253-a. Recording tax by a city of one million or more. 1. Any city in this state having a population of one million or more, acting through its local legislative body, is hereby authorized and empowered to adopt and amend local laws imposing in any such city (A) prior to February first, nineteen hundred eighty-two a tax of fifty cents, (B) on or after February first, nineteen hundred eighty-two and before July first, nineteen hundred eighty-two with respect to (i) one, two or three-family houses, individual cooperative apartments and individual residential condominium units, and (ii) real property securing a principal debt or obligation of less than five hundred thousand dollars, a tax of fifty cents, and with respect to all other real property a tax of one dollar and twelve and one-half cents, (C) on and after July first, nineteen hundred eighty-two and before August first, nineteen hundred ninety with respect to real property securing a principal debt or obligation of less than five hundred thousand dollars, a tax of fifty cents, with respect to one, two or three-family houses, individual cooperative apartments and individual residential condominium units securing a principal debt or obligation of five hundred thousand dollars or more, a tax of sixty-two and one-half cents, and with respect to all other real property a tax of one dollar and twenty-five cents, and (D) on and after August first, nineteen hundred ninety with respect to real property securing a principal debt or obligation of less than five hundred thousand dollars, a tax of one dollar, with respect to one, two or three-family houses and individual residential condominium units securing a principal debt or obligation of five hundred thousand dollars or more, a tax of one dollar and twelve and one-half cents, and with respect to all other real property a tax of one dollar and seventy-five cents, for each one hundred dollars and each remaining major fraction thereof of principal debt or obligation which is or under any contingency may be secured at the date of execution thereof, or at any time thereafter, by a mortgage on such real property situated within such city and recorded on or after the date upon which such tax takes effect and a tax of one dollar on such mortgage if the principal debt or obligation which is or by any contingency may be secured by such mortgage is less than one hundred dollars. In each instance where the tax imposed pursuant to this subdivision is one dollar and twenty-five cents for each one hundred dollars and each remaining major fraction thereof of such principal debt or obligation, fifty percent of the total amount of such tax, including fifty percent of any interest or penalties thereon, shall be set aside in a special account by the commissioner of finance of such city. In each instance where the tax imposed pursuant to this subdivision is one dollar and seventy-five cents for each one hundred dollars and each remaining major fraction thereof of such principal debt or obligation, thirty-five and seven-tenths percent of the total amount of such tax, including thirty-five and seven-tenths percent of any interest or penalties thereon, shall also be set aside in such special account. Moneys in such account shall be used for payment by such commissioner to the state comptroller for deposit in the urban mass transit operating assistance account of the mass transportation operating assistance fund of any amount of insufficiency certified by the state comptroller pursuant to the provisions of subdivision six of section eighty-eight-a of the state finance law, and, on the fifteenth day of each month, such commissioner shall transmit all funds in such account on the last day of the preceding month, except the amount required for the payment of any amount of insufficiency certified by the state comptroller and such amount as he deems necessary for refunds and such other amounts necessary to finance the New York city transportation disabled committee and the New York city paratransit system as established by section fifteen-b of the transportation law, provided, however, that such amounts shall not exceed six percent of the total funds in the account but in no event be less than two hundred twenty-five thousand dollars beginning April first, nineteen hundred eighty-six, and further that beginning November fifteenth, nineteen hundred eighty-four and during the entire period prior to operation of such system, the total of such amounts shall not exceed three hundred seventy-five thousand dollars for the administrative expenses of such committee and fifty thousand dollars for the expenses of the agency designated pursuant to paragraph b of subdivision five of such section, and other amounts necessary to finance the operating needs of the private bus companies franchised by the city of New York and eligible to receive state operating assistance under section eighteen-b of the transportation law, provided, however, that such amounts shall not exceed four percent of the total funds in the account, to the New York city transit authority for mass transit within the city.
