Which NYC property tax exemptions are worth checking on your own bill?

Updated 2026-08-27.

An exemption comes off the assessed value before the rate is applied, so a missing one costs money every year it stays missing. The personal exemptions run to March 15. The co-op and condo abatement does not, and it is not yours to file.

The five homeowner exemptions

Finance's own eligibility and benefit figures, as published for the current cycle.
Exemption	Who qualifies?	The benefit
Senior Citizen Homeowners' Exemption, SCHE	All owners 65 or older, unless the owners are spouses or siblings, where only one has to meet the age test. Combined annual income of the owner and spouse or co-owner cannot exceed $58,399.	Cuts the assessed value on a sliding scale, from 50% at income up to $50,000 down to 5% between $57,500 and $58,399
Disabled Homeowners' Exemption, DHE	All owners are people with disabilities, unless the owners are spouses or siblings. Combined income of all owners and their spouses cannot exceed $58,399.	The same sliding scale, 50% down to 5%
Alternative Veterans Exemption	Veterans of a specified period of conflict, expeditionary medalists, honourable discharges, spouses and surviving spouses, and Gold Star parents, on a primary residence	15% of assessed value, capped at $2,880 in tax class 1 and $21,600 in classes 2 and 4, plus a further 10% for combat-zone service and a separate disability tier
Eligible Funds Exemption	Veterans who bought the home with eligible funds: pensions, bonuses, insurance, mustering out pay. It carries no primary residence test.	Cuts the assessed value, and the exemption can be increased from $5,000 up to $7,500
Clergy Exemption	Active clergy whose principal occupation is ministerial work, clergy unable to work through illness or impairment, retired clergy over 70, and unremarried surviving spouses	A $1,500 reduction in assessed value

STAR moved to the State, and that changed the options

The Department of Finance no longer administers the STAR and E-STAR benefits and does not accept applications for either. The exemption itself is closed to all new applicants. An owner who is new to a home, or who was not receiving STAR on their current home in 2015, registers with New York State for the STAR credit instead, and is paid by check or direct deposit rather than through a reduction on the school tax bill.

The income tests are the State's, not the city's: for Basic STAR, $500,000 or less for the credit and $250,000 or less for the exemption. For Enhanced STAR the State publishes $110,750 or less for 2026 benefits and $113,550 or less for 2027 benefits, with only one resident owner needing to be at least 65 as of December 31 of the benefit year, whatever the relationship between the owners.

The co-op and condo abatement is not yours to file

This one surprises people who go looking for an application form and cannot find one they are allowed to submit. Individual unit owners do not apply for the abatement. A condominium board of managers or a cooperative board of directors applies on behalf of the entire development, and the unit owner's part is to certify to that board or its authorised agent that the unit is their primary residence, which the board then attests to.

The benefit runs off the development's average assessed value, not off your own unit's.
Average assessed value	Benefit per year
$50,000 or less	28.1%
$50,001 to $55,000	25.2%
$55,001 to $60,000	22.5%
$60,001 and above	17.5%

The unit has to be the owner's primary residence, and the owner cannot hold more than three residential units in any one development.
An owner receiving the clergy exemption is not eligible for the abatement.
A unit owned by a business such as an LLC, or held by a sponsor or their successors in interest, does not qualify.
The development has to be a tax class 2 property, and it cannot be receiving the J-51 exemption or the 420c, 421a, 421b or 421g commercial benefits.

How is a denial appealed?

Personal exemption appeals go to the Tax Commission, and only after Finance has acted. Its own form puts it in capitals: you can only appeal to the Tax Commission if Finance has denied an application for a personal exemption, or revoked an exemption which you had. The forms are TC600PE for personal exemption appeals, TC106A for a senior citizen or disabled exemption, TC106CV for a veteran or clergy exemption, and TC106S for a STAR exemption. TC106SUP has to be filed with TC106A or TC106S and is invalid on its own.

The date sits later than the March assessment deadlines, which is why it gets misread as slack. For the 2026/27 year the Tax Commission's own form sets it as received by June 1, 2026, and where Finance denies or revokes after May 1 the window becomes 30 calendar days from the date on the Finance notice instead. Appeals cannot be filed by email.

An abatement denial goes somewhere else entirely

A co-op or condo abatement denial is disputed with Finance rather than the Tax Commission, and only where the denial or revocation rested on primary residency eligibility. A unit owner has to file no later than 30 days from the date on the denial or revocation notice. Since December 1, 2025 a managing agent or board may also dispute the denial of an application, by filing a dispute form with Finance.

An exemption claim and a value claim are separate filings on separate clocks, and the deadlines page sets them side by side. If the assessment itself is also wrong, that is an Application for Correction and it is due in March whatever the exemption is doing. MGNY handles exemption filings and renewals alongside the appeals: 212-343-1111.