What STAR is, whether you qualify, and how to make sure you're actually getting it.
STAR — School Tax Relief — is New York's main homeowner tax break, and it is surprisingly easy to miss. The state says it can save homeowners hundreds of dollars a year on the school tax for the home they live in, and the income limit for the basic version is $500,000, so most homeowners qualify. But it isn't automatic. If you bought your home in the last decade and never registered, you are very likely leaving money on the table.
STAR used to be a single program run by your local assessor: you applied for the exemption, and it showed up as a smaller number on your school tax bill. For homes bought after 2015, the state replaced it with the STAR credit, which the Tax Department pays to you directly, by check or direct deposit, around the time your school taxes are due. You then pay your school tax bill in full and use the credit toward it.
The old exemption survives only for people who have been receiving it since 2015 on the same home. They can keep it for as long as they stay in that home and remain eligible. It can't be carried over to a new house: the law doesn't allow STAR exemptions to transfer, so anyone who moves switches to the credit.
If you still have the exemption, you are allowed to switch to the credit voluntarily, and it can be worth doing. The state's own comparison notes that you may receive a larger benefit with the credit, and publishes the side-by-side amounts for each municipality and school district so you can check before you switch. If your school taxes are paid out of a mortgage escrow account, tell your lender when you switch, since your tax bill will no longer have the exemption taken off it.
Whichever form you get, the benefit comes in two sizes. The limits below are the state's published figures as of October 2026.
| Basic STAR | Enhanced STAR | |
|---|---|---|
| Age | No age requirement | At least one resident owner must be 65 or older by December 31 of the benefit year |
| Income limit (credit) | $500,000 or less | $110,750 or less for 2026 benefits; $113,550 or less for 2027 |
| Income limit (exemption) | $250,000 or less | Same as the credit |
| Exemption covers | The first $30,000 of the home's full value | The first $88,500 of the home's full value (2026–27 school year) |
Figures from the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance, as of October 2026. Limits change every year; check the sources below for the current ones.
You don't choose between the two levels. Once you're registered, the state gives you Basic or Enhanced depending on what you qualify for, and reviews that every year.
A surviving spouse can keep an existing Enhanced STAR benefit if they were at least 62 by December 31 of the year their spouse died. Otherwise they receive Basic STAR until they turn 65, and Enhanced from then on, as long as they're otherwise eligible.
"Income" for STAR has a specific meaning: your federal adjusted gross income minus the taxable part of any IRA distributions. Only the incomes of the owners and owners' spouses who live at the property are counted; a co-owner who lives elsewhere doesn't affect your eligibility.
The figure comes from your tax return two years before the benefit year. Eligibility for 2026 STAR uses 2024 returns. On a 2024 federal Form 1040, that's line 11 minus line 4b; on a New York Form IT-201, line 19 minus line 9. If you don't file returns, the state may write to ask for your income information.
The home has to be owned by the people claiming the benefit and has to be the primary residence of at least one of them. The state looks at things like where you spend most of the year, where you're registered to vote, and the address on your driver's license and vehicle registration, and it can ask for proof. Houses, condominiums, co-op apartments, manufactured homes and farm houses all qualify. A married couple gets one STAR benefit no matter how many homes they own, unless they're legally separated. Homes owned by corporations, partnerships or LLCs don't qualify, except for farm dwellings.
A few special situations are covered too. If you put your home in a trust but still live there as the beneficiary, you're treated as the owner. Under a life estate, eligibility is based on the life tenant, not the person who inherits the property later.
Registration is online, through the Homeowner Benefit Portal in a New York State Tax Department Individual Online Services account. Before you start, have the names and Social Security numbers of every owner and their spouses, the name of your school district, the approximate date you bought the home, and your income tax returns from two years back. The seller's names and your latest school tax bill help, too.
You only register once. After that, the state reviews your eligibility every year and pays the credit automatically for as long as you own and live in the home. You only need to update your registration if ownership changes through marriage, divorce, a co-owner giving up their share, a death, a trust or a name change, and you should close it if you sell.
If you just bought a home: register as soon as it becomes your primary residence. The state treats whoever owned the home on July 1 as the owner for that year's credit, so a purchase on June 15 can get you the credit that same year, while a purchase on July 15 starts the following year. If the previous owner had the old exemption, you may see it on your first school tax bill; you still need to register for the credit to keep getting STAR after that.
If you never registered: it isn't too late for recent years. The state accepts a registration for up to three years after the income tax filing deadline for the year in question; the credit for 2024, for example, can be claimed until April 15, 2028. Registering by July 1 also matters if your credit arrives late, since interest is paid on late credits only to people who registered by then.
STAR applies only to school district taxes everywhere except five cities: New York City, Buffalo, Rochester, Yonkers and Syracuse. In those cities, the benefit is applied partly to city taxes and partly to school taxes.
Because STAR is a school tax benefit, the school district your home pays into is the one that counts. You'll need it to register, and it's what the state's credit-versus-exemption comparison is broken out by. It isn't always the district you'd guess: New York's school district lines don't follow town or county lines, and two houses on the same street can fall in different districts.
Every property record on this site shows the school district the parcel is assessed into. Search your address or click your lot on the map to see yours.
Find your home's school district →Everything above comes from the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance, which is the place to check current limits before relying on them: STAR resource center, Register for STAR, STAR eligibility, Types of STAR, STAR questions and answers, and the handout for new homeowners. Checked against those pages in October 2026.
This guide is general information, not legal or tax advice. STAR rules, income limits and benefit amounts change every year; confirm your own situation with the Tax Department or a qualified professional.