Property Taxes in Queens NY: How Your Bill Is Calculated

Property taxes in Queens NY are one of the few housing costs that stay with you every year you own, and one of the least understood. Buyers see a number on a listing, owners see a bill four times a year, and very few people can explain how either was reached. This guide walks through the actual method the city uses, with the official rates, the caps that keep most Queens house bills below what a simple percentage would suggest, the exemptions worth applying for, the due dates, and the appeal window that opens every January.

I have worked with buyers and sellers in Queens, Brooklyn and Long Island for 15+ years, in English and Polish. The tax bill comes up in almost every purchase, usually at the worst moment: when a buyer realizes the seller’s bill includes an exemption that will not carry over, or when a lender’s escrow estimate does not match the listing. Knowing how the bill is built lets you catch that before you sign a contract, not after.

How do property taxes in Queens NY work?

Queens does not have its own property tax. Queens is one of the five boroughs of New York City, and every property in the city is valued and billed by the city’s Department of Finance (DOF). A house in Bayside and a house in Ozone Park follow the same formula and the same rate for their tax class. What differs is the value DOF assigns, the history of each property’s assessment, and the exemptions the owner holds.

The five steps behind every bill

The Department of Finance describes the calculation in a fixed order. Every Queens tax bill, from a detached house in Douglaston to a co-op in Rego Park, comes out of these steps:

1. Market value. DOF estimates what the property is worth, once a year.
2. Assessed value. DOF multiplies the market value by the level of assessment for the tax class: 6% for Class 1 and 45% for the other classes.
3. Caps or phase-ins. For Class 1 and small Class 2 buildings, state law limits how fast the assessed value can rise. Larger Class 2 buildings and Class 4 properties phase changes in over five years instead.
4. Exemptions. Exemptions such as the Senior Citizen Homeowners’ Exemption are subtracted from the assessed value. What remains is the taxable value.
5. Tax rate. The taxable value is multiplied by the tax rate for the class. Abatements, which are different from exemptions, then reduce the tax itself.

The Department of Finance publishes the method on its page on calculating your annual property tax, with worked examples. The rest of this guide takes each step in turn and shows where Queens owners and buyers usually get surprised.

Which tax class is your Queens property in?

New York City sorts every property into one of four tax classes. The class decides the level of assessment, whether caps apply and which rate is used. DOF’s own definitions are short, and they cover nearly every home sold in Queens.

For a buyer, the practical point is this: a one-family, two-family or three-family house is almost always Class 1. A co-op apartment or a unit in a bigger condo building is Class 2. The rest of the bill follows from that.

Mixed-use buildings and four-family houses

A Queens building with a store on the ground floor and one or two apartments above can still fall into Class 1 under DOF’s definition. A house with four or more apartments moves into Class 2. If you are buying a building near those lines, look at the tax class printed on the current Notice of Property Value instead of assuming. The class can be appealed, but only in the yearly window explained later in this guide.

Where to find the class for a specific address

The tax class, the market value, the assessed value and the exemptions for any property in the city are printed on its Notice of Property Value and its tax bills. Both can be looked up on the Department of Finance website by address or by borough, block and lot. Before making an offer, I pull these for the house so the buyer is reading the same numbers the city uses.

How the Department of Finance values your home

Every January, DOF publishes a tentative assessment roll and mails each owner a Notice of Property Value, often called the NOPV. The 2026 Finance calendar lists the tentative roll and the annual notices for January 15, a revised notice deadline in late April, and the final assessment roll on May 25. The tax year that the roll supports begins on July 1.

One- to three-family houses are valued from sales

For Class 1 houses, DOF estimates market value mainly from sales of comparable properties. That is the same idea a buyer’s lender uses, but done in bulk for hundreds of thousands of properties at once, from records rather than from a walk through the house. The result can be higher or lower than what the house would actually sell for. A finished basement, a new kitchen or a roof that needs replacing usually does not show up in DOF’s number unless a permit or a change to the building record told them about it.

Co-ops and condos are valued as if they were rentals

Co-op and condo buildings are valued differently. State law requires the city to value them as though they were rental buildings, based on income, not on what the apartments sell for. That is why the market value DOF assigns to a co-op building can look very low next to what its apartments trade for. The co-op section below explains how that value reaches your monthly maintenance.

