New York's new surcharge on non-primary residences — in force since July 1, 2026 — is often described abroad as a "foreign buyer tax." It is not. Citizenship, visa status, and where you pay income tax are all irrelevant. The statute's single test is use: a home that is nobody's primary residence pays; a home that is someone's primary residence doesn't. Foreign owners feel it disproportionately for one simple reason — an owner who lives in another country usually cannot truthfully call a Manhattan apartment their primary home.
What a non-primary unit pays
The base is the unit's DOF market value — the Department of Finance's income-derived figure on the assessment roll, typically far below what you paid — and the rate applies flat to the full value once it clears the threshold:
| Property | DOF market value | Phase 1 rate (2026–2028) |
|---|---|---|
| Condos & co-ops | $1M – $3M | 4% |
| $3M – $5M | 5.25% | |
| Over $5M | 6.5% | |
| 1–3 family houses | $5M – $15M | 0.8% |
| $15M – $25M | 1.05% | |
| Over $25M | 1.3% |
Co-ops use the building's DOF value multiplied by the unit's share — and for 36,677 units DOF now publishes per-apartment values directly. From July 2028, Phase 2 re-tests every property at a single $5M threshold on a comparable-sales basis.
The data: who actually owns New York from abroad
No official registry records owners' citizenship — which is itself the story: the closest anyone gets is counting the structures foreign capital typically buys through, and the homes nobody lives in. The credible numbers, each with its source:
| Figure | Source, year |
|---|---|
| Foreign buyers purchased $56 billion of U.S. existing homes in the year to March 2025; Chinese buyers led all nationalities at 15% of that value ($13.7B) | National Association of Realtors, 2025 |
| New York took 7% of all U.S. foreign-buyer purchases in that year — up from about 4% the year before | NAR international transactions reports, 2024 & 2025 |
| 37% of Manhattan properties are owned through LLCs — 104,792 of 844,651 on the tax roll, about five times the statewide rate — and roughly 12% have owners hidden behind them | Reinvent Albany analysis of state property records, 2023 |
| About two-thirds of the condos at the Time Warner Center were held through shell companies in the landmark "Towers of Secrecy" investigation | The New York Times, 2015 |
| 102,900 NYC units were "held for occasional, seasonal, or recreational use" — the standard pied-à-terre proxy | NYC Housing & Vacancy Survey, 2021 |
| The city counted ~75,000 pieds-à-terre by 2017, up from 55,000 in 2014; about 5,400 were valued at $5M+ | NYC HPD study; Comptroller Stringer's office, 2019 |
| The 2026 surcharge itself is projected to reach ~11,200 high-value non-primary properties for roughly $500M/year unadjusted (a realistic $340–380M after owners lease up or sell) | NYC Comptroller, Fiscal Note 2-2026 |
Read together: of the roughly hundred thousand seldom-occupied homes in the city, the surcharge touches only the most valuable ~11%, and the ownership structures that dominate that tier — LLCs, trusts, foreign entities — are precisely the ones the statute looks through. Which brings us to the question every international owner asks first.
The LLC and trust question, answered plainly
The most common structure among international buyers — a Delaware or New York LLC, often under a trust — changes nothing. The exemption follows natural people, not entities: the unit must be the primary residence of an owner, a beneficiary, or their immediate family. An LLC whose members live in Geneva gets no exemption for a Manhattan condo, full stop. Certifying otherwise is the one thing on this page with teeth: a false primary-residence certification that would have wiped the surcharge carries a penalty of 50% of the surcharge itself. The details live in our LLC guide and trust guide.
Why "I'll just say I live there" fails twice
Beyond the certification penalty, there's a second trap non-US owners should hear from their own advisors: genuinely making the apartment your primary residence means actually living in it more than half the year — and spending that many days in the United States has its own federal tax-residency consequences under the substantial-presence rules. For most international owners, claiming the exemption honestly would cost far more in worldwide tax exposure than the surcharge saves. That trade is why the practical playbook below matters.
The playbook that actually works from abroad
1. The 12-month lease. A unit leased at arm's length to a tenant who makes it their primary residence, on a lease of at least a year, is exempt — wherever the owner lives. Occupancy must be in place as of the January 5 taxable status date for the fiscal year. Our rent-through-Phase-1 analysis runs the numbers on leasing versus paying.
2. Immediate family in residence. A child at NYU or a parent living in the unit more than half the year as their primary home exempts it — this is use by family, not a paper move.
3. Sell into strength — but do the bridge math first. For owners who visit two weeks a year, the surcharge converts a cheap-to-hold asset into one with a real annual carry; our sell-vs-rent model compares the exits with actual numbers, and Sell or Bridge to 2028? shows why selling a sub-$5M home to escape a two-year tax usually costs more than the tax.
4. Or simply pay it — for a $1.4M-DOF-value condo that's $56,000 a year, and for some owners that is still the price of keeping Manhattan on call. The point is to decide with the real number, not a guess.
The compliance trap: deadlines don't cross oceans well
DOF mails notices to the address on file — often the unit itself, or a managing agent. Overseas owners routinely learn about a determination after its response window has moved. Three dates matter now: the October 13, 2026 exemption-filing deadline for this first year; the January 5 taxable status date that fixes each year's facts; and your building's Notice of Property Value each January, which carries the market value the surcharge is computed on. If DOF's number looks wrong, it can be challenged — our appeal guide covers the Tax Commission route. What you should not do is ignore a "you may be subject" notice because you're abroad.
Start with your unit's actual number
Everything above turns on one figure you've probably never seen: your unit's DOF market value. We pull the official roll figure, run the surcharge test, and email a written report — free, usually within the hour: check your address. Spanish-speaking owners: la guía completa está en español.
Official sources — quoted
The entity, trust and tenant rules that decide a foreign owner's exposure are quoted here directly