Your First Long Island Property Tax Bill: STAR, Escrow and Why Your Payment Can Rise

You closed, you moved in, and now the tax bills start. On Long Island that’s a big bill, so it helps to know what’s coming and when.

Here’s what to expect in your first year. None of it is hard. Most of it is timing.

When does your first property tax bill come?

It depends on the county. In Nassau, your town mails the school tax bill in October and the general tax bill in January, and you can pay each in two halves. In Suffolk, your town mails one bill in December, with the first half due by January 10 and the second by May 31.

These are the town dates. Glen Cove and Long Beach have their own dates, and villages in both counties send their own village tax bills. If a deadline lands on a weekend or holiday, check your bill.

With escrow, your mortgage company gets the bill and pays it. Depending on the town, you may also get a copy marked “Informational Only.”

No bill in the mail doesn’t mean nothing is due. Suffolk County says it plainly: the owner has to pay even if the bill never arrives.

Closing near a due date? Ask your closing attorney who’s paying that bill, so it isn’t missed or paid twice.

How escrow pays your property taxes

Escrow is the easiest way to handle Long Island taxes. Part of each monthly payment goes into an account, and your servicer pays the tax and insurance bills from it, on time.

FHA loans always come with escrow. Conventional loans usually do too, though some lenders let you skip it, sometimes for a fee.

Fannie Mae even recommends escrow for first-time owners, and I agree. Big tax bills a few times a year are a lot to plan around.

At closing, you put money into the account to get it started. You also pay the seller back for any taxes they already paid for the time you’ll own the house. Both show up on your Closing Disclosure.

The rules let your servicer keep a cushion in the account of up to two months of escrow payments.

Want to see what a tax bill does to your monthly payment? Put the home’s actual bill into my Long Island mortgage calculator.

Why your mortgage payment can go up after the first year

On a fixed-rate loan, your principal and interest stay the same. The escrow part can change, because taxes and insurance change. Here’s what usually moves it on Long Island.

• The seller’s exemptions come off. The bill you saw when you bought may have carried the seller’s STAR exemption, or a senior or veterans exemption. Those generally don’t carry over to you. In Nassau, they come off when the deed changes hands, so your bill can be quite different from what the seller paid.
• Nassau can add “restored” taxes later. When a seller’s exemption comes off after a sale, the county may add “restored” taxes, up to a year’s worth, to a later bill. They can take up to two years to show up. Ask your attorney about it when you sign the contract.
• The bills themselves change. Your school tax depends on your assessment and the budget your school district adopts. Insurance premiums move too.
• Your escrow gets a yearly review. About a year after your first payment, your servicer checks the account against the real bills and sends you an escrow statement. If the bills came in higher than the estimate, the account is short.

A shortage can raise your payment in two ways at once: the monthly escrow goes up to match the new bills, and the shortage itself is usually spread over at least the next 12 months. That catch-up part ends once the shortage is paid.

If there’s extra in the account instead, a surplus of $50 or more comes back to you, as long as your payments are current.

That’s why I run a buyer’s numbers on the tax bill without the seller’s exemptions. Better to plan for the real number now than get surprised in year two.

STAR for new owners: a check, not a smaller bill

STAR is New York’s school tax relief. New owners get it as the STAR credit: the state sends you a check or a direct deposit each year you qualify. The old STAR exemption, which lowered the bill itself, isn’t open to new owners.

• Sign up once. Register in the state’s Homeowner Benefit Portal as soon as the house is your primary residence, and add direct deposit while you’re there. After that, the state checks your eligibility every year on its own; if it sends a letter asking about your income, answer it.
• July 1 decides your first year. You have to own the home and live in it as your primary residence on July 1. Close by then and you can get that year’s credit. Close after July 1 and your first credit is next year’s.
• It comes to you, not your escrow. The credit can’t go into an escrow account, so your servicer still pays the full school tax. Think of STAR as yearly help with that bill, not a lower monthly payment.

The state aims to send the credit before the school tax is due, but it can’t promise a date. In Nassau, credits start going out in October, and in Suffolk in December. The tax is due on time either way, so don’t hold a payment waiting for the check.

The Basic STAR credit has a $500,000 income limit, counting the owners and spouses who live in the house. My Nassau County guide and Suffolk County guide cover STAR and each county’s tax calendar in more detail.

Think your assessment is too high?

You can grieve it, which means asking for a lower assessment. Filing costs nothing, and you don’t need a lawyer to do it.

• Nassau: you file with the Assessment Review Commission. The next filing window runs January 4 to March 1, 2027, and a win shows up on the 2028-29 tax bills.
• Suffolk: you file with your town. Grievance Day is usually the third Tuesday in May, so confirm the date with your town assessor.

One catch when you’re buying: lenders generally won’t lower the taxes they qualify you on because of a grievance that hasn’t been decided. Your attorney or a tax pro can tell you whether a grievance makes sense for your house.

My checklist for your first year

1. Before you sign, ask for the current tax bill and look for exemptions on it. Run your numbers on the bill without them.
2. Right after closing, contact your town’s (or city’s) Receiver of Taxes. Make sure they have you as the owner, know whether a mortgage company pays the bill, and tell you what’s due next. In a village, check with the village too.
3. Once you move in, register for STAR and sign up for direct deposit.
4. When your escrow statement comes, compare it to your tax bill.
5. Keep the tax bill with your house papers. If you refinance or buy again, the lender will ask for it, along with the rest of my document checklist.

Still shopping for your first place? My first-time buyer guide walks through the rest of the purchase, from the loan to the closing table.

Want me to run a house you like with its real tax bill? Send me the address.

Frequently asked questions