Property Tax Grievance in Nassau and Suffolk, and How Property Taxes Are Split at Closing

A property tax grievance is your challenge to the assessed value your tax bill is based on. Nassau and Suffolk run it on very different calendars:

  • Nassau: one county agency assesses every property. You appeal to the Assessment Review Commission (ARC) between January and March, more than a year before the bills it affects.
  • Suffolk: each of the 10 towns assesses its own properties. You grieve in May, for bills that go out that December.

Those calendars matter at closing. Taxes are split between seller and buyer by tax period, and a seller’s grievance often pays off after the buyer owns the house. This guide covers Nassau and Suffolk only.

Grieving your taxes in Nassau: ARC appeals

The Nassau County Department of Assessment values every property in the county (Nassau County, How Is My Property Tax Determined?). Cities and villages that keep their own rolls for city or village taxes handle those taxes separately. So a village homeowner can have two assessments.

ARC is an independent agency, separate from the Department of Assessment. Each January, the assessor publishes a tentative (draft) roll and the filing window opens. You file online through ARC’s AROW system or on paper. You can challenge your home’s value, its tax class or your exemptions.

Step 2027/28 tax year 2028/29 tax year
Tentative roll published Jan. 2, 2026 Jan. 4, 2027
ARC filing deadline Mar. 31, 2026 (extended) Mar. 1, 2027
ARC determinations By Mar. 31, 2027 By Mar. 31, 2028
Final roll Apr. 1, 2027 Apr. 3, 2028
Court review deadline Apr. 30, 2027 May 1, 2028
First bills affected Oct. 2027 school Oct. 2028 school

Sources: ARC brochures for 2027/28 and 2028/29. The original 2027/28 deadline was March 2, 2026; ARC extended it to March 31, 2026. The 2028/29 brochure says that if any dates change, including by extension, the ARC website controls.

The long delay is the key point. An appeal filed in early 2026 changes the October 2027 school tax bill and the January 2028 general tax bill. If the house sells in between, the reduction lands on bills the buyer pays.

ARC often settles home appeals with a written offer, called a stipulation. Under the 2027/28 home stipulation, the County Treasurer pays interest on resulting refunds only for owner-occupied one-, two- and three-family homes used only as homes, and Class 1 condo units. Once the stipulation is finally approved, you must permanently drop any related small claims case or other proceeding (ARC residential stipulation).

Grieving your taxes in Suffolk: Grievance Day

Suffolk County doesn’t assess property. Each town assessor does: Babylon, Brookhaven, East Hampton, Huntington, Islip, Riverhead, Shelter Island, Smithtown, Southampton and Southold. The town publishes its tentative roll on May 1. Complaints go to the town’s board of assessment review.

Grievance Day in Suffolk towns is the third Tuesday in May: May 19 in 2026 and May 18 in 2027. A county law sets that date (Suffolk County Tax Act), and town assessors say so directly (Huntington grievance FAQs, Babylon Grievance Day, Brookhaven Grievance Day, Shelter Island Board of Assessment Review, Southampton assessor FAQs). A town board can move the date in an emergency. Riverhead’s board pushed it back during the COVID-19 pandemic, so each year the town’s own notice controls.

You file the complaint on state form RP-524 with the town assessor by Grievance Day. Huntington requires a signed original and doesn’t accept fax or email.

The final roll must be filed by July 1 (Suffolk County Tax Act), and the December tax bill for the new tax year is based on it. So a May grievance affects a bill about seven months later, not a year and a half. Villages that still keep their own rolls for village taxes run a separate review calendar.

Small claims review (SCAR)

If you aren’t satisfied with the ARC or town decision, you can file a Small Claims Assessment Review (SCAR) petition (state law). A court-appointed hearing officer decides it. The main rules:

  • You must have grieved first. You must already have filed with ARC or the town board.
  • Eligible property. A one-, two- or three-family owner-occupied house used only as a home, or a vacant lot too small to hold one. Nassau’s guidance also lists condo units in buildings of three stories or less (Nassau County, Small Claims Assessment Review).
  • Size of request. If the property’s equalized value (its assessment converted to full market value) is over $450,000, the reduction you ask for can’t exceed 25% of the assessed value.
  • Deadline. 30 days after the final assessment roll is completed and filed. Missing it is a complete defense: the county or town can defeat a late petition on that ground alone, whatever its merits.
  • Fee. $30 per petition.

