N.Y. Tax Law 261 – Payment over and distribution of taxes
§ 261. Payment over and distribution of taxes. 1. The balance of all moneys paid to the recording officer of each county during each month upon account of the additional taxes imposed pursuant to subdivision two of section two hundred fifty-three of this article, after deducting the necessary expenses of his or her office as provided in section two hundred sixty-two of this article, except taxes paid upon mortgages which under the provisions of section two hundred sixty of this article are first to be apportioned by the commissioner, shall be paid over by him or her on or before the tenth day of each succeeding month as follows: (a) with respect to those counties comprising the metropolitan commuter transportation district, as defined by the provisions of § 1262 of the public authorities law, to the metropolitan transportation authority to be applied in any authority fiscal year beginning on or after January first, nineteen hundred eighty-seven (i) first, to meet the general, administrative and operating expenses of the authority net of reimbursements, recoveries and adjustments, not including the expenses of any subsidiaries thereof which operate any transportation facility, (ii) second, from any remaining revenues, fifty-five per centum of such revenues shall be paid by the metropolitan transportation authority to the transit account of the metropolitan transportation authority special assistance fund established by § 1270-a of the public authorities law; and (iii) the remaining forty-five per centum shall be paid by the metropolitan transportation authority to the commuter railroad account of the metropolitan transportation authority special assistance fund established by § 1270-a of the public authorities law; (b) with respect to those counties comprising the Niagara Frontier transportation district, as defined by the provisions of § 1299-b of the public authorities law, to the Niagara Frontier transportation authority; (c) with respect to those counties comprising the Rochester-Genesee regional transportation district, as defined by the provisions of § 1299 of the public authorities law, to the Rochester-Genesee Regional Transportation Authority; (d) with respect to those counties comprising the capital district transportation district, as defined by the provisions of § 1302 of the public authorities law, to the capital district transportation authority; (e) with respect to those counties comprising the central New York regional transportation district, as defined by the provisions of § 1327 of the public authorities law, to the central New York regional transportation authority; (f) with respect to the county of Dutchess or the county of Orange or the county of Rockland if any such county withdraws from the metropolitan commuter transportation district pursuant to § 1279-b of the public authorities law and does not suspend the imposition of such additional tax, to the county treasurer of such county if such county provides that the moneys shall be used for mass transportation purposes but, if any such county which so withdraws and which does not so suspend does not so provide, to the comptroller pursuant to paragraph (p) of this subdivision; * (g) with respect to the counties of Washington and Warren, to the county treasurer of such county to be used to pay for any and all expenses incurred by such counties for the support of community colleges pursuant to Article one hundred twenty-six of the education law; with respect to the county of Essex, to the county treasurer of such county to be used to pay for any and all expenses incurred by such county for county office and court facility projects and, after all such expenses are paid, for any and all expenses incurred by such county for county correctional and public safety facility projects;
Terms Used In N.Y. Tax Law 261
- Fiscal year: The fiscal year is the accounting period for the government. For the federal government, this begins on October 1 and ends on September 30. The fiscal year is designated by the calendar year in which it ends; for example, fiscal year 2006 begins on October 1, 2005 and ends on September 30, 2006.
- mortgage: as used in this article includes every mortgage or deed of trust which imposes a lien on or affects the title to real property, notwithstanding that such property may form a part of the security for the debt or debts secured thereby. See N.Y. Tax Law 250
- Mortgage: The written agreement pledging property to a creditor as collateral for a loan.
