Senate Bill S8665

                                
 
BILL NUMBER: S8665

SPONSOR: BONACIC
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the real property tax law, in relation to the STAR
income verification program

 
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:

To require the Commissioner of Taxation and Finance provide to local
assessors the names and addresses of individuals who provided their
information through the income verification program and whose incomes
are below the threshold to potentially qualify for a locally enacted
partial property tax exemption for individuals 65 years of age or older.

 
SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS:

Section 1:  Amends subparagraph (iv) of paragraph (b) of subdivision 4
of section 425 of the Real Property Tax Law to require the Commissioner
of Taxation and Finance provide to local assessors the names and
              

addresses of individuals who provided their information through the
income verification program and whose incomes are below the threshold to
potentially qualify for a locally enacted partial property tax exemption
for individuals 65 years of age or older.

Section 2:  Effective date.

 
JUSTIFICATION:

The 2018-19 State budget included a provision that required individuals
receiving Enhanced STAR must participate annually in the Income Verifi-
cation Program (IVP) which is run by the New York State Department of
Taxation and Finance. These individuals previously may have applied for
Enhanced STAR at their local assessors office, at which time their
income could have been reviewed to determine if they also qualified for
a locally enacted partial property tax exemption for individuals 65
years of age or older pursuant to Section 467 of the Real Property Tax
Law. Now that these Enhanced STAR recipients are required to file
through the state IVP, they may not be aware of the local exemption they
could qualify for. This legislation ensures that local assessors are
made aware of those taxpayers who may income qualify for the locally
enacted partial property tax exemption for individuals 65 years of age
or older, so that the local assessors would at least have the ability to
contact these individuals and suggest they also look to apply for the
local exemption.

 
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

New bill.

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.