Posted on 12/30/2025 5:47:17 AM PST by dennisw
A pair of Empire State snowbirds just learned it’s not easy to fly the coop.
An upstate couple who relocated to Florida is still on the hook for a $60,000 New York tax bill because they didn’t prove their Sunshine State pad was their main residence, a state tax panel ruled in a recent bombshell decision.
John Hoff and his wife, Kathleen Ocorr-Hoff, kept cashing paychecks here and didn’t give up their local country club memberships, the tax panel found in the decision — which could give pause to snowbirds splitting time between the Empire State and Florida.
The couple decided to retire to the warmer climes of Naples, Florida, and plunked down money for a ritzy $1 million, three-bedroom, three-bath condo in the Sunshine State — but kept too many ties to Canandaigua, the Oct. 9 decision determined.
John Jay Hoff holding a glass of red wine, and Kathleen Ocorr Hoff posing together.
Hoff and Ocorr-Hoff contended the proof of their move was they had registered vehicles in Florida and had bank accounts there, the 24-page ruling by the State of New York Tax Appeals Tribunal said.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
Dear FRiends,
We need your continuing support to keep FR funded. Your donations are our sole source of funding. No sugar daddies, no advertisers, no paid memberships, no commercial sales, no gimmicks, no tax subsidies. No spam, no pop-ups, no ad trackers.
If you enjoy using FR and agree it's a worthwhile endeavor, please consider making a contribution today:
Click here: to donate by Credit Card
Or here: to donate by PayPal
Or by mail to: Free Republic, LLC - PO Box 9771 - Fresno, CA 93794
Thank you very much and God bless you,
Jim
I take it some sort of mistake was made and it was eventually fixed in your favor?
“”Not an expert, but I believe he was initially still broadcasting from NYC and then realized he needed to move full time to FL and build a studio there.””
I think that’s the way it went down also...goes back a way - I couldn’t even remember that he used to broadcast from NY before FL...
Didn’t John Kerry have this same problem when it was discovered he kept a yacht in RI or somewhere to avoid taxation - also something about a house/home in MA was in question...
Too many scandals to remember - too much water over the dam since then...
sounds familiar
Good. Scofflaws should be hunted. Especially the type of scum who used to live in NYC.
They never really said what business I supposedly did in NY (the allegations kept changing), but it related to a pressure vessel my company manufactured that had been sold in Texas which then got resold several times by subsequent owners eventually ending up in NY years later.
Anyway they wanted several hundred thousands in taxes. They basically demanded I prove I didn’t sell it in NY.
It took probably $50k in lawyer fees to resolve and a lawsuit in federal court that (once the appropriate burden of proof — NY had to prove I sold it in NY) — that NY immediately crumbled and backed off.
They’re just dirtbags who see someone has money and they want to take it.
Years after they lost in court, they tried again, offering to “settle my debt”.
I have a nephew who after graduating Columbia school of engineering in Manhattan got a job in Pennsylvania and one year later a better job in New Jersey. He had bank accounts in Penn and NJ and rent receipts as well. But he never registered to vote in Penn or NJ and still had most mail going to his mom’s Manhattan apartment, which he’d visit on some weekends. NY state said his “proof” was less than theirs and dunned him for two year’s back taxes for NY state and NY city. Fighting it required a lawyer (which NY state is counting on) which he declined to do, so he just paid up to get NY off his back. Had he fought it, then during the interim NY was prepared to get a garnishment approved against his wages, which would have involved his employer, which he did not want to happen.
Falsely claiming a primary residence doesn’t apply to Leticia James.
“The couple decided to retire to the warmer climes of Naples, Florida...”
There goes Naples! New Yorkers...stick to Boca.
The filth audited Rush every year after he left.
Still New Yorkers at heart. Wanted their cake and eat it too.
thanks!
“They were extremely rude and aggressive, threatening to sue, etc.”
What did you expect...they are New Yorkers.
They either did not do their own due diligence or did not heed wise advice on how to avoid taxes from the previous home state.
A song by The Buzzards.
If these people now live in Florida then would Florida cooperate with NYS when NY tried to collect.
Snowbirds go to Florida for the winter and leave in the spring. Ones who stay are transplants.
If they REALLY owed that tax bill I guess they should pay it. If it is a NY gimmick to tax them if they are moving, then I’d say they should tell NYS to go pound sand.
Few fools are earning enough to owe a $60,000 state tax bill. They merely overlooked the avarice of the state in pursuing them.
And if you’re a snowbird, keep your country club membership under an assumed identity.
...ALL sportsmen who play a game in NY (football, baseball, basketball...
Is that why the Giants and Jets play in New Jersey?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.