- real property: as used in this article includes the land itself above and under water, all buildings and other articles and structures, substructures and superstructures, erected upon, under or above, or affixed to the same; all wharves and piers, including the value of the right to collect wharfage, cranage or dockage thereon; all bridges, all telegraph lines, wires, poles and appurtenances; all supports and inclosures for electrical conductors and other appurtenances upon, above and underground; all surface, underground or elevated railroads, including the value of all franchises, rights or permission to construct, maintain or operate the same in, under, above, on or through, streets, highways, or public places; all railroad structures, substructures and superstructures, tracks and the iron thereon; branches, switches and other fixtures permitted or authorized to be made, laid or placed in, upon, above or under any public or private road, street or ground; all mains, pipes and tanks laid or placed in, upon, above or under any public or private street or place for conducting steam, heat, water, oil, electricity or any property, substance or product capable of transportation or conveyance therein or that is protected thereby, including the value of all franchises, rights, authority or permission to construct, maintain or operate, in, under, above, upon, or through, any streets, highways or public places, any mains, pipes, tanks, conduits or wires, with their appurtenances, for conducting water, steam, heat, light, power, gas, oil or other substance, or electricity or telegraphic, telephonic or other purposes; all trees and underwood growing upon land, and all mines, minerals, quarries and fossils in and under the same, except mines belonging to the state; and all the forms of housing which are adaptable to motivation by a power connected thereto or which may be propelled by a power within themselves and which are or can be used as a house or living abode or habitation of one or more persons, or for business, commercial or office purposes, either temporarily or permanently, and commonly called and hereafter referred to as "trailers"; except (1) transient trailers which have been located within the boundaries of a city, town or village for less than sixty days and (2) trailers which are for sale and which are not occupied. See N.Y. Tax Law 250
- Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
- tax district: as used in this article means a city or town. See N.Y. Tax Law 250
* NB Effective until December 1, 2024
* (g) with respect to the counties of Washington and Warren, to the county treasurer of such county to be used to pay for any and all expenses incurred by such counties for the support of community colleges pursuant to Article one hundred twenty-six of the education law; with respect to the county of Essex, to the county treasurer of such county to be used to pay for any and all expenses incurred by such county for county office and court facility projects;
* NB Effective December 1, 2024 (h) with respect to the county of Franklin, to the county treasurer of such county to be used to pay for any and all expenses incurred by such county for county office and county correctional facility projects; (i) with respect to the county of Clinton, to the county treasurer of such county to be used to pay for any and all expenses incurred by such county for county office and other county capital projects; (j) with respect to the county of Chautauqua, to the county treasurer of such county to be used to pay for any and all expenses incurred by such county for county correctional facility and court facility projects, and debt service thereon, including but not limited to, related heating, ventilation, air-conditioning and parking infrastructure upgrades; (j-1) with respect to the county of Tompkins, to the county treasurer of such county for mass transportation purposes; (k) with respect to the county of Allegany, to the county treasurer of such county for deposit into the general fund of the county of Allegany; (l) with respect to the county of Schuyler, to the county treasurer of such county to be used to pay for any and all expenses incurred by such county for the support of community colleges pursuant to Article one hundred twenty-six of the education law; (m) with respect to the county of Delaware, to the county treasurer of such county to be used to pay for the cost of the county correctional facility and public safety building complex and the county composting facility; * (n) with respect to the county of Fulton, to the county treasurer of such county for deposit into the general fund of the county of Fulton;
* NB Repealed November 30, 2025 (o) with respect to the county of Steuben, to the county treasurer of such county for deposit into the general fund of the county of Steuben; (p) with respect to the remaining counties of the state except Cattaraugus county which have not suspended the imposition of such additional tax pursuant to subdivision two of section two hundred fifty-three of this article, to the comptroller to be paid by him or her into the general fund in the state treasury to the credit of the state purposes account; provided that money paid to the comptroller with respect to any such remaining county in which on the date of such payment any mass transportation, airport or aviation, municipal historic site, municipal park, community mental health and developmental disabilities facility, or sewage treatment capital project is being carried out by a municipality with state aid, or for which state aid will be paid, pursuant to the provisions of title one of chapter seven hundred seventeen of the laws of nineteen hundred sixty-seven, § 17.05 of the parks, recreation and historic preservation law, § 41.18 of the mental hygiene law, or section 17-1903 of the environmental conservation law, shall be applied by him or her to increase the amount of aid for which the state is obligated in respect to such project on such date, provided that any such increase in state aid may not, together with any federal funds paid or to be paid on account of the cost of such project, exceed the total cost thereof, and where more than one such capital project is being carried out on such date within such county, the application of such monies by the comptroller shall be pro-rated among such municipalities on the basis of the respective amounts of state aid which are so obligated on such date; and (q) with respect to the county of Cattaraugus, to the comptroller to be paid by him or her into the general fund in the state treasury to the credit of the state purposes account for the construction of a county office building and a county department of public works office building, or debt service thereon being carried out by the county of Cattaraugus up to but not exceeding the total cost for such county office building and county department of public works building, or debt service thereon less the amount of any state aid or federal funds paid or to be paid on account of such project or debt service thereon. Notwithstanding the provisions of the preceding sentence, additional taxes so imposed and paid upon mortgages covering real property situated in two or more counties, which under the provisions of section two hundred sixty of this article are first to be apportioned by the commissioner, shall be paid over by the recording officer receiving the same as provided by the determination of said commissioner.
If and to the extent that either metropolitan transportation authority or Niagara Frontier transportation authority or Rochester-Genesee regional transportation authority or capital district transportation authority or central New York regional transportation authority shall certify that the proceeds of such additional tax received by it for any calendar year subsequent to nineteen hundred sixty-nine are in excess of its needs, present and projected, and of those of its subsidiary corporations, such excess shall be paid over at the end of such calendar year to the comptroller for payment or application by him or her in accordance with the provisions of paragraph (p) of the opening paragraph of this subdivision. For the purposes of such application any such excess shall be allocated among the counties comprising a transportation district in the same proportion that their respective recording officers paid over additional taxes hereunder during the whole of the calendar year which is the subject of the certification. For the counties comprising the city of New York, any such application shall be for the benefit of such city.
