New York Property Transfer Exempt from City Tax, Tribunal Says

The conveyance of noncontrolling interest in a property owner isn’t subject to New York City tax because the series of transactions didn’t sell the owner’s underlying deed to a third party, an opinion released Friday said.

While a third party, SPG Forest Hills LLC, received a 40% interest in the property grantee, SPG wasn’t given controlling interest, nor the deed, meaning the city’s real property transfer tax doesn’t apply here, the New York City Tax Appeals Tribunal held.

The City Department of Finance argued that the same entities that owned the property grantor also owned the property grantee, and ...