Property tax on $111 million sale upheld

Realty company claimed property transfer was exempt from City taxes. In April 2007, the Gramercy Capital Corporation purchased a forty-five percent ownership share in the Marbridge building at 2 Herald Square in Manhattan, and the SL Green Realty Corporation purchased the remaining fifty-five percent interest. In December 2010, the two owners formed the 2 Herald Owner LLC and each transferred their respective interests into the Owner LLC. On the same day in December 2010, … <Read More>


Property Tax Lien Sale Program Extended by City Council

The City’s Lien Sale Program has been extended another four years with some minor modifications. A lien is a legal claim against a property for unpaid property taxes, water, sewer or other property charges. When the property owner has been delinquent for a specified period of time, the City is allowed to sell the liens to an authorized third party. The new purchaser then has the authority to collect the money that was previously owed … <Read More>


Ellen Hoffman: President of the New York City Tax Commission

Ellen Hoffman, a lawyer for 40 years, earned a JD from New York University School of Law in 1977 and an LLM in Taxation in 1978. She began her career in tax law at a private firm in New York City, when after 11 years, she felt the urge to do something different. Hoffman stumbled upon a posting for a tax attorney position with the New York City Department of Finance and, as Hoffman … <Read More>


City Developer Denied Tax Abatement

Court found that application was not filed within the statutory time period of one year. On January 27, 2016, the New York State Supreme Court denied a Brooklyn developer’s petition to reverse a Department of Finance decision to not grant a tax abatement. The Developer, 96 Wythe Acquisitions, filed the petition after the Department of Finance denied the application for the tax abatement because it was not filed within the mandatory one-year requirement. 96 Wythe … <Read More>


A Property Tax Cap – What It Would Do and What It Would Not Do

Last month, at a State Legislature hearing in Albany on the Governor’s proposed budget, Mayor de Blasio faced repeated questions about why New York City is exempt from the cap on property tax increases that applies elsewhere in the state. The legislators cited a variety of reasons why the city should accept a cap, although few hold up to scrutiny – most notably the assertion that a cap was a “fix” for the city’s broken … <Read More>