2. (a) For the purpose of determining whether a mortgage is subject to the tax authorized to be imposed by paragraph (B) or (C) of subdivision one of this section at a rate in excess of fifty cents, or by paragraph (D) of subdivision one of this section at a rate in excess of one dollar, for each one hundred dollars and each remaining major fraction thereof of principal debt or obligation, the principal debt or obligation which is or under any contingency may be secured at the date of execution thereof, or at any time thereafter, by such mortgage shall be aggregated with the principal debt or obligation which is or under any contingency may be secured at the date of execution thereof, or at any time thereafter, by any other mortgage, where such mortgages form part of the same or related transactions and have the same or related mortgagors. If the commissioner of taxation and finance finds that a mortgage transaction or mortgage transactions have been formulated for the purpose of avoiding or evading a rate of tax authorized to be imposed under subdivision one of this section in excess of the lowest such authorized rate, rather than solely for an independent business or financial purpose, such commissioner shall treat all of the mortgages forming part of such transaction or transactions as a single mortgage for the purpose of determining the applicable rate of tax. For purposes of this subdivision, there shall be a presumption that all mortgages offered for recording within a period of twelve consecutive months having the same or related mortgagors are part of a related transaction, and such presumption may be rebutted only with clear and convincing evidence to the contrary. The commissioner of taxation and finance may require such affidavits and forms, and may prescribe such rules and regulations, as he determines to be necessary to enforce the provisions of this subdivision.
(b) The term "related", when used in this subdivision with reference to mortgagors, shall include, but shall not be limited to, the following relationships:
(i) members of a family, including spouses, ancestors, lineal descendants, and brothers and sisters (whether by the whole or half blood);
(ii) a shareholder and a corporation more than fifty percent of the value of the outstanding stock of which is owned or controlled directly or indirectly by such shareholder;
(iii) a partner and a partnership more than fifty percent of the capital or profits interest in which is owned or controlled directly or indirectly by such partner;
(iv) a beneficiary and a trust more than fifty percent of the beneficial interest in which is owned or controlled directly or indirectly by such beneficiary;
(v) two or more corporations, partnerships, associations, or trusts, or any combination thereof, which are owned or controlled, either directly or indirectly, by the same person, corporation or other entity, or interests; and
(vi) a grantor of a trust and such trust.
* 4. The taxes imposed under the authority of this section shall be administered and collected in the same manner as the taxes imposed under subdivision one of section two hundred fifty-three and paragraph (b) of subdivision one of section two hundred fifty-five of this chapter. Except as otherwise provided in this section, all the provisions of this article relating to or applicable to the administration and collection of the taxes imposed by such subdivisions shall apply to the taxes imposed under the authority of this section with such modifications as may be necessary to adapt such language to the tax so authorized. Such provisions shall apply with the same force and effect as if those provisions had been set forth in full in this section except to the extent that any provision is either inconsistent with a provision of this section or not relevant to the tax authorized by this section. For purposes of this section, any reference in this article to the tax or taxes imposed by this article shall be deemed to refer to a tax imposed pursuant to this section, and any reference to the phrase "within this state" shall be read as "within a city imposing a tax pursuant to section two hundred fifty-three-a", unless a different meaning is clearly required.
* NB Amended as sub 4;should be sub 3
4. Where the real property covered by the mortgage subject to the tax imposed pursuant to the authority of this section is situated in this state but within and without a city imposing such tax, the amount of such tax due and payable to such city shall be determined in a manner similar to that prescribed in the first paragraph of section two hundred sixty which concerns real property situated in two or more counties. Where such property is situated both within such city and without the state, the amount due and payable to such city shall be determined in the manner prescribed in the second paragraph of section two hundred sixty which concerns property situated within and without the state. Where real property is situated within and without the city imposing such tax, the recording officer of the jurisdiction in which the mortgage is first recorded shall be required to collect the taxes imposed pursuant to this section.
5. A tax imposed pursuant to the authority of this section shall be in addition to the taxes imposed by section two hundred fifty-three.
6. Any local law imposing a tax pursuant to the authority of this section or repealing or suspending such a tax shall take effect only on the first day of a calendar month. Such a local law shall not be effective unless a certified copy thereof is mailed by registered or certified mail to the state tax commission at its office in Albany at least sixty days prior to the date the local law shall take effect. However, the tax commission may waive and reduce such sixty-day notice requirement to a requirement that such certified copy be mailed by registered or certified mail within a period of not less than thirty days prior to such effective date if it deems such action to be consistent with its duties under this section.
7. Certified copies of any local law described in this section shall also be filed with the city clerk, the secretary of state and the state comptroller within five days after the date it is duly enacted.
Last modified: February 3, 2019