MONEY

Are you eligible for a New York rebate check?

Joseph Spector
jspector@pressconnects.com
A view of the Capitol Building in Albany.

ALBANY – The rebate checks are coming — but will you get one?

More than 2 million checks in New York started going out Monday, the state Department of Taxation and Finance said.

Database: New York property tax rebate status

UPDATE: 1 million rebate checks sent out

It will likely take several months before all the checks are out.

"They'll continue to go out through the upcoming months as the data is received and processed," tax department spokesman Geoffrey Gloak said.

The Property-Tax Freeze Credit was a program established by Gov. Andrew Cuomo and the state Legislature last year, and it's in the second of its third year. It provides rebates on the growth in property taxes, if you and your schools and municipalities qualified.

Here's what you need to know about the checks and whether you are eligible:

When should I look in the mailbox?

The checks were expected to be delivered earlier this fall, but it wasn't until November that the tax department indicated that the checks would start being shipped the week of Thanksgiving.

The process is complex: Every taxing entity's data needs to be confirmed by the state to ensure that each one stayed under the property-tax cap.

So that's why it's taking weeks — likely even months — before all the checks are sent out.

Remember: Last year's checks started going out in October, but some residents didn't get them until late February.

Am I eligible?

A property must be the homeowner's primary residence outside New York City to be eligible, and taxable household income must be $500,000 or less.

In New York City, homeowners and renters are eligible for a "circuit breaker" tax credit that's linked to household income.

Gannett's Albany Bureau has created a database for you to search to see your taxing entities complied, here: http://bit.ly/1NthuQR

About 200 schools or municipalities didn't either submit an efficiency plan or stayed under the property-tax cap to make their constituents eligible, records from the state Comptroller's Office showed.

Conversely, nearly 2,000 government entities did follow the rules and thus their homeowners are eligible for the rebates.

What do my local governments have to do it with?

Last year, homeowners received rebate checks for the growth in their school taxes — if the district stayed under the property-tax cap.

This year, it will be for the increase in school and municipal taxes — if they stayed under the state's property-tax cap, which limits the growth in property taxes to less than 2 percent a year.

So this year, the checks will be the biggest under the initiative, an average of about $350 per household — about $200 upstate and as much as $800 in Westchester County, which has among the highest taxes in the nation. Next year, the checks will be just for property taxes from local governments.

There's another component, though: For taxpayers to be eligible for the rebates, their local governments had to get efficiency plans to cut their tax levy by 1 percent approved by the state Budget Division last summer.

Schools needed the plans -- aimed at cutting property taxes permanently — to be approved for this year's rebate check. Municipalities needed to also adopt efficiency plans, but it is a contingency for the 2016 rebate checks.

But they were almost all approved — 2,000 in all — in mid-October.

What do I have to do?

Nothing.

The tax department will automatically mail the checks to eligible homeowners — so you don't have to do anything.

For more information about the program and eligibility, visit: http://www.tax.ny.gov/pit/property/property_tax_freeze.htm

The situation is tricky, though.

For example, records from the Comptroller's Office showed that the town of Scarsdale in Westchester stayed under the cap, but has yet to have an efficiency plan, so it's still unclear whether taxpayers would get a check.

Don't I already get tax breaks and checks?

If you're income eligible, you probably do.

The state spends $3 billion a year on the STAR rebate, which provides a break on school taxes and is the largest program of its kind in the country.

Last year, the state created a Family Tax Relief Credit that provides a $350 check to New Yorkers with children under 17. This year, the money will be a tax credit when people file their income taxes in 2016.

Last June, the state Legislature and Cuomo agreed to another rebate check — this one tied to household income. Those will go out next fall, likely in advance of next year's election when all 213 seats in the state Legislature are on the ballot.

What if I live in a big city outside New York City?

There are different rules that apply in Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse and Yonkers.

The reason is that school and municipal budgets are all lumped into the same spending plan — meaning voters don't vote on their school budgets because it's part of the total city budget for the fiscal year that starts July 1.

So the state had to figure out how to break up school and municipal tax rebates for those city.

It decided to reimburse homeowners for 67 percent of their tax bill for schools and 33 percent for city taxes.

So last year, city homeowners would have gotten 67 percent back in a check, and this year they'll receive the total 100 percent back — if the city stayed under the cap and had an efficiency plan approved.

Follow Joseph Spector on Twitter @GannettAlbany.

New York property tax rebate status

Are you getting a tax rebate check? Homeowners who are enrolled in New York state's School Tax Relief Program (STAR) — because they are income eligible — will get a property tax rebate check if their school district stayed under the property tax cap.

The size of the check will depend on whether or not your local government also complied with the tax cap.

To qualify for a rebate, your local government (city/town/village) must stay under the state''s property tax cap. Additionally, your school district must have had an efficiency plan approved by the state, which demonstrates that they are working to reduce the amount of taxes they levy.

Find out below if you're eligible:

Roc: http://rochester.nydatabases.com/database/new-york-property-tax-rebate-status

Wes: http://lohud.nydatabases.com/database/new-york-property-tax-rebate-status

Bin: http://pressconnects.nydatabases.com/database/new-york-property-tax-rebate-status

Ith: http://ithacajournal.nydatabases.com/database/new-york-property-tax-rebate-status

Elm: http://stargazette.nydatabases.com/database/new-york-property-tax-rebate-status

Pok: http://pokjournal.nydatabases.com/database/new-york-property-tax-rebate-status