NY "Star rebate" on Real estate tax

No Form 1099-G was required to be filed with respect to a refund or rebate of state/local property taxes. See the instructions to 2006 Form 1099-G. That being said, you still have to treat it under the general rules that apply to recoveries of state/local taxes. The instructions for Form 1040 should walk you through what, if any, part of the rebate you must report as income for the year of receipt.

-----> real address on hobokeni or hobokenx

New Jersey has been giving out real estate taxes for many years. I assume your rebate was for 2005 taxes. If you deducted your real estate taxes in 2005, then the rebate is taxable in 2006. The IRS tells us that we can list the rebate as other income on line 21 or reduce the 2006 real estate taxes paid in 2006 by that amount. If you didn't itemize in 2005 and took the standard dedution , the rebate is not reportable.

It was a partial rebate of your 2006 school taxes. Per the NY website handle it as follows:

1. If you itemize, deduct only your net (paid - rebate) school taxes on Schedule A.
2. If your rebate was larger than your school taxes (non-NYers don't ask. Remember the check came out just before the election) the excess is declared as other income on line 21 of the 1040.
3. Else it was a partial rebate of property taxes that you don't claim anyway, so no impact on taxes. I assume you also use net school taxes on line 23 of Form IT-214. I haven't thought about if it reduces the "add the taxes you didn't pay" option on line 26 of the 214.

-- Don EA in Upstate NY