New York Property Tax Appeals
Work out how far your assessment sits above comparable sales, what a reduction would save at your local rate, and what each of the three routes to it costs — filing yourself, a flat-fee service, or a contingency service. Every county deadline is cited to the authority that sets it.
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Estimate only — not legal advice. This is the published math for New York assessment appeals, shown as a range. Your actual outcome depends on facts, evidence, and decisions this page cannot see.
When your protest is due in New York
RPTL §512(1) sets Grievance Day as the fourth Tuesday of May, or such other date as a city charter, county charter, county tax act or other special law establishes — so the date is genuinely local. §524(1) makes any complaint filed on or before that date timely. Published exceptions: New York City is March 15 for Class One property and March 1 for all others; Nassau County is March 1; Suffolk towns meet the third Tuesday in May; Westchester the third Tuesday in June; assessing villages typically the third Tuesday in February; other cities vary and the state tells you to ask your assessor or city clerk. Where an assessing unit shares an assessor and sets its own date by local law, §512(1-a) confines that date to no earlier than the fourth Tuesday in May and no later than the second Tuesday of June.
The rule
Set locally
RPTL §512(1) sets Grievance Day as the fourth Tuesday of May, or such other date as a city charter, county charter, county tax act or other special law establishes — so the date is genuinely local. §524(1) makes any complaint filed on or before that date timely. Published exceptions: New York City is March 15 for Class One property and March 1 for all others; Nassau County is March 1; Suffolk towns meet the third Tuesday in May; Westchester the third Tuesday in June; assessing villages typically the third Tuesday in February; other cities vary and the state tells you to ask your assessor or city clerk. Where an assessing unit shares an assessor and sets its own date by local law, §512(1-a) confines that date to no earlier than the fourth Tuesday in May and no later than the second Tuesday of June.
If the last day falls on a weekend or holiday: General Construction Law §25-a(1): where a period within which an act must be done ends on a Saturday, Sunday or public holiday, the act may be done on the next succeeding business day, and where the period ends at a specified hour, at or before the same hour of that day.N.Y. Gen. Constr. Law §25-a(1)
The date above is this state’s published rule applied to what you entered. Confirm it against the notice itself and the authority’s own instructions — most jurisdictions require their form or portal, and a letter alone may not open a protest.
How the appeal runs
First-level appeals are heard by the Board of Assessment Review of your city, town or village — three to five members appointed by the local governing body, and never the assessor or the assessor's staff. New York City uses the Tax Commission instead, and Nassau County the Assessment Review Commission ↗.
- 01Work out whether you are assessed fairly: divide the assessment by your municipality's level of assessment to get the assessor's own estimate of market value, then compare that against what similar homes sell for.
- 02Talk to the assessor informally first.
- 03File Form RP-524 with the assessor or the Board of Assessment Review on or before Grievance Day.
- 04The assessor may offer a stipulation to a reduced assessment — Part Six of RP-524 records it, and agreeing ends the matter.
- 05Appear before the Board of Assessment Review if no stipulation is reached.
- 06The board issues a notice of determination with its reasons.
- 07If still dissatisfied, file a Small Claims Assessment Review petition or an Article 7 proceeding within 30 days of the filing of the final assessment roll or of notice of that filing, whichever is later.
Free to file: Grieving an assessment is free and does not require a lawyer. The $30 fee widely quoted belongs to the later judicial step: RPTL §730 sets a $30 fee on filing a Small Claims Assessment Review petition, and says it is the sole fee.
New York does NOT assess at full market value, and there is no single statewide ratio to publish. RPTL §305(2) requires each assessing unit to assess at a uniform percentage of value — a fractional assessment — with a carve-out preserving a classified standard in a city of a million or more. The state publishes a Residential Assessment Ratio and an equalization rate for each municipality, and the taxpayer formula is assessment divided by level of assessment. Comparing a raw New York assessment against sale prices without dividing by your municipality's ratio will show an over-assessment that is not there, or hide one that is.
N.Y. Real Prop. Tax Law §512(1)
Work out whether you are over-assessed with the assessment calculator, then organise the evidence with the appeal letter generator.
Verified 2026-08-03 against New York Real Property Tax Law §512 (board of assessment review meeting date), §524 (timeliness of a complaint), §305(2) (uniform percentage of value), §730 (small claims filing fee), with General Construction Law §25-a and the Department of Taxation and Finance grievance procedure page (updated May 8, 2026) (effective 2026-05-08)
Source of record
- USA.gov — State and local taxes ↗Federal
- New York Real Property Tax Law §512 (board of assessment review meeting date), §524 (timeliness of a complaint), §305(2) (uniform percentage of value), §730 (small claims filing fee), with General Construction Law §25-a and the Department of Taxation and Finance grievance procedure page (updated May 8, 2026) ↗State legislature
Run it against the official tool: NY Department of Taxation and Finance — Contest your assessment ↗
🎓 Understand this tool
What it is
A calculator for the two numbers an assessment appeal actually turns on: how far your assessed value sits above comparable sales, and what a reduction would be worth at your local rate. It also puts the published cost of each route to that reduction beside the saving it would produce.
How it works
The comparison uses the MEDIAN of the comparable sales you enter rather than the average, because comparable sales are a small sample and one unusual transaction — a teardown, a family transfer, a distressed sale — drags an average badly. Assessing authorities reason in medians for the same reason. Where a state assesses at a fraction of market value rather than the whole, the assessed figure is divided by that ratio first so the two sides of the comparison are measured the same way. The saving is the reduction multiplied by the combined rate per hundred dollars of value, which is the form counties publish rates in.
Getting the most from it
- Take the assessed value and the rate straight off your notice and your bill — not from memory.
- Enter several recent sales of genuinely similar properties nearby. Three is a realistic minimum; one comparison is easy to dismiss.
- Leave out distressed sales, family transfers and teardowns. Including one weakens the rest of the list rather than lengthening it.
- Check your county deadline before doing anything else. A window that has closed ends the appeal whatever the numbers say.
Reading your result
A gap under about five percent is usually treated as within tolerance — valuation is approximate by design, and authorities expect to be roughly rather than exactly right. A larger gap is the argument, but it is an argument you still have to make with evidence. The saving figure assumes the reduction is granted in full, which is why it is shown as a range: meeting halfway is a common outcome.
What it can't tell you
This cannot tell you whether your comparables are genuinely comparable, whether your county assesses the way you think it does, how a particular review board tends to decide, or whether an appeal risks drawing attention to something else about the property. It does not file anything, and it is not a valuation. A licensed appraiser values property; a lawyer advises on appeals.
Frequently asked questions
Compare the assessed value against recent sales of genuinely similar properties nearby. If the assessment sits meaningfully above the median of those sales, that gap is the argument. A difference of a few percent is usually treated as within tolerance — valuation is approximate by design.
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