Purpose

The objective of our examination was to determine whether personal income tax refunds (refunds) and property tax credits (i.e., School Tax Relief and Property Tax Relief, collectively referred to as credits) processed by the Department during the period January 1, 2019 through December 31, 2019, and levy year 2018 credits paid as of September 5, 2019 were appropriate and complied with New York State tax laws and regulations.

Background

During our examination period, the Department approved and submitted to our Office nearly 7.7 million refunds for payment totaling over $9.8 billion and over 2.9 million credits for payment totaling over $1.6 billion.  In addition, the Department paid nearly 2.5 million levy year 2018 credits totaling over $1 billion.

Key Findings

We returned to the Department 19,049 questionable or inappropriate refunds resulting in a savings of $34.9 million and 4,331 credits resulting in a savings of over $1.1 million.  In addition, we identified 10,142 credits totaling $4.1 million where the Department potentially paid more than one credit to the same individual on multiple properties, or paid credits to multiple individuals on the same property where only one credit was due.

Key Recommendations

• Continue to review the returned refunds and credits and adjust as necessary.
• Review the 10,142 multiple credits totaling $4.1 million, which includes our sample, to determine if they are appropriate and, if not, recover funds where applicable.