To Continue To Get Basic STAR You Must Re-register

New legislation will now require all homeowners receiving a Basic STAR exemption on their property taxes to register with the New York State Tax Dept. in order to receive the exemption in 2014 and subsequent years. Homeowners will not have to register in order to receive their 2013 STAR exemptions.

Between September 16 and  October 4^th  all Basic STAR recipients in Nassau and Suffolk County will be receiving a letter that will contain  information on when and how to register. The letter will include a personalized code that homeowners will need to register on-line or over the phone. The registration process will simply require homeowners to provide some basic information to confirm their eligibility for the STAR program. You will be able to register online at: http://www.tax.ny.gov/pit/property/star13/ Registration will continue to November 30, 2013.

Here are a few key points to be aware of:

• ·        This is a one-time process. Basic STAR recipients will not need to re-register every year.
• ·         Senior citizens who receive the Enhanced STAR exemption are not affected by the new registration requirement and nothing will change for them.

This new initiative is to protect New Yorkers against the costs of inappropriate or fraudulent STAR exemptions. A recent State Comptroller’s report showed that taxpayers are being cheated out of tens of millions of dollars every year by individuals who are fraudulently obtaining STAR exemptions for their property. This statewide accountability effort is being undertaken to weed out that abuse.