenue into the budget.

I think for Co-op, it doesn't need to be your primary to receive the credit. I think the law is if you own 3 or fewer apartments in the complex you can still apply and receive the rebate for all three units. So you can live in one and rent the other two out and still qualify.

hofo, as of a couple years ago primary residence is required.

details on the link i provided

Cooperative and Condominium Tax Abatement
The deadline to submit the 2016/2017 Co-Op Tax Benefit Change Form is February 15, 2017. All forms must be postmarked by February 15, 2017. We encourage you to submit your form as soon as possible. If you have any questions, please click here or contact 311.

Owners of cooperative units and condominiums who meet the requirements for the Co-op/Condo Property Tax Abatement can have their property taxes reduced. The amount of the abatement is based on the average assessed value of the residential units in the building.

Abatement percentages are as follows:

Average Assessed Value

Benefit Amount Per Year

2015/2016
$50,000 or less

28.1%

$50,001 - $55,000

25.2%

$55,001 - $60,000

22.5%

$60,001 and above

17.5%

Requirements
The co-op or condo unit must be the owner's primary residence.
You must have purchased the unit on or before January 5 to qualify for the abatement for the upcoming tax year. If the unit was purchased after January 5, you can apply for the next tax year.
Co-op or condo owners cannot own more than three residential units in any one development and one of the units must be the owner’s primary residence.
Property must be classified as a Class 2 property.
Co-op or condo owners cannot be receiving any of the following exemptions or abatements:
J-51
420c, 421a, 421b, or 421g
Cooperative properties are not eligible for the Clergy exemption
The co-op or condo property cannot be:
a Housing Development Fund Corporation (HDFC);
a Limited Divided Housing Companies, Redevelopment Company;
a Mitchell-Lama Building or
in the Division of Alternative Management Programs (DAMP) Program.
Units owned by a business (LLC) are not eligible.
Units held by sponsors or their successors in interest are not eligible.
Units owned by a trust are eligible only if the unit is the primary residence of the beneficiary of the trust, trustee, or life estate holder.

Yes that is correct but you can still own 3 units in the same complex with one being your primary, per the requirement you listed:

Co-op or condo owners cannot own more than three residential units in any one development and one of the units must be the owner’s primary residence.

yes hofo sorry, Ive approached reading glasses age and not used to making sure I always have them yet. :)

Another year, another battle with this ridiculous system.

I'm not getting my abatement, despite submitting all the relevant forms to both the managing agent and the city for good measure. As is customary, the managing agent generally doesn't respond, and at best just blames the DOF.

Are the any particular restrictions or conventions around access to the Co-Op Tax Benefit Change Form that the managing agent submits to the city? How can I get my hands on a copy to establish whether the managing agent has dropped the ball and didn't submit the information, or the city really has received it but not processed it?

I understand it has personal information for all the other shareholders - I'd be happy if all that were redacted, do I need to ask the managing agent for this? Or DOF? FOI request? Any suggestions are appreciated...

Try emailing the DOF at this address coopabat@finance.nyc.gov I used it a few years back when I was having simiarl problems and they were able to help me. Good luck!

bryantpark: I moved in October 2013 and immediately applied for the STAR, primary residence, and Veteran's abatement. I appealed and reapplied each year, 2014 through 2016, since I did not get all the abatements. FINALLY, all of them came through this year.
I did not receive any response each year that I appealed using every address available. 2 years after I refiled, it was bounced because they said I did not attach my income taxes proving that my coop was my primary residence. It's mind boggling that they didn't find the 10 page tax return in the envelope.
Even then, the managing agent had to make a personal visit to the area where they handle these claims; he had 5 turnovers of apartments that did not receive the rebates. Apparently they claimed that the managing agent didn't send some sort of document to the city verifying the turnover of the apartment to a permanent resident.
BOTTOM LINE: I get the feeling that the city is stalling these tax rebates by looking for excuses. I've never had this problem in the past with condos, a more straight forward process since you own the apartment.

Took me 3 tries to get the credit, with each time asking for something different but once is in their system you should be good.

@jelj13

How does one actually go about appealing?

All I can find are generic web forms "call 3-1-1", etc, and they tend to just mail you a form, say, well, if we get the change form from the managing agent then the abatement will happen, without actually looking at whether they actually did, or did not get anything for my particular case.

I've also never had any correspondence from DOF *rejecting* my tax benefits application / status. If I were to get such a thing, presumably it would have information about how to appeal / argue the case, but I haven't even gotten that far.

One big problem with this whole situation is that everybody blames everybody else - the managing agent just takes the attitude that they fill out the form, then blindly apply the results, without trying to reconcile it with reality or fix any problems. The DOF, as far as I can tell, mainly wants to be dealing with managing agents, and doesn't seem to correspond directly with residents.

Are there particular strategies to break through this? Is there any particular reason I shouldn't approach the managing agent and tell them that they have all my information (including the affidavit they requested), they supposedly submitted it to DOF but it wasn't processed, so *they* should be the ones chasing DOF about it, visiting them personally, and generally taking ownership of the situation and providing updates until such time as it's fixed?