DOF’s value is not a sale price

The market value on the notice is a tax number. It is not an appraisal and it is not what your house is worth to a buyer. Sellers sometimes point to it during negotiations, in either direction. Buyers sometimes worry that paying more than DOF’s figure means overpaying. Neither is a good guide. For a real-world view of value, a recent-sales review of the block is more useful, and the page on what your Queens home is worth explains how that review is put together as an opinion of value.

Assessed value and the 6% and 20% caps

This is the step that explains most Queens tax bills. For Class 1, DOF’s level of assessment is 6%. On a house with a market value of $900,000, 6% would be $54,000. But that figure only becomes the assessed value if the caps allow it.

What the caps say

State law limits how fast the assessed value of smaller residential properties can grow. According to the Department of Finance:

• Class 1: assessed value can rise no more than 6% per year and no more than 20% over five years.
• Class 2a, 2b and 2c (10 or fewer units): no more than 8% per year and no more than 30% over five years.

The assessed value is the lower of two numbers: market value times the level of assessment, or the capped figure. In most of Queens, where house prices rose faster than the caps allow for many years, the capped figure wins.

DOF’s own example

The Department of Finance shows how the caps work with a simple three-year case:

Notice year 3. The market value fell, but the assessed value still rose, because it was catching up toward 6% of market value. This surprises owners every year. When DOF’s market value drops but your assessed value goes up, it usually means your assessment is still below the level the caps are moving it toward.

What the caps do not limit

The caps apply to increases driven by the market. A New York City Council resolution on the cap describes it as not applying to increases that result from physical alterations or from the expiration of a tax exemption. In plain terms: if a house gets an addition, a new story, or a change recorded through a permit, DOF can add value for that change on top of the capped growth. And when an exemption ends, the tax can jump even though the cap is untouched.

Effective market value

Because of the caps, the Notice of Property Value also shows an “effective market value”: the capped assessed value divided by 6% for Class 1, or by 45% for Classes 2a, 2b and 2c. It is the market value your assessment actually reflects. On a long-held Queens house, the effective market value can be a fraction of the full market value, and that difference is money the owner does not pay each year.

What is the property tax rate in Queens NY?

There is no separate Queens rate. The property tax rate in Queens NY is the New York City rate for the property’s tax class. The rate is set each year through the city budget and is printed as a percentage of taxable value, not of market value. That is why the rates look high next to rates in other states: they are applied to a number that is, for Class 1, only 6% of market value or less.

The current and past rates come from the Department of Finance page on NYC property tax rates. Rates change from year to year, so any estimate made with them is an estimate, and DOF says the same in its own examples.

A worked example: estimating the bill on a Queens house

Here is how the formula plays out, step by step, using DOF’s method and the 2026 Class 1 rate. The numbers are an illustration, not the value of any real property.

Example 1: DOF’s own senior homeowner example

The Department of Finance walks through a Class 1 home with a $450,000 market value and the Senior Citizen Homeowners’ Exemption:

1. $450,000 × 6% = $27,000 assessed value.
2. Minus the exemption of $5,400 = $21,600 taxable value.
3. $21,600 × 19.843% = $4,286.09 annual tax.

Example 2: a capped two-family house

Now take a hypothetical two-family house in Queens. DOF’s market value is $950,000, so 6% would be $57,000. But because of the caps, the assessed value on the notice is $38,000. The owner who will live there has no exemptions yet.

Two things follow from this. First, the tax depends far more on the assessed value printed on the notice than on the price you pay. Second, because the assessed value is below 6% of market value, it can keep rising by up to 6% a year even if prices are flat, until it catches up. When you budget, assume the bill can go up from year to year, not that it will stay where it is.

Putting the number into your monthly budget

Most lenders collect property taxes monthly through an escrow account and pay the city directly. That monthly amount, plus homeowners insurance, sits on top of principal and interest. The mortgage calculator lets you add the tax to the payment so the number you compare across houses is the full monthly cost, not just the loan.

Exemptions and abatements that lower the bill

An exemption reduces the assessed value before the rate is applied. An abatement reduces the tax after it is calculated. Both are worth checking for, and both depend on the owner, not just the house. These are the ones Queens homeowners ask about most.