In Nassau, the county’s SCAR page says to file by the last business day in April. ARC’s brochure gives April 30, 2027 for the 2027/28 roll. If ARC decides after April 1, Nassau’s guidance allows filing within 30 days of ARC’s decision.

In Suffolk, petitions are filed with the Suffolk County Clerk. The 30 days run from the filing of the town’s final roll, due by July 1. Larger and commercial properties use a full court case in State Supreme Court instead, called tax certiorari.

Exemptions that don’t pass to the buyer

Exemptions belong to the owner, not the house. They come off after a sale, but not right away.

  • STAR. New York’s tax department says STAR exemptions can’t be transferred to a newly bought home. The exemption isn’t available to anyone who bought after 2015. New owners must register for the STAR credit instead, which has a combined income limit of $500,000 (STAR FAQs). The seller’s exemption can stay on the buyer’s first school tax bill.
  • Seniors (state law) and veterans (state law). The assessor grants these on application. They end when the home passes to an owner who doesn’t qualify. A buyer who qualifies must apply in their own name by the local deadline. For example, that is early January in Nassau (January 4, 2027, on the county’s current exemption forms) and March 1 in Southampton.

Nassau has a catch. The Town of North Hempstead explains that when an exempt home is sold to an owner who doesn’t qualify, the Department of Assessment removes the exemption. It then adds “restored” taxes covering one prior year on a later roll. It can take up to two years for an exemption to come off the bills (North Hempstead, Real Estate Closing Information). So a buyer can enjoy the seller’s lower bill for a while and later get a back charge.

Long Island tax bills and due dates

Nassau

Taxes come in two bills, collected by the town tax collector (Receiver of Taxes) in Hempstead, North Hempstead and Oyster Bay. The general tax combines county, town and special district taxes. School tax is billed separately (Nassau County). Villages and the cities of Glen Cove and Long Beach bill their own taxes.

Nassau bill Tax period Half due Last day, no penalty
School, 1st half July 1 to June 30 Oct. 1 Nov. 10
School, 2nd half Same Apr. 1 May 10
General, 1st half Calendar year Jan. 1 Feb. 10
General, 2nd half Same July 1 Aug. 10

Source: Town of North Hempstead, Tax Payments. If the 10th falls on a weekend or holiday, the last day moves to the next business day.

Unpaid school taxes become payable to the Nassau County Treasurer on June 1, and unpaid general taxes on September 1 (Nassau County Treasurer, Delinquent Taxes). The Treasurer sells liens for unpaid taxes at a yearly sale. The sale for 2026 liens is set for February 16, 2027 (Annual Tax Lien Sale).

Glen Cove. The city’s Receiver of Taxes mails the city, county and school bills on its own schedule (Glen Cove taxpayer FAQs):

  • City bill December 1, with halves due January 10 and July 10
  • County bill January 1, with halves due February 10 and August 10
  • School bill August 1, with halves due September 1 and March 1

Long Beach. The city’s Tax Department bills city taxes and the current Nassau County tax (City of Long Beach, Tax).

Suffolk

One bill covers town, county and school taxes, for a tax year running December 1 to November 30. Each town’s Receiver of Taxes mails it by mid-December. You can pay the first half without interest through January 10 and the second half through May 31.

After May 31, unpaid taxes are overdue and payable to the Suffolk County Comptroller, which sells a lien to the county, usually in December. Owners of one-, two- and three-family homes have 36 months to redeem, meaning pay off what is owed on the lien, before the county issues a tax deed, which transfers the property to the county (Suffolk County Comptroller, Taxpayer FAQs).

Suffolk sewer bills. Since January 1, 2026, sewer charges for the former Suffolk County sewer districts are no longer on the tax bill. The Suffolk County Wastewater Management District bills them separately (quarterly for homes). Amounts billed before August 1 and still unpaid on October 1 are added to the town’s December 1 tax bill as sewer arrears. The county doesn’t split sewer bills by date (Suffolk County, Sewer Billing Services). Town and village sewer districts bill separately. See water and sewer charges at closing.

