A Staten Island Judge has ordered NYC to restart the process for determining who has to pay the pied-a-terre tax, ruling that homeowners were harmed in the way the surcharge was administered. As many NYC homeowners following this know, the pied-a-terre tax is a surcharge on secondary homes in the city, which are often luxury apartments not used as primary residences. While providing temporary relief for those owners, the ruling does not stop the pied-a terre tax itself because it is already a state law. This particular ruling requires NYC to start over to determine which property owners are subject to the tax. It has been reported that NYC, which has already filed an appeal, is seeking a stay of the decision to allow it to continue with the rollout of the tax and the collection of the surcharges.
There is another action against the Pied-a-terre tax pending in the Supreme Court in Suffolk County, that is challenging the constitutionality of the tax on a number of grounds. We will keep you abreast of all of these situations as they develop.