How to respond to the notice, start to finish?

1. Find the security code on your notice

Every notice dated July 22, 2026 carries a unique security code. It is what ties your response to your property inside the portal. Keep the notice itself: the code and the market value the Department of Finance used are figures you will need. The respond-by date printed on it has been superseded: DOF extended the deadline to September 18, 2026.

2. Gather the documents for your path

19 RCNY 62-06(b) sets out what DOF accepts. Which set you need follows from which of the five qualifying relationships applies to the property.

• Residency, for any individual: the most recent federal or state income tax return showing the property as the address. If the return does not show it, two of driver's license, voter registration, and utility or similar bills.
• Family relationship: marriage or birth certificates, or affidavits.
• Tenant or subtenant: the lease plus the tenant's own residency documents. The final rule added pathways for month-to-month leases and subleases, and for spouses of owners. There is no one-year lease requirement, and the lessee must be a natural person.
• Entity-owned: organizational documents plus an officer affidavit showing who holds a majority interest, plus that person's residency documents.
• Trust-held: the trust agreement plus a trustee affidavit, plus the sole current beneficiary's residency documents.

3. File through the portal before the deadline

Responses go through the official portal at nyc.gov/npsurcharge, with the documents uploaded. The deadline is September 18, 2026, one date for homes, condominiums, and cooperative units. The notices printed August 21 and August 24, but on August 1, 2026 the Department of Finance extended the application deadline for everyone who received a notice.

4. What happens next?

DOF issues an initial determination. An appeal of that determination is filed in writing through the electronic portal no later than 30 days after the date it is transmitted, or, if none is transmitted, 30 days after the surcharge appears on the assessment roll. There is no extension and no hardship waiver, and the 30 days run from transmission rather than from the day you read it.

5. If something in the filing was wrong

The final rule allows an owner to file an amended return before appealing. That is the cleaner correction when a document was missing or a fact was stated imprecisely: fix the filing rather than argue the determination.

If the disagreement is with the value rather than with the residence facts, that is a different route, on a different calendar, and it replaces the direct exemption application to DOF. Read wrong value before choosing it.

If you would rather not do this yourself

MGNY Consulting files these responses for owners: the qualification review of how the property is actually owned and occupied, the documents, and the portal filing before the deadline. Call 212-343-1111. You can also respond yourself, at no cost, at nyc.gov/npsurcharge.