Calculating your New York State local school property taxes if eligible for the STAR program is not complicated, provided you know your property's current assessment and the amount of the exemption for which you qualify. The New York School Tax Relief Program, also known as STAR, provides New York homeowners with partial exemptions for school property taxes. If you earn less than $500,000 and own your home, you might be eligible for the basic STAR exemption. Under this program, a homeowner is eligible to receive an exemption from their property's assessment when determining their local school property tax liability.
Step 1
Establish your property's value for local property taxes. Your local assessor determines this amount, which can be viewed on your municipality's tentative roll published annually usually by May 15. You can obtain your local assessor's contact information to obtain your property' assessed value by visiting the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance website.
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Step 2
Determine the STAR exemption amount for which you qualify. This amount is computed by multiplying your municipality's prior year equalization rate by 30,000 multiplied by your county's sales price differential factor or your prior year's STAR exemption multiplied by .89 whichever amount is greater. The New York State Department of Taxation and Finance Office of Real Property Tax Services publishes the computed STAR exemption amount for each municipality annually on its website.
Step 3
Subtract the basic STAR exemption amount from your property's value as determined by your assessor for local property tax purposes. For instance if you live in Albany County in the City of Cohoes and your basic STAR exemption is $17,340 and your home's assessment is 180,000 you would subtract $17,340 from $180,000 to arrive at your home's value for local school property tax purposes of $162,660.
Step 4
Obtain your municipality's local school property tax rate. You can view this data online by visiting the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance website where school tax rate data can be sorted by county and municipality.
Step 5
Multiply your local school district tax rate by your property's STAR exemption adjusted value amount divided by 1,000. For instance, if your live in the City of Cohoes where the school tax rate is 32.33 per thousand of property value and your STAR exemption adjusted home value is $162,660 you would owe $5,258.78 in local school taxes -- divide $162,660 by 1,000 and multiply this quotient by 32.33.
Warning
Beginning with the 2011-12 school year, maximum STAR savings can't exceed more than 2% of the prior year maximum savings from taking advantage of the STAR exemption.
Things You'll Need
School district tax rate
STAR exemption
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