STAR: credit for new owners, exemption only for long-time owners

STAR is New York State’s property tax relief program for a primary residence. It now comes in two forms. The New York State Department of Taxation and Finance states on its STAR eligibility page that the STAR exemption is no longer available to new homeowners. New owners register for the STAR credit instead, which the state pays directly to the homeowner rather than taking off the city bill.

• Basic STAR: income of $500,000 or less for the credit, or $250,000 or less for owners who still hold the exemption. Only the income of owners and their spouses who live at the property counts.
• Enhanced STAR: at least one resident owner must be 65 or older by December 31 of the benefit year, with income of $110,750 or less for 2026 benefits.

Register with the state as soon as the home becomes your primary residence. You do it through your Individual Online Services account with the Department of Taxation and Finance, and you generally do not need to register again unless ownership changes.

Senior Citizen Homeowners’ Exemption (SCHE)

SCHE is a city exemption for owners 65 or older whose combined income is $58,399 or less, according to the Department of Finance. When the property is owned with a spouse or sibling, only one of them must meet the age requirement. The home must be the primary residence, and the owner must have owned it for at least 12 consecutive months before filing. The reduction ranges from 50% of assessed value at the lowest incomes down to 5% near the limit. It must be renewed every two years.

Disabled Homeowners’ Exemption (DHE)

DHE works much like SCHE for owners with disabilities and uses the same $58,399 income limit. An owner who qualifies for both receives SCHE only; the two cannot be combined.

Veterans and other exemptions

The Department of Finance also administers exemptions for veterans, clergy and several other groups. The 2026 Finance calendar lists March 16, 2026 as the last day to file for STAR, senior citizen, disabled homeowner, veterans and the other personal exemptions for that cycle. Deadlines that fall on a weekend or holiday move to the next business day, so check the calendar for the year you are filing in.

The co-op and condo abatement

Co-op and condo owners whose unit is their primary residence can benefit from the Cooperative and Condominium Property Tax Abatement. The building’s board or managing agent applies, not the owner individually. The benefit, as listed by NYC311, ranges from 17.5% to 28.1% depending on the average assessed value of the units, and an owner can hold up to three units in a development as long as one is the primary residence. Eligibility is tested as of January 5, so a unit bought after that date generally waits until the following tax year.

What buyers should check on the seller’s tax bill

This is where I see the most avoidable surprises. The bill on a listing is the seller’s bill. Several parts of it belong to the seller personally and will not carry over to you. Before you sign a contract, rebuild the bill as it will look in your name.

Step 1: strip out the seller’s personal exemptions

Look at the exemptions line on the most recent Notice of Property Value. If the seller has SCHE, DHE, a veterans exemption or the old STAR exemption, add that amount back to the taxable value. A long-time senior owner with SCHE at the 50% level can be paying a fraction of what the next owner will pay. The STAR exemption is closed to new owners, and the senior and disability exemptions depend on the owner’s age, income and status, not on the house.

Step 2: read the assessed value, not the market value

Write down three numbers from the notice: the market value, the assessed value and 6% of the market value. If the assessed value is well below 6% of market value, the bill can keep rising by up to 6% a year until it catches up. That is normal for long-held Queens houses, and it belongs in your five-year budget.

Step 3: compare the house to its paperwork

If the house has an extension, a dormer, a finished attic or an extra unit that does not appear in the building records, two separate questions follow. The first is legal: whether the work had permits and matches the Certificate of Occupancy. The second is tax: work that is later legalized or recorded is a physical change, and DOF can add value for it outside the caps. Your attorney and your inspector look at the first question; your budget should allow for the second. The guide to a home inspection in NYC covers how inspectors flag work that does not match the records.

Step 4: confirm the taxes are paid

Unpaid property taxes, water charges and other city charges can become liens on the property. The title search ordered by your attorney checks for them, and the seller pays them off at or before closing. The guide to title insurance in NYC explains how those searches work and what happens when one turns up an open balance.

Step 5: ask the lender for its escrow estimate early

Your lender will estimate the tax it needs to escrow, usually from the current bill. If that estimate uses the seller’s exemptions, it will be too low, and the account will come up short later. Give the lender your rebuilt figure so the monthly payment you plan for is the real one.

