Finance Department Appeals

The NYC Department of Finance values every parcel in New York City each year, and every January the result arrives as the Notice of Property Value. If that notice is wrong, the first place to fix it is inside Finance itself, through the Request for Review. MGNY Consulting prepares and files Requests for Review across all five boroughs, and pairs them with Tax Commission appeals so no correction path is left unused.

The wider picture, both tracks and the whole calendar, is set out in our guide to the property tax appeal process in New York City.

What is a DOF Request for Review?

The Request for Review, the RFR, is the Department of Finance’s own mechanism for challenging the tentative assessed value on the Notice of Property Value. It asks Finance to reassess the property based on evidence: financial data, comparable sales, building use or classification, physical development, and structural features. It can also correct the descriptive record behind the assessment, and one of its practical advantages is that it can bring a City assessor to physically inspect the property.

Descriptive errors matter more than they look. The square footage of the improvements, the land size, the unit counts and the number of floors all feed the valuation, and the Tax Commission’s own guidance sends exactly these corrections to Finance, not to the Commission.

When is the Request for Review deadline?

The RFR calendar tracks the property’s tax class. For the 2026-27 tax year, Finance’s deadlines are March 16, 2026 for Tax Class 1, March 2, 2026 for Tax Class 2, and April 1, 2026 for Tax Class 4. The window opens when the tentative assessment roll is published on January 15 and the Notices of Property Value go out.

The class a property is in is printed on the notice itself, and our guide to the tax classes explains how New York City sorts property into them.

What can an RFR actually fix?

MGNY has been successful in lowering property tax liability by requesting changes in the valuation data used by Finance, including square footage, tax class, building class, income and expense estimates, and building occupancy and vacancy data.

The timing is the reward. If Finance acts on a request before the final assessment roll is published, the correction arrives as a Change by Notice and is reflected before the first tax bill is generated. The taxpayer does not wait for refunds or remissions; the savings are realized immediately.

The honest caveat, and what to do about it

Finance may give these protests only a cursory review, and it has been the Department’s position that it is not required to act upon any RFR. That is not a reason to skip the filing; it is the reason the filing should never stand alone.

The Tax Commission states it plainly: a request for review filed with Finance is not a substitute for a timely Tax Commission Application for Correction. The two run on separate tracks at separate agencies, and the correct strategy for a wrongly assessed property is usually both: the RFR working the correction from inside Finance, and the Tax Commission appeal preserving the independent review. MGNY files the two in coordination as one calendar.

How does MGNY handle a Finance Department appeal?

We read the Notice of Property Value against the building’s actual record: measurements, classification, income and expenses, occupancy. If an RPIE filing exists, the income and expense story must be consistent across every filing, which is one reason our RPIE practice and our appeals practice sit in one office. We assemble the evidence, file the RFR on the class deadline, track Finance’s response through the final roll, and carry the same file into the Tax Commission appeal when independent review is needed. Call (212) 343-1111 with a Notice of Property Value in hand.

Frequently asked questions about DOF appeals

What is a Request for Review?

Finance’s own form for challenging the tentative assessed value on a Notice of Property Value, supported by financial data, comparable sales, building use or classification, physical development, or structural features. It is reviewed by the same agency that set the value.

When are the RFR deadlines?

They follow the tax class. For 2026-27: March 16, 2026 for Class 1, March 2, 2026 for Class 2, and April 1, 2026 for Class 4.

Is there a board of equalization in NYC?

Owners arriving from other states often look for one. New York City does not use that name: the working forums are Finance’s own Request for Review and, for independent review, the NYC Tax Commission.

Does MGNY handle appeals in every borough?

Yes. Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx and Staten Island run on the same citywide assessment calendar, and the filings work the same way in each borough.

What happens if Finance does not act on the RFR?

Nothing requires it to. That is why the RFR is paired with a Tax Commission Application for Correction filed by that agency’s own deadline, so the independent review continues regardless of what Finance does with the request.

Reading the Notice of Property Value that this review answers, and what the judicial stage called tax certiorari involves, are covered separately.

Every borough has its own Finance Business Center for a Request for Review; the address and the borough’s roll figures are on our pages for Brooklyn, the Bronx, Queens, Manhattan and Staten Island.

Our guide to the NYC Department of Finance names the business centers, the portals and the deadlines a Request for Review runs on, and the property tax bill page shows where a correction lands.

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