City officials have claimed victory in their attempt to collect millions of dollars in real estate taxes on three Manhattan buildings owned by the governments of India, Mongolia and the Philippines.

A federal judge ruled on Friday that diplomatic privileges and niceties don’t exempt the countries from having to pay at least some local taxes on the buildings that house staff and offices for their missions to the United Nations.

Under international treaties, consulates and embassies are generally tax exempt. Their status as sovereign territory often puts them outside the reach of US law.
But in New York’s case, the city argued that it had a right to collect taxes on portions of the structures used for non-diplomatic purposes.