2. The balance of all moneys paid to the recording officer of each county during each month upon account of the special additional taxes imposed pursuant to subdivision one-a of section two hundred fifty-three of this chapter, after deducting the necessary expenses of his office as provided in section two hundred sixty-two, except taxes paid upon mortgages which under the provisions of section two hundred sixty are first to be apportioned by the tax commission, shall be paid over by him on or before the tenth day of each succeeding month to the state of New York mortgage agency created pursuant to title seventeen of Article 8 of the public authorities law for deposit to the credit of the mortgage insurance fund created pursuant to such title, and (i) except that with respect to mortgages recorded on and after May first, nineteen hundred eighty-seven, the balance of all moneys paid upon account of such special additional taxes during each month to the recording officers of the counties comprising the metropolitan commuter transportation district, as defined by § 1262 of the public authorities law, on mortgages of any real property principally improved or to be improved by a structure containing six residential dwelling units or less with separate cooking facilities, after the deduction of such expenses, shall be paid over by him on or before the tenth day of each succeeding month to the metropolitan transportation authority for deposit in the corporate transportation account of the metropolitan transportation special assistance fund established by § 1270-a of the public authorities law, and (ii) except that with respect to mortgages recorded on and after May first, nineteen hundred eighty-seven, the balance of all moneys paid upon account of such special additional taxes during each month to the recording officers of the county of Erie on mortgages of any real property principally improved or to be improved by a structure containing six residential dwelling units or less with separate cooking facilities, after the deduction of such expenses, shall be paid over by him on or before the tenth day of each succeeding month to the Niagara Frontier transportation authority. Notwithstanding the provisions of the preceding sentence, the special additional taxes so imposed and paid upon mortgages covering real property situated in two or more counties, which under the provisions of section two hundred sixty are first to be apportioned by the commissioner, shall be paid over by the recording officer receiving the same as provided by the determination of said commissioner.
3. On or before the tenth day of each month the recording officer of each county shall pay over to the county treasurer of said county, and in the counties of New York, Kings, Queens, Richmond and Bronx to the commissioner of finance of the city of New York for credit to the general fund of such city, the balance of the moneys received during the preceding month upon account of taxes paid to him or her as herein prescribed, after deducting the necessary expenses of his or her office as provided in section two hundred sixty-two of this article, except taxes paid upon mortgages which under the provisions of section two hundred sixty of this article are first to be apportioned by the commissioner, which taxes and money shall be paid over by the commissioner of finance of the city of New York as provided by the determination of the commissioner. In each county not within the city of New York, the whole of the net amount of such balance, after the deduction by the county treasurer of the necessary expenses of his or her office provided in section two hundred sixty-two of this article, shall be held by him or her and shall be allocated to the tax districts of the county according to the location of the real property covered by the respective mortgages upon which the tax was collected. The recording officer and county treasurer shall prepare a joint semi-annual report on or before May fifteenth and on or before November fifteenth in each year showing the amounts to be credited to each tax district of the county of the moneys collected under this article during the preceding periods of six months each which ended respectively on March thirty-first and September thirtieth. Such report shall be made in duplicate in accordance with the rules and regulations of the commissioner and filed with the clerk of the board of supervisors and the commissioner. The board of supervisors, on or before the fifteenth day of June and on or before the fifteenth day of December in each year, shall issue its warrant for the payment to the respective tax districts of the amounts so credited, provided, however, that in a county in which a town contains within its limits an incorporated village, or portion thereof, the board of supervisors shall apportion to such village so much of the share credited to the town as the assessed value of said village or portion thereof bears to twice the total assessed valuation of the town, and provided, further, that, at the option of the governing board of the county, the county may instead prepare and file such a joint report and make such payments on a monthly or quarterly basis. Where the county elects to make monthly payments, the recording officer and county treasurer shall prepare a joint report on or before the fifteenth day of each month showing the amounts to be credited to each tax district of the county and the moneys collected under this article for the month preceding the most recently concluded month, and the board of supervisors shall issue its warrant for payment on or before the fifteenth day of the following month. Where the county elects to make quarterly payments, the recording officer and county treasurer shall prepare such a joint report on or before the fifteenth day of May, August, November, and February, showing the amounts to be credited to each tax district of the county of moneys collected under this article for the preceding three-month period ending March thirty-first, June thirtieth, September thirtieth, and December thirty-first, respectively and the board of supervisors shall issue its warrant for payment on or before the fifteenth day of June, September, December, and March, respectively. The warrant shall direct payment to the city treasurer of the amount due the city, to the town supervisor of the amount due the town, and to the village treasurer of the amount to which the village shall be entitled. Mortgage tax moneys allotted to cities, towns and villages shall be applied to the payment of the general expenses thereof. The commissioner shall prescribe the method of adjustment and correction of errors heretofore or hereafter made in the distribution of moneys collected under this article. Provided, however that in the town of Ossining, county of Westchester, monies due to the unincorporated portion of the town shall be placed in the unincorporated town fund instead of into the general fund of such town.