The New York State Department of Taxation and Finance today issued a final reminder – homeowners, must register for the Basic STAR property tax exemption by tomorrow, December 31, 2013.

“More than 2.2 million New Yorkers have used our fast and easy online registration process to ensure they don’t lose their STAR exemptions,” said Commissioner Thomas H. Mattox.  “But we want every homeowner who qualifies for this important benefit to get it.  So if you haven’t registered, do it now.”

During the past few months, to ensure that every eligible homeowner registers by the December 31 deadline, the Tax Department’s outreach campaign has included telephone reminders to hundreds of thousands of people, participation in more than 275 local registration events, fielding more than 500,000 incoming phone calls at its service center, and sending out multiple mailings directly to all 2.7 million eligible homeowners, as well as to local officials in every city, town and school district. 

The average homeowner saves $700 each year on their local school property tax bill as a result of the Basic STAR exemption.  By registering with the Tax Department – a one-time only event – they’ll continue to be eligible for the benefit in 2014 and beyond.

The registration facilitates Governor Cuomo's 2013-14 Budget initiative to save New York taxpayers millions by eliminating inappropriate exemptions.

The Basic STAR exemption is available on the primary residence of homeowners with incomes under $500,000. The new registration stems from a Tax Department investigation that found thousands of taxpayers receiving STAR exemptions on more than one property.

Senior citizens receiving the Enhanced STAR exemption are not impacted by the new registration program. 

Homeowners who haven’t registered can visit www.tax.ny.gov and register online; for those without Internet access, call the Tax Department’s STAR Hotline at 518-457-2036 (translators stand ready to assist speakers of all languages).   

Map of registration by county

List of registration by municipality

STAR Registration fact sheets are available in 6 languages
English
Spanish
Chinese
Russian
Italian
Korean
Haitian Creole