What's happening
This bill allows New York City property owners facing COVID-19-related economic hardship to have property tax penalties and interest waived or refunded.
Why it matters
Directly targets property owners with COVID-19-related hardships. , expanding relief to those who lost rental income, suffered illness or death in the family, or experienced job or investment losses linked to the pandemic. This means a broader range of people could qualify, not just those who lost jobs.
Empowers local officials and the commissioner of finance with discretion. to define what counts as economic hardship and to waive or refund penalties and interest. This flexibility helps tailor the aid to real-world situations but could also lead to uneven application depending on how rules are set.
Applies retroactively. , requiring the city to refund penalties and interest that were already paid if the owner’s hardship qualifies under the new law. This could provide immediate financial relief to those who struggled early in the pandemic.
May impact city finances and public services. , since waiving or refunding penalties and interest reduces city revenue from property taxes, potentially affecting funding for services unless offset by other measures.
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Who cares
Headline styles
Pause Property Tax Penalties
Plain English, a few words. Used as the page title.
Sponsors
No co-sponsors yet.
History
- Referred to local government
Full text
2 pagesUnderlined is new[Struck] is removedOfficial text on nysenate.gov ↗
STATE OF NEW YORK
8388
IN SENATE
May 21, 2020
Introduced by Sen. GOUNARDES -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Local Government
AN ACT to amend the real property tax law and the administrative code of the city of New York, in relation to enacting the coronavirus property tax relief act
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:
Section 1. This act shall be known as the "coronavirus property tax relief act".
§ 2. For the purposes of this act, "economic hardship due to COVID-19" shall mean any hardship determined by the commissioner of finance of the city of New York to be related to the outbreak of the novel coronavirus COVID-19, including but not limited to a loss of rental income, death or illness due to COVID-19 of an immediate family member or a fellow property owner which has caused a hardship, loss of employment income due to the place of employment's compliance with government ordered restrictions due to COVID-19, loss of investment income due to the economic contraction caused by COVID-19, or any other qualifying event the commissioner determines to be related to COVID-19.
§ 3. Subdivision 2 of section 925-a of the real property tax law, as amended by chapter 522 of the laws of 2007, is amended to read as follows:
2. Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, during a state disaster emergency as defined by section twenty of the executive law, the governor may, by executive order issued upon the request of the chief executive officer of a county, city, town, village or school district in the affected area, extend by up to twenty-one days the final date for paying taxes without interest or penalty in such county, city, town, village or school district. If such an extension is granted, and any taxes are not paid by the final date so provided, those taxes shall be subject to the same interest and penalties that would have applied if no extension had been granted. Notwithstanding the provisions of this subdivision, the chief executive officer of each locality granted an extension in executive order 202.22 of the year two thousand twenty may
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD16344-01-0
S. 8388 2
choose to waive such interest and penalties if such taxes are not paid by the final date.
§ 4. Subdivision f of section 11-224 of the administrative code of the city of New York is amended to read as follows:
f. If any tax on real estate which shall become due and payable at any time on or after July first, nineteen hundred seventy-nine, shall remain unpaid in whole or in part on the fifteenth day following the date on which the same shall become due and payable, or if any tax on real estate which became due and payable prior to July first, nineteen hundred seventy-nine shall remain unpaid on that date, the commissioner of finance shall charge, receive and collect interest upon the amount of such tax or such part thereof remaining unpaid, to be calculated, in the case of any tax which shall become due and payable on or after July first, nineteen hundred seventy-nine, from the day on which such tax or such part thereof became due and payable, and in the case of any tax which became due and payable prior to July first, nineteen hundred seventy-nine, from July first, nineteen hundred seventy-nine, to the date of payment at the rate of seven per centum per annum if the annual tax on a parcel is two thousand seven hundred fifty dollars or less, and at the rate of fifteen per centum per annum if the annual tax on a parcel is more than two thousand seven hundred fifty dollars or, irrespective of the annual tax, if a parcel consists of vacant or unimproved land. Any interest accrued prior to July first, nineteen hundred seventy-nine, pursuant to the preceding subdivisions of this section shall be unaffected by the provisions of this subdivision.
