"To receive a STAR exemption, you must have received it in 2015. If you weren't receiving the STAR exemption on your property in 2015, you aren't eligible to receive it now."
I don't think that's quite correct. The STAR program is still around. What happened is that,
- if you were in STAR before 2015, your property taxes were reduced (credit on your property tax bill)
- if you enrolled in STAR after 2015, you pay the full property tax, and then you get a rebate check in the Fall.
https://www.tax.ny.gov/star/
This new property tax relief credit on form IT-229 is new since I moved out of New York, so I don't quite know what it is for. But the instructions say your property must be enrolled in the STAR program either via the credit or the rebate check. Which it sounds like you are.
So your question is how to figure the credit. On this form you list the total property taxes you paid for 2023. Then, if you got a STAR rebate or credit not on your tax bill, you list that and it gets subtracted from what you paid, to arrive at the net amount you paid. You ignore the credit if it was already on your tax bill, because you already didn't pay it.
In other words, something like this:
John's property tax bill was $5000. John received a STAR rebate of $400. John's net property tax that is qualified for this new credit is $4600.
Mary's property tax bill was $5000 with a STAR credit of $400, so Mary only paid $4600. Mary did not get an additional rebate. Mary's net property tax that is qualified for this new credit is $4600. If Mary listed the STAR amount again, then the form would calculate her eligible property tax for the credit as $4200, which is too low. So Mary should ignore the STAR credit on her tax bill because she already paid the reduced amount and does not need to reduce it again.
Does that make sense?
