Recent unpublished NYC Department of Finance Letter Rulings -

We have obtained under the Freedom of Information Law several Finance Letter Rulings of interest, most involving the New York City real property transfer tax, issued by the New York City Department of Finance. They constitute all letter rulings issued by the Department in 2015 and during the first half of 2016. None of these rulings currently appear on the Department’s website. They are summarized below.

..Transfer of realty by LLC owned by a nonprofit qualifies for exemption from the RPTT. One of the more interesting real property transfer tax (“RPTT”) letter rulings involved an educational organization exempt from federal income tax under IRC § 501(c)(3) that operates a museum in New York City and that occupies real property owned by a real estate holding limited liability company, which leased the real property to the organization. The transaction involved the sale of the real property by the LLC to a developer for cash, after which the developer would construct two condominium units on the property, one unit to house the educational organization, the other unit consisting of residential apartments to be sold or rented by the developer. Upon completion of the project, the developer would transfer the first unit either to the educational organization or to a new LLC owned by the organization...