Notwithstanding the provisions of this section, the commissioner of finance shall charge no interest on the tax which remains unpaid, in whole or in part, on the fifteenth day following the date on which the same shall become due and payable, if the owner of the parcel has suffered an economic hardship due to COVID-19, as such term is defined by the chapter of the laws of two thousand twenty which amended this subdivision.
§ 5. Section 11-224.1 of the administrative code of the city of New York is amended by adding a new subdivision (h) to read as follows:
(h) The interest described by this section shall not be imposed on any unpaid real property tax if the owner of such property has suffered an economic hardship due to COVID-19, as such term is defined by the chapter of the laws of two thousand twenty which added this subdivision.
§ 6. This act shall take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall have become a law. Effective immediately, the commissioner of finance of the city of New York is authorized and directed to promulgate any rule or regulation necessary for the implementation of this act on or before such effective date. Any penalty or interest which accrued prior to the effective date of this act which is waived or prohibited pursuant to this act shall be refunded to the property owner.
Reflowed for reading: line numbers and page breaks removed. Cite the official text.
Sponsor's memo
Title of bill
An act to amend the real property tax law and the administrative code of the city of New York, in relation to enacting the coronavirus property tax relief act
Purpose or general idea of bill
To provide targeted relief on late property taxes to property owners suffering a hardship due to COVID-19.
Summary of provisions
Section 1 provides the title.
Read the full memo (636 words)
Section 2 adds an unconsolidated section of law to define "economic hardship due to COVID-19".
Section 3 amends section 925-a of the real property tax law to allow all municipalities which were granted an extension on the filing of final assessment rolls in Executive Order 202.22 of 2020 to waive interest and penalties for late taxes.
Section 4 amends subdivision f of section 11-224 of the New York City administrative code to provide that a property owner experiencing hard- ship due to COVID-19 shall not be subject to the interest described therein.
Section .5 amends section 11-224.1 of the New York City administrative code to provide that a property owner experiencing hardship due to COVID-19 shall not be subject to the interest described therein.
Section 6 of the bill provides that this act shall take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall have become law and requires the New York City Finance Commissioner to promulgate rules and regulations necessary for the implementation of this act.
Justification
New York City's sky-high interest rates on late property taxes, 7% for properties with an assessed value of $250,000 or below and 18% for prop- erties with an assessed value exceeding $250,000, are proposed by the New York City Banking Commission and adopted as part of the annual city's budget making process in June. Although widely recognized to be inappropriately high for a time of pandemic, the city is unable to waive interest on its own without legislative intervention at either the state or city level.
Exceeding average interest on other types of debt like mortgages and car loans, a 7% or 18% interest rate unfairly punishes property owners struggling to stay afloat as they navigate an opaque and archaic tax system badly in need of reform. These already-excessive interest rates, which are administered by the New York City Department of Finance (DOF), are far too punitive for the homeowners, landlords, and small businesses of the city trying to make ends meet in the midst of the steepest down- turn since the Great Depression. And while DOF does offer some deferral payment plans, the only ones that allow property owners to defer future taxes as well as accrued debt are limited to Class 1 homes and Class 2 condos where the property owner has an income of $58,339 or less.
This bill offers much broader relief by providing an automatic waiver on interest penalties for any property owner experiencing an economic hard- ship due to COVID-19, which shall include but not be limited to loss of rental, investment, or employment income due to COVID-19 or death or serious illness of an immediate family member or property owner due to COVID-19 where such death has caused a hardship. In consideration of this bill the legislature must recognize that in many instances the challenges these property owners face come as a direct result of their attempts to comply with government-ordered restrictions. It is the very least we can do, then, to ensure that these attempts are not met with cold-shouldered neglect. Waiving these interest rates on delinquent taxes during COVID-19 will offer targeted relief while ensuring that the government isn't profiting off of its citizens' inabilities to pay the bills during the time of crisis.
Prior legislative history
New bill.
Fiscal implications
None to the state.
Effective date
This act shall take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall have become law.
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.