Multi-county Mortgage Tax
The following blog is part of our New York team's "To the Point" title insurance news blog series. Learn more about the series via our New York Metro or Upstate New York markets.
When recording a mortgage that covers property in multiple New York State counties, you must record it in each county, but you can avoid paying mortgage tax in each county by paying the tax in the county where the mortgage is first recorded and obtaining a certified copy to submit to the other counties.
However, if the mortgage tax rates are different in the counties, you have two options:
- record in any county and submit a completed Form MT-15 Mortgage Recording Tax Return to pay the tax based on the assessed value of the properties encumbered, and present a certified copy of the first recorded mortgage with receipt of tax paid and an affidavit to the other counties; OR
- record first in the county that imposes the greatest amount of mortgage tax and pay the tax without allocation as if the property is located entirely within that locality. Present a certified copy of the first recorded mortgage with receipt of tax paid and an affidavit to the other counties. The taxpayer may submit a completed Form MT-15.1 Mortgage Recording Tax Claim for Refund to the recording officer at the time of first submission or to the Tax Department within two years of the date that the erroneous payment of tax was received by the recording officer.
Please feel free to contact your NYMetro Underwriting Team should you have any questions.
Additional Information:
- NYS Tax Law section 257
- Link to NYS Dept. of Taxation & Finance MT-15 and MT-15.1 forms
- TSB-M-96(2)R (See questions 11 & 12)