Form RP-496: Application to Renounce Previously Granted Exemptions

Form RP-496, issued by the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance, is the document property owners use when they want to give up an exemption that was previously granted on their property. It sounds counterintuitive to voluntarily walk away from a tax break, but there are legitimate reasons property owners choose to do this, and the state requires a formal, written process to make it official.

An exemption doesn’t just disappear because you stop using it or because circumstances change. Local assessors keep exemptions active on the tax roll until the property owner formally renounces them or until the exemption’s statutory conditions are no longer met and the assessor removes it independently. Form RP-496 is the mechanism that lets the owner take that step themselves, on their own timeline, rather than waiting for an assessor to catch a discrepancy during a later review.

Who Needs This Form

This form is typically used by owners of properties that received exemptions tied to specific programs, such as agricultural exemptions, certain economic development exemptions, senior citizen exemptions, or exemptions granted under programs like Form RP-485-Q for residential investment property. If an owner sells the property, changes its use, no longer qualifies under the program’s rules, or simply decides the exemption creates complications they’d rather avoid, renouncing it through RP-496 keeps the tax roll accurate and avoids future disputes with the assessor’s office.

It’s also common for owners who received exemptions under municipal-specific programs, similar to those covered by Form RP-485-W for newly constructed homes in certain villages, to file this renunciation when the property changes hands or the terms of the original exemption no longer apply. Renouncing the exemption formally protects the owner from being accused later of improperly claiming a benefit they were no longer entitled to.

When to Use Form RP-496

There isn’t a single mandatory trigger for filing this form, but it generally comes into play in a few situations. First, when a property is being sold and the new owner won’t continue the same use that justified the original exemption. Second, when the property owner voluntarily decides the exemption no longer serves their interests, perhaps because it comes with reporting requirements, use restrictions, or recapture provisions that outweigh the tax savings. Third, when an owner wants to correct their own tax roll status proactively rather than risk a retroactive assessment or penalty from the local assessor discovering the exemption no longer applies.

Because exemption programs like those covered under Form RP-485-M for the Rome School District often carry specific renewal and compliance conditions, owners sometimes find it cleaner to renounce the exemption formally rather than let it lapse through inaction.

How to Get and Fill Out the Form

Form RP-496 is available directly from the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance website as a fillable PDF, meaning you can complete it digitally on your computer before printing it for signature. The form asks for basic identifying information: the property owner’s name, the property’s tax map or parcel identification number, the municipality and school district, and details about which exemption is being renounced, including the statutory authority under which it was originally granted.

Once completed, the form needs to be signed and filed with the assessor of the city, town, or village where the property is located, not with the state tax department itself. Local assessors process these renunciations and update the assessment roll accordingly. It’s worth checking with your specific assessor’s office about filing deadlines, since renunciations filed after certain dates in the assessment calendar may not take effect until the following tax year.

Owners should keep a copy of the filed and signed form for their own records, since it serves as proof of when the exemption was renounced if any questions come up later about back taxes or eligibility for future assessments.