Co-ops and condos: how property taxes reach your monthly costs

In a co-op, you do not receive your own city tax bill. The building corporation owns the property and pays the taxes, and each shareholder pays a share through monthly maintenance. When a listing in Forest Hills or Jackson Heights shows maintenance, part of that number is real estate tax.

Ask for the tax portion of maintenance

Ask the managing agent or the seller’s broker how much of the maintenance is attributable to real estate taxes. You need that figure for two reasons. First, the share of maintenance that goes to taxes may be deductible on your income tax return, so your accountant will ask for it. Second, it tells you how much of a future maintenance increase could come from the city side rather than from building costs.

How the abatement shows up in a co-op

The co-op and condo abatement is credited to the building. Many co-ops pass it through to eligible shareholders as a credit on the maintenance statement. If you are buying a co-op as your primary residence, ask whether the building passes the abatement through, and remember that the January 5 eligibility date usually means a buyer waits until the following tax year. The comparison of co-ops vs condos in Forest Hills shows how maintenance and common charges differ in practice.

Condos: your own bill, your own lot

A condo unit has its own tax lot and its own bill, on top of common charges paid to the condo association. Buyers sometimes compare a co-op’s maintenance with a condo’s common charges and conclude the condo is cheaper, forgetting the condo’s separate tax bill. Add the two together before you compare. And because larger condo buildings are Class 2 and valued as if they were rentals, the tax on a unit may not move in step with what similar units sell for.

The new non-primary residence surcharge

In 2026 New York added a surcharge on certain homes that are not anyone’s primary residence. According to the Department of Finance, for tax years 2026-27 and 2027-28 it can apply to one- to three-family homes valued by DOF above $5 million and to co-op and condo units valued at $1 million or more, unless the property is the primary residence of the owners, their immediate family or a tenant. Most Queens homes fall far below those thresholds, but an owner who keeps a higher-value apartment in the city and lives elsewhere should read DOF’s guidance on the surcharge.

Two-family and three-family houses in Queens

Two-family and three-family houses are a large share of what sells in Queens, and they stay in Class 1. That means the 6% level of assessment, the 6% and 20% caps and the Class 1 rate. A two-family does not pay a different rate because one unit is rented.

Rental income and the tax bill

The rent from the second unit does not change the way DOF values a Class 1 house, which is mainly from comparable sales. Where rent and taxes meet is on your income tax return: property taxes on the rented portion are generally a rental expense, and the owner-occupied portion is treated like any home. Your accountant will split them. For the bigger picture on owning with a tenant, see the guide to buying a multi-family home in Queens.

Adding a unit changes more than the rent

If you plan to legalize a basement apartment or convert a two-family into a three-family, expect the change to show up on the tax side as well. A legal change to the building is a physical alteration, which DOF can value outside the caps. Converting to four or more units moves the building out of Class 1 entirely, into a class with a different assessment level and different rules.

When are property taxes due in Queens NY?

New York City property taxes are billed either quarterly or semiannually. Bills for properties with an assessed value of $250,000 or less are generally quarterly, which covers nearly every Queens house and most individual condo units. The 2026 Department of Finance calendar lists these due dates:

The calendar also lists when each quarterly bill is issued: late February, early June, late August and late November in 2026. If your taxes are paid through an escrow account, your lender receives the bill and pays it, but the bill is still mailed in your name, so read it each time to confirm the exemptions and the amount are what you expect.

Paying when there is no escrow

Cash buyers, owners who paid off the mortgage, and some buyers with larger down payments pay the city directly. Payments can be made online through the Department of Finance, by mail or in person. In Queens, the Department of Finance business center is at 144-06 94th Avenue in Jamaica. Set reminders for the four due dates; interest on late payments adds up fast.

Taxes at closing

At closing, real estate taxes are apportioned between buyer and seller. If the seller already paid the current quarter, the buyer reimburses the days after closing; if not, the seller credits the buyer for the days before. The guide to Queens closing costs lists this adjustment alongside the other buyer and seller costs, and the lender will usually collect a few months of tax upfront to start the escrow account, which is part of the cash you need to bring. The guide to the down payment for a house in NYC lays out that cash plan in order.

How to challenge your Queens property assessment

If you believe your assessed value, tax class or exemptions are wrong, the window to act opens with the January notice and closes in March. Searches for a property tax grievance in Queens NY all point to the same process, because Queens follows the city system.

