Responding before the date on your notice

The portal and the security code

Every notice carries a unique security code. The response goes through the Department of Finance portal at nyc.gov/npsurcharge, where the code identifies the property and the exemption information and supporting documents are uploaded. Owners can file this themselves; MGNY files it for clients who want the documentation assembled once and accepted the first time.

The order of work

1. Identify which of the five exemption criteria fits how the unit is actually owned and occupied: individual, LLC, corporation, partnership, or trust.
2. Assemble the documents for that criterion: tax returns showing the address, identification, voter registration, utility bills, leases and the tenant's own residency documents, or entity papers with an officer or trustee affidavit.
3. File through the portal before the date printed on the notice, August 21, 2026 for homes and condos and August 24, 2026 for cooperative units on the current mailing.
4. If the determination comes back wrong, appeal in writing through the portal within 30 days of the date the determination is transmitted.

When the value itself is wrong

Challenging the market value is a different track: the NYC Tax Commission, on Form TC107, by March 1, 2027 for class 2 or March 15, 2027 for class 1, or 30 days after DOF's final determination if that is later. Read this carefully: asking the Tax Commission to review the exemption requires challenging the value as well, and its determination controls and bars DOF reconsideration. Taking that route when a straightforward exemption filing would have worked can cost you the simpler path.

Accuracy is not optional

The rule attaches a penalty of 300% of the difference, capped at half the surcharge, to materially inaccurate or misleading certifications that would lower the charge, with a six-year audit window behind it. The response is worth doing precisely once, with documents that hold up.

Co-op boards have their own file

For cooperative buildings the surcharge is assessed against the corporation, and the board's side of the paperwork is different from the shareholder's. That work is laid out in the board checklist, with the share math behind each unit's imputed value on its own page.

Before you file anything

Start with the number the city is using: see what the Department of Finance says your property is worth, free and without signing in. If the record already shows a primary resident relationship, the response is about documenting it; if the value itself looks wrong, that is a different path with its own deadline. If the date on your notice has already passed, do not assume nothing can be done: call 212-343-1111 and we will look at what corrective options remain.