NYC income tax paid for pied-a-terres?

If you own property in NY state and spend any part of 183 or more days in the state you are considered a resident of NY state and have to pay income tax. Days in which you were in NY in transit only i.e. if you drove from NJ to Connecticut via NY or you drove from NJ to Laguardia to catch a plane - that wouldn't count. Martha Stewart once lived in Connecticut, owned a summer home in Eastern Long Island, and worked in Manhattan. NY State considered her a resident because she owned property in the Hamptons (or thereabouts) and spent > 183 days in New York State (in Manhattan).

I thought that got rid of commuter taxes!!!!!!

For purposes of estimated personal income tax under section 663 of the Tax Law, you are a New York State resident individual if at the time of the sale or transfer of real property:

Your domicile is New York State; or
Your domicile is not New York State, but you maintained a permanent place of abode in New York State for more than 11 months of the tax year and have spent 184 days or more in New York State during the tax year. However, if you are a member of the armed forces and your domicile is not New York State, you are not a resident under this definition.

Does that mean that if you work in New York and keep a pied-a-terre in NYC you do not pay NYC income taxes unless you sell? Or would you be liable for taxes for all the years you owned before selling?

I can't believe that all those people who have pied-a-terres are paying New York State and New York City taxes.

they dont.....whilst they may 'use' the property they 'control' it via other means.

Forgive my ignorance but what is a pied-a-terre?

What kind of an arrangement allows you to "control" a property and use it, but not own it?

I checked with my accountant on the same point - whether or not I would have to pay NYC tax if I owned a pied-a-terre. The answer, as noted above, was the same i.e. I would not have to pay taxes if I did not live in the apartment more than 183 days. I mentioned that I work in NYC, so my job would get me into Manhattan more than the 183 days, the response was that working is is not the same as living.

Another person at work, who has the same situation, also got the same answer from his (different) accountant.

a pied a terre is a little place you keep for convenience but it is not your primary residence; ie. your home is in westchester but you've got a little place in manhattan to go to the theatre or for romantic weekends, etc.

I live in Boston, but am planning on buying a pied-a-terre in NYC. Asked my NYC accountant the same same thing (#10). Assuming I retain my Boston home as my primary residence, no need to pay NY city or state taxes as long as I live in NYC less than 184 days of the year. Of course, the bugaboo is that when/if I sell the NY apartment, I'll have to pay capital gains tax since I won't have lived there as my primary residence in 'two of the last five years'. If anyone knows of a workaround this, that'd be great.

I live in Boston, but am planning on buying a pied-a-terre in NYC. Asked my NYC accountant the same same thing (#10). Assuming I retain my Boston home as my primary residence, no need to pay NY city or state taxes as long as I live in NYC less than 184 days of the year. Of course, the bugaboo is that when/if I sell the NY apartment, I'll have to pay capital gains tax since I won't have lived there as my primary residence in 'two of the last five years'. If anyone knows of a workaround this, that'd be great.

As you may be aware, New York City is considering imposing an additional "pied-a-terre tax" of as much as 4% on some non-resident owners. Though it only applies to units valued in excess of $5 million.

Here is the text of the proposed bill.
assembly.state.ny.us/leg/?default_fld=&bn=A10192&term=2013&Summary=Y&Text=Y

I believe measure of 184 days applies in this case, but there seems to be some general debate over how "non-resident owner" is defined. The New York Times seems to imply that this is a tax on part-time vacation homes, but other sources disagree.
nytimes.com/2014/10/26/realestate/pieds-terre-owners-dominate-some-new-york-buildings.html
https://revaluate.com/blog/pied-terre-tax-may-affect/

Don't know of any workarounds for getting the capital gains tax exemption without being a full time resident. The only think I would mention is that the tax rate differs a lot depending on whether the unit is owned directly or owned through an LLC.

The NYPost (via the Observer ), says the idea of the pied-a-terre tax is dead.

"Mayor de Blasio is going to pass on the pied-a-terre tax, a proposal that would levy additional fines on non-primary residences worth more than $5 million because it has no hope of passing in Albany, according to the Post. But his office says that he is still reviewing the proposal."

http://observer.com/2014/12/on-the-market-is-the-pied-a-terre-tax-dead/#ixzz3Lthu87de

This story came out the next day. Seems like the NY Post jumped the gun.

“I haven’t ruled out anything. I mean, we are putting together a legislative agenda for the new session in Albany that will start in January,” Mr. de Blasio told reporters at an unrelated press conference in the Bronx. “A whole host of issues have to be looked at.”

observer.com/2014/12/not-ruling-out-pied-a-terre-tax-bill-de-blasio-shoots-down-new-york-post-report/

I beg to differ with #10 question. WE live in NJ have a small studio apt. in NYC that we do not rent. My husband works in NYC. We were just audited by NY State and they said that as long as my husband was in NYC for 183 days (even though he has not slept there for more than 30 days this past year) we have to pay the state and city taxes. We have gone to tax accountants, tax lawyers…and we lost..Even though we could prove that my husband didn't "sleep" in NYC for the 183 days, they did not care.!

That is my understanding as well. The measure is not whether you sleep in NYC for 184 days, but whether you are *in* NYC for 184 days. For example, if you were to visit for just one night, that would count as two days.