Taxpayers who earn more than $500,000 are not eligible to receive the Basic STAR exemption.
To confirm your eligibility, your assessor may ask you to provide information about your income. (How income is defined)
What to do next
If your assessor notifies you that you're ineligible for the Basic STAR exemption:
- If you agree that you're ineligible, you don't need to do anything. However, if your income drops below the limit in the future, you'll need to re-apply for the exemption.
- If your household income is below $500,000 and you believe that you're eligible for the exemption, provide your assessor with either your federal or state return for tax year 2010.
If you don't receive a notice from your assessor
- There's no need to do anything - you'll continue to receive the Basic STAR exemption.
To learn more
Contact your assessor's office. You can find assessor contact information and more information about your community on our Municipal Profiles webpage.
How income is defined
For 2012, income for Basic STAR purposes is based on the 2010 tax year, and is the combined income of:
- all owners who reside at the property, and
- any owner's spouse who resides at the property.
Income is defined as federal "adjusted gross income" minus the "taxable amount" of total distributions from individual retirement accounts or individual retirement annuities (both of which are commonly known as "IRA's"). For specific line references on your 2010 federal or state income tax returns, see page 2 of the STAR application.