New York City Department of Finance notice
Your unit got flagged as a non-primary residence
A flag is a records problem before it is a tax problem. The notice goes out where the city's records do not show a qualifying primary resident, and that can happen to an apartment somebody genuinely lives in. Records can be corrected.
Check the date printed on yours, it is the one that counts
See what the Department of Finance says your property is worth
Enter an address and pick it from the list, or type a borough-block-lot number, to see the city's record for it.
The surcharge is worked out from the market value the Department of Finance put on your property for the 2026-27 tax year, which runs July 1, 2026 through June 30, 2027. That value is public, and it is the number the city starts from. Source: New York City Department of Finance property valuation and assessment data for the 2026-27 tax year, published on NYC Open Data. Values are DOF market values, not sale prices. Addresses you look up here are not saved.
NYC property tax specialists since 2008.
Received the NYC Department of Finance letter about the Non-primary residence property surcharge? Here is what the notice means, who is exempt, and what has to happen before the date printed on it.
What this letter means?
The notice is dated July 22, 2026 and it is short. Almost everything that matters sits in four places on the page.
The red box at the top
It reads: "Non-primary residence property surcharge: Respond by August 21, 2026." That date is your response deadline, and every notice carries its own. The current mailing allows 30 days from the date of the letter: residential homes and condos are due August 21, 2026, and cooperative units August 24, 2026.
The market value
The surcharge is worked out from the market value the Department of Finance put on your property for the 2026-27 tax year, which runs July 1, 2026 through June 30, 2027. That value is public record, and it is the number everything else follows from.
A unique security code
Every notice carries its own code. You use it to respond and upload supporting documents at the official portal, nyc.gov/npsurcharge.
The surcharge figure
Unless an exemption is granted, this is what gets added to your property tax bill, starting with the bill due January 1, 2027.
Receiving the letter does not mean you owe it
Read the notice as a question, not a verdict. It went out because DOF's records do not show a qualifying primary resident at the property. That is a records problem in a great many cases, and records can be corrected. Per nyc.gov/npsurcharge as of July 2026, the surcharge applies to condos and co-ops with a market value of $1 million or more.
Who is exempt?
The property is exempt if it is the primary residence of any one of the five people below. Any single one is enough. You do not need to satisfy all of them.
The owner of the property
You live in the unit and it is your primary residence. DOF simply does not have that on record yet.
A tenant or subtenant
A renter or subtenant who uses the unit as their primary residence qualifies the property. There is no one-year-lease requirement.
One or more individuals who collectively hold a majority interest in the LLC, corporation, or partnership that owns the property
Entity-owned units qualify when the people behind the entity, holding a majority interest together, use the unit as a primary residence. This is the path entity-owned units generally rely on.
An immediate family member of the owner or majority interest holder
An immediate family member living there as their primary residence can qualify the property.
The sole beneficiary of a trust
For trust-held property, the sole beneficiary using the unit as a primary residence qualifies it.
If the Department of Finance determines the property meets any of these criteria, the property is exempt. The work is documenting which one applies to you, and getting it filed before the date on your notice.
- 8,900+
- NYC condo units meet the surcharge value thresholdMGNY analysis of Department of Finance valuations for the 2026-27 tax year
- More than half
- of those units are owned through LLCs, trusts, and other entities that must document a majority holder's primary residenceMGNY analysis of Department of Finance valuations for the 2026-27 tax year
- January 1, 2027
- is the property tax bill where the first surcharge lands, unless an exemption is granted
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How MGNY handles it?
If your property qualifies, we prepare and file the exemption so you do not pay a surcharge you do not owe. If it does not qualify, we tell you that early instead of billing you to find out slowly.
Qualification review of your ownership structure
We start with how the unit is actually owned and occupied: individual, LLC, corporation, partnership, or trust, and who inside that structure uses the unit as a primary residence. That tells us which of the five criteria applies to your property, or whether none does.
Evidence assembly
We assemble the documentation these responses are commonly built from. Commonly used items include resident income tax returns, government-issued identification, voter registration, utility bills, and signed leases where a tenant or subtenant is the qualifying resident.
Filing your response before the deadline
We file the response through the DOF portal at nyc.gov/npsurcharge using the unique security code printed on your notice, before the date printed on that notice. Uploading the right documents the first time is what keeps this from dragging.
When the value itself is wrong
If DOF valued the property incorrectly, a challenge can be filed with the NYC Tax Commission. Read this carefully: asking the Tax Commission to review the exemption requires challenging the value as well, and it replaces the direct exemption application to DOF. Choosing that route without a reason can cost you the simpler path, so we make sure you use the right one.