If nothing else, I'm still keen to know how I can get my hands on the relevant abatement change form that went from the managing agent to the DOF to sanity check it for correctness, and divide the problem in half (managing agent not submitting vs DOF not processing).

The DOF email address posted above does work. Managing agent is the best positioned to provide a copy of what they submitted, especially if they are asking you to work this out with the DOF yourself. (You say sure, I'll contact DOF, just give me copies of everything and I'll work on it...)

If you're stuck, though, try contacting your City Council member's office. They have constituent services people who can nudge on your behalf, and who may also take an interest in fixing governmental dysfunction overall. State senator or assemblyperson too.

Appeal on abatement is found at
http://www1.nyc.gov/site/finance/taxes/challenge-your-assessment.page
They never answered me on any appeals ,so I filed again and again and again.

I suspect that the managing agent probably forgot to file that I was a resident owner. For the 1st year I received one of the 3 abatement because the city did not have the change of ownership and based it on the last owner. The next year I received only STAR as the city said we were not resident owners. (That makes no sense since you have to be a resident owner to get STAR).
As I said, an executive from the managing agent's firm had to go down in person to straighten things out for several people. After that I received the resident abatement and STAR.
In January 2016, the city notified me that we qualified for STAR and the Veterans abatement. My monthly maintenance did not reflect the Veteran's abatement, so the managing agent will correct that on next month's bill.
Apparently, the city is not giving me the abatements I should have received before.

What has been really annoying about this is that my building has been doing a lot of renovations/upgrades since I moved in. To fund this, they give you an assessment roughly equivalent to your abatements. So, I was stuck paying BOTH the assessment and the real estate taxes on my apartment one year.

@jelj13 Seems likely, although it's quite unfortunate that you've had to reach this conclusion by suspicion instead of having access to the relevant facts, and also that you're out of pocket because they 'forgot' to do something that you're paying them to do. There's some basic accountability that's completely lacking in this whole system.

bryantpark: I never had the problem in the condos I've owned, only the cooperatives. Frankly the managing agent denied having to confirm with the city that there was a new resident owner until I sent him an article from the newspaper proving I was right.

@jelj13 - interesting, would you be able to share that article at all?

your management company is not responsible and cannot apply on your behalf.

@miriamg - that's an interesting perspective, and something that I've often heard from my management company too.

Looking at this DOF form, and instructions:

http://www1.nyc.gov/site/finance/benefits/property-benefit-forms/benefits-forms-property-owners-condo-coop.page

It seems like for this to work, the management company would need to fill out the benefit change form in a way that at least agrees with the resident's own application? Don't get me wrong, I'd love for them to not be responsible or involved in the process (as would they, presumably), but it doesn't look like that's the case.

the management company can update the status of shareholders that are currently receiving the abatement (for example: if it is no longer their primary residence), but they cannot apply on their behalf.

@miriamg - that's interesting, and different from information on this page:

http://www1.nyc.gov/site/finance/benefits/landlords-coop-condo.page

How to Apply
Shareholders/Owners of cooperative units and condominiums without a managing agent or board of directors, please email the Department of Finance or contact 311 for more information on how to apply. Cooperative shareholders if you have a managing agent, please contact them to apply.

Is this NYC.gov page incorrect? What would be a more authoritative source of information that I could refer to?

The management company is responsible for filling out the form. It took me 3 years to get the abatement and every time it was the management company who was responsible for applying for my abatement. The thing in my building is that there are long time owners who do not live in my building who are illegally getting the abatement.

If the management changed the status of my unit (to receive the abatement) they would also be responsible for adjusting the other units - the board of my co-op are all (but one) receiving the illegal abatement.

Anyways, now that I am finally receiving the abatement, I hired an attorney to have the board reimburse me for the 3 years I did not receive the abatement, around $6,000.

@Elleinad85 - sounds like a drawn out and frustrating process.

Are you able to share the details for this attorney of yours? Seems like asking nicely is a waste of time.

Hi Bryant Park - you can email me Danielle@sohostrut.com if you'd like. I haven't had much luck either and have several other issues against my co-op board but lumped in the tax abatement in there. It actually is probably the most beneficial to connect my management company with yours and have them talk and guide through the process!

I'm in my first year of owning a co-op. I received an abatement in Feb 2017 on the maintenance fees I paid in 2016. Do I consider that abatement on my 2016 or 2017 taxes?

RC3, no. The abatement is not an income so no need to report on tax return. Is essentially a credit from NYC against your portion of property tax.

You do not report it as income, however, you have to reduce the deduction you take for RE taxes by the amount of the abatement

I am a first time coop owner and have just received an assessment from the board to offset the buildings abatement. I purchased in June 2016 and this has been my primary residence. The management company provided the details of the assessment, abatement and benefit offsets by shareholder. All I see is an assessment on my line item to the tune of $2k with no offsets from the abatement. I have yet to confirm, but I don't believe the managing agent files the ownership change forms (prior owner subleased the apartment as well). What are my legal options here if the management company did not file and the window is missed?