How property taxes are split at closing

No law sets the closing tax adjustment; the contract of sale does. On Long Island, as elsewhere in New York, contracts usually split taxes as of the day before closing, based on the period each tax covers. The seller bears the tax up to closing and the buyer from closing on, whoever actually paid or will pay the bill. Whether the split is by day or by month also comes from the contract or local practice.

Hypothetical, Nassau. A house in the Town of Oyster Bay closes September 15, 2026, with taxes split by day over 365 days. The 2026 general tax is $6,000, and the seller has paid both halves. The 2026/27 school tax is $12,000, and neither half is due yet.

Tax Seller’s share Credit Period covered
General, paid Jan. 1 to Sept. 14 Buyer pays seller $1,775.34 Jan. 1 to Dec. 31, 2026
School, unpaid July 1 to Sept. 14 Seller pays buyer $2,498.63 July 1, 2026 to June 30, 2027

The buyer repays 108 days of general tax the seller already paid. The seller credits 76 days of school tax the buyer will pay in October. Net, the seller credits the buyer $723.29.

Hypothetical, Suffolk. A house in Brookhaven closes September 15, 2026. The 2025/26 bill (December 1, 2025 to November 30, 2026) of $14,000 was paid in full by May 31. The buyer credits the seller for 77 days: $2,953.42. If a Suffolk closing falls between December and May with the second half unpaid, the open half is usually paid from the seller’s proceeds or charged to the seller in the adjustment.

Exemptions and the split. If the seller has an exemption on the current bill, a straight split passes part of that benefit to the buyer. In Nassau, the later restored tax falls on whoever owns the house then. Some contracts figure the adjustment as if there were no exemption, or hold money in escrow, to deal with this. That is a negotiated term, not a rule.

If a grievance is pending at closing

The calendar decides who benefits by default. A Nassau appeal filed in March 2026 lowers bills from October 2027 on. A Suffolk grievance filed in May 2026 lowers the December 2026 bill. If the buyer owns the house when those bills arrive, the lower tax is the buyer’s.

A refund is different. When a SCAR or court decision lowers taxes already paid, a refund or credit follows, and the tax law doesn’t decide whether it goes to seller or buyer. Contracts usually cover:

  • Who keeps refunds for periods before closing
  • Whether the buyer must cooperate with a pending case
  • How the tax representative’s contingency fee is shared
  • Whether a refund for the year of closing is itself split

Without a clause, the issue tends to come up after closing. Nassau’s settlement terms and SCAR’s owner-occupancy rule can also affect whether a case can continue after the owner who filed it has sold.

What the title company’s tax search shows

The title company’s tax search reports what the tax offices show as due, paid or sold on the tax lot. It appears in the title report as a standard exception, so open taxes are paid or credited at closing instead of passing to the buyer (title search and title report). The title premium includes the tax search for one tax lot; extra lots cost more.

On Long Island the search has to reach every collector:

  • The town receiver
  • Any village
  • The city, in Glen Cove or Long Beach
  • The Nassau County Treasurer, for overdue taxes and sold liens
  • In Suffolk, the County Comptroller after May 31

A sold tax lien shows up as an item to pay off before closing. The tax search doesn’t show a pending grievance, an exemption about to be removed, or restored taxes not yet billed. Those come from the seller’s disclosures and the assessor’s records.

For how tax and water searches differ from building and other municipal searches, see municipal searches for commercial property. For deeds and other land records in the two counties, see Nassau and Suffolk County Clerk land records.

Details for attorneys and title professionals

  • Grievance Day date. The statewide default for Grievance Day is the fourth Tuesday in May. That default gives way to dates set by a county tax act or other special law. Suffolk’s county tax law sets the third Tuesday and requires the town rolls to be finished by May 1.
  • Stipulation discontinuance. Under the Nassau 2027/28 residential stipulation, the related small claims or other proceeding must be discontinued with prejudice once the stipulation is finally approved.
  • Larger and commercial property. Properties that don’t qualify for SCAR challenge assessments through a tax certiorari proceeding in State Supreme Court. SCAR and certiorari are both part of the same article of the state’s property tax law.
  • TIRSA. Nassau and Suffolk are in TIRSA Zone 2. The Zone 2 premium includes the tax search for one tax lot plus one tax continuation (an update just before closing). The rate manual section is listed under Official sources.

Official sources

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