Two different routes

• Department of Finance request for review. For factual errors in the property’s description, such as square footage, number of units or building characteristics, you ask DOF to correct its records.
• NYC Tax Commission appeal. To challenge the assessed value, the tax class or an exemption, you file with the Tax Commission, an independent city agency.

Filing a request for review with DOF does not replace an appeal to the Tax Commission and does not extend its deadline. Many owners who want both should file both.

Deadlines that cannot be extended

The Tax Commission’s page on challenging your Notice of Property Value gives March 15 for Class 1 properties and March 1 for Classes 2, 3 and 4, and says the deadlines cannot be extended. Applications count as filed when they are received, not when they are mailed. In 2026, March 15 fell on a Sunday and the Class 1 deadline moved to March 16. If you receive a revised notice dated after February 1 that raises your assessed value or reduces an exemption, you have 20 calendar days from the date of that notice instead.

What to file

For a Class 1 house, the Tax Commission uses form TC108 for valuation claims. Applications can be filed by mail to the Tax Commission at One Centre Street, Room 2400, or in person at a Department of Finance business center, including the Queens center in Jamaica. Co-op and condo buildings usually appeal through the board, and buildings with rental income file a statement of income and expenses with the application.

What makes an appeal worth filing

The strongest Class 1 appeals rest on facts: sales of truly comparable houses that support a lower market value, or a clear error in how the property is described. Remember the caps, though. If your assessed value is already far below 6% of DOF’s market value, a lower market value may not reduce your assessed value at all. Run the numbers before paying anyone to file. When the facts are on your side, it is a free filing that can lower your taxable value for that year.

Selling, inheriting or moving: what happens to your tax bill

Property taxes follow the property, but several parts of the bill follow the owner. When ownership changes, it is worth knowing which is which.

When you sell

Taxes are apportioned at closing, as described above, and any unpaid balance is paid from your proceeds. Your exemptions end with the sale. If you are moving to another home in New York City or the state, apply again at the new address; STAR, SCHE and the co-op abatement are tied to the owner’s primary residence. The guide on capital gains tax on the sale of a home in New York covers the income tax side of a sale, which is separate from the property tax.

When a home is inherited

When an owner dies, exemptions that depended on that owner, such as SCHE, generally end, and the bill can rise for the estate or the heirs. Taxes still come due every quarter while the estate is being settled, and missed payments add interest and can become a lien. Heirs who plan to sell should budget for the taxes until closing. The guide to selling an inherited house in New York walks through the estate side.

Mistakes I see owners and buyers make

• Using the seller’s bill, with the seller’s exemptions, as the budget for the next owner.
• Assuming the tax stays flat because prices are flat, when a capped assessment is still catching up.
• Forgetting to register for the STAR credit after buying a primary residence.
• Missing the March deadline because the January notice went unopened.
• Comparing co-op maintenance with condo common charges without adding the condo’s own tax bill.

Buyers putting these pieces together for the first time can start with the guide for a first-time home buyer in Queens, which places taxes alongside the other costs of owning.

This article is for general informational purposes only and reflects rules and rates that change every year. It is not tax, legal or financial advice; consult a tax professional or a licensed New York attorney about your own situation, and confirm current figures with the New York City Department of Finance, the NYC Tax Commission and the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance. Figures cited reflect those agencies’ published sources as of October 2026. Real estate brokerage services are offered by Agatha Lubas, Licensed Associate Real Estate Broker, NY License #10301213345, Keller Williams Realty Liberty, 96-10 101st Avenue, Ozone Park, NY 11416. The NYS Disclosure Form for Buyer and Seller, the NYS Housing and Anti-Discrimination Disclosure / Fair Housing Notice, and the brokerage’s Standard Operating Procedures are available on request. Equal Housing Opportunity.

Agatha Lubas

Licensed Associate Real Estate Broker · NY License #10301213345 · Keller Williams Realty Liberty

Agatha Lubas works with buyers and sellers throughout Queens, Brooklyn, Nassau County and Suffolk County, coordinating attorneys, lenders, title companies and managing agents from the first showing to closing day. She serves clients in English and Polish.

Work with Agatha