New forms introduced for tax appeals.

For the second time in as many years, the New York City Tax Commission has made significant changes to real estate tax appeal forms which will affect the compliance requirements of taxpayers appealing their 1997 real property tax assessments.

The New York City Tax Commission, under the direction of its Counsel, Glenn Borin, and newly appointed President James DeCuzzi, has revised all of its "Applications for Correction of Assessment" and supporting income and expense schedules. The new application forms, all of which are printed on white 8.5 x 11 inch paper, require greater detail to be set forth in a new four page schedule format. The prior 14-inch versions of the forms have been discontinued. The prior practice of filing on color coordinated forms based upon the level of assessment has also been discontinued. The traditional blue TC-101 ($750,000 or more), green TC-102 (less than $750,000) and pink TC-103 (owner-occupied, vacant, hotel/motel, cooperative parcel) applications have all been replaced with the four page form TC-101, printed on white 8.5 x 11 inch paper.

Although the new form has a different look and requires greater detail regarding use and occupancy and the relationship of the applicant to the parcel, the substantive information requested is essentially the same as last year.

The supporting Income and Expense Schedule for Rent Producing Property (TC-201), also a four page white form printed on 8.5 x 11 paper, replaces consolidated form TC-101 SIE/TC102 SIE. While the financial information to be reported is essentially the same as the information required in prior years, taxpayers are now required to disclose greater detail regarding occupancy, turnover and vacancy during the reporting year. In addition, the form provides space for taxpayers to furnish information regarding vacancy and changes in occupancy in support of the appeal.

Cooperatives will utilize the Income and Expense Schedule for Cooperative Apartments (TC-203) this year, which replaces last year's newly introduced TC-103CC-96. Although the format and size of the form is changed, the financial and other information required is identical to what was required in the prior year. As was the case last year, the practice of attaching the cooperative corporation's latest financial statement to the Income and Expense Schedule for Cooperative Apartments in satisfaction of compliance requirements of the Tax Commission will not be permitted. The new form specifically states that the data from the latest financial statement must be presented on the Tax Commission's form and that filing a copy of the cooperative's latest financial statement is not an acceptable substitute. As in the past, an accountant's certification is not required for cooperatives, even if the actual assessed valuation of the property is in excess of one million dollars.

Condominium property filers will utilize form TC-109 again this year. In addition to a new look and format, the form will require the Board of Managers to furnish greater detail regarding the description, use and occupancy of the entire condominium. Owners of income-producing commercial condominium units must provide financial information on form TC-201, the same schedule utilized by non-condominium rent-producing properties.

In addition to the revisions outlined above, there have also been revisions to the income schedules for hotels, motels, department stores and theaters, as well as to the Application for Reclass & Exempt status and Accountant's Certification forms.

While the new multiple page application forms and supporting schedules will require a significant adjustment by taxpayers, the Tax Commission has authorized alternative two-page versions of three of the 1997 forms: TC 101, TC 109 and TC 201. Only those taxpayers filing pursuant to the specifications of the Tax Commission's Automated Data Transfer Program, however, can utilize the scaled-down alternative two-page versions of the forms for 1997, which are essentially last year's forms reduced from 14 inch to 8.5 inch paper. Tax certiorari practitioners and others who file in excess of 50 appeals will be the prime beneficiaries of the Automated Data Transfer Program and will be required to file on computer disk as well as by hard copy.

The significant changes to Tax Commission forms and compliance requirements is part of a two year program which was begun by former President Earl Andrews, Jr. last year to update forms which had not been revised in more than 10 years.

Taxpayers are urged to use care in strictly complying with the new requirements of the Tax Commission to avoid jeopardizing valuable rights to an administrative fair hearing for tax review.

(Jeffrey Golkin is an attorney in New York City specializing in tax certiorari matters and is Associate Professor of Real Estate Law at New York University's Real Estate Institute.)