Uh, owe, city goofs

Sends owners bills for taxes paid long ago

The tax man cometh — and cometh.

The city’s Department of Finance double-billed numerous property owners for transfer taxes on home sales they had already paid in a recent mailing to 5,600 individuals seeking to recoup $3.6 million, The Post has learned.

Some of the bills sought taxes that had been paid as far back as 2009 — including a $3,351 charge that was sent to Queens condo buyer Diana Calabrese.

Her attorney, Errol Brett, said a Finance staffer even threatened over the phone to garnish Calabrese’s wages if she didn’t pay up.

“It is mind-boggling that although the transfer occurred in 2009, eight years later the city is making a claim which clearly it was not entitled to do,” Brett wrote the agency last month.

“There seems to be a definite pattern by your agency going back a number of years seeking payment for monies already paid.”

The city’s bill to Calabrese included $1,701 in late fees and interest. But Brett showed The Post a copy of a check cashed by the Finance Department in 2009 proving the debt had been paid by the condo seller.

He also provided a copy of a check from 2010 for another client, now deceased, from whom the city sought $6,618, including $3,118 in penalties and interest.

The tax bills — which were mailed out to buyers and sellers alike — acknowledged that it’s typically the seller who’s responsible for paying the tax.

“However, the law provides that if the [seller] fails to pay the balance due or is exempt, the [buyer] is liable for the full amount,” the bills state.

Asked about complaints of dou- ble billing, city officials acknowledged that they goofed in some cases. They said they’ve since decided to forgo all the unpaid debt because many of the outstanding bills were so old.

Anyone who paid up in recent weeks will get a refund, they promised.

“While preparing to transfer records from one computer system to another, notices of penalties due were sent to a list of individuals long after initial notices were sent and including some in error,” said Finance spokeswoman Sonia Alleyne.

“As a result, we’re foregoing all payments and will be notifying everyone by the end of the month. We are revamping our internal process to prevent such a mistake from happening again.”