Why MGNY
MGNY Consulting has worked in New York City property tax since 2008: compliance, appeals, exemptions, and affordable housing. That is 900+ tax abatement developments and $23.6M in tax refunds secured across the practice. The office is at 109 East 9th Street, Ground Floor, New York, NY 10003, and the surcharge work is handled by the same team that files the rest of the year.
- In NYC property tax since 2008
- 900+ tax abatement developments
- $23.6M in tax refunds secured
Questions owners are asking:
Straight answers drawn from the notice itself and from the city's own guidance. Nothing below is a promise about your outcome.
What is the NYC non-primary residence property surcharge?
It is a new annual New York City property tax surcharge on certain properties that are not used as the owner's primary residence, sometimes referred to as pieds-a-terre. Per nyc.gov/npsurcharge as of July 2026, it applies to condos and co-ops with a market value of $1 million or more. It is added to the property tax bill rather than sent as a separate bill.
Is this the pied-a-terre tax people keep talking about?
In everyday language, yes. The official name on the Department of Finance notice is the non-primary residence property surcharge. A pied-a-terre is a second home kept in the city by somebody whose main home is elsewhere, and that is the situation the surcharge is aimed at. If your unit is actually somebody's primary residence, the exemption is the whole point of responding.
I received the letter. Does that mean I owe the surcharge?
Not necessarily. It means the Department of Finance does not currently have a qualifying primary resident on record for your property. If any one of the five exemption criteria is true for your unit, the property is exempt once DOF has the documentation. The notice is a request for information as much as it is a charge.
How much is the NYC non-primary residence surcharge?
It is a percentage of the market value the Department of Finance put on your property for the 2026-27 tax year, and the city publishes the rates. For condominium and cooperative units: 4% from $1,000,000, 5.25% from $3,000,000, and 6.5% from $5,000,000. For one-, two-, and three-family homes: 0.8% from $5,000,000, 1.05% from $15,000,000, and 1.3% from $25,000,000. Those bands are what the notice figures follow. The example printed on one notice, a market value of $5,268,000 against an annual surcharge of $42,144.00, is 0.8% of that value to the cent.
Who qualifies for an exemption?
The property is exempt if it is the primary residence of any one of the following: the owner of the property; a tenant or subtenant; one or more individuals who collectively hold a majority interest in the LLC, corporation, or partnership that owns the property; an immediate family member of the owner or majority interest holder; or the sole beneficiary of a trust. Meeting any single criterion is enough.
My apartment is owned by an LLC. Can it still be exempt?
Yes. Where an LLC, corporation, or partnership owns the property, the exemption turns on whether one or more individuals who collectively hold a majority interest in that entity use the unit as a primary residence. The response has to establish both the majority interest and the residence, which is why entity-owned units usually take more assembly than individually owned ones.
I rent the apartment out. Does my tenant qualify the property?
Yes. A tenant or subtenant who uses the unit as their primary residence qualifies the property for the exemption, and there is no one-year-lease requirement attached to that path. In practice the response is built around the lease plus the tenant's own residence documentation.
What is the deadline, and what happens if I miss it?
Respond by the deadline printed on your notice. The current mailing allows 30 days from the date of the letter, and the date differs by property type: residential homes and condos are due August 21, 2026, and cooperative units August 24, 2026. Unless an exemption is granted, the surcharge first appears on the property tax bill due January 1, 2027. If the date has already passed, do not assume nothing can be done. Call us and we will look at what corrective options remain for your property.
What if the market value DOF used for my unit is wrong?
A challenge to the value can be filed with the NYC Tax Commission. There is an important catch: asking the Tax Commission to review the exemption requires challenging the property's value as well, and that request replaces the direct exemption application to the Department of Finance. Taking that route when a straightforward exemption filing would have worked can cost you the simpler path, so the choice should be made deliberately.
How do I respond to the notice myself?
Each notice carries a unique security code. You use that code at the Department of Finance response portal, www.nyc.gov/npsurcharge, to submit your exemption information and upload supporting documents. If DOF determines the property meets any of the criteria, the property is exempt.
Is MGNY Consulting affiliated with the Department of Finance?
No. MGNY Consulting is a private consulting firm and is not affiliated with the NYC Department of Finance. Property owners can respond to the notice themselves at nyc.gov/npsurcharge. We are an option, not a requirement.
The clock is running. Talk to us before you respond.
One response goes in, and the documents attached to it decide whether the surcharge stands. A short call is enough to establish which of the five criteria fits your ownership structure and what has to be gathered inside the 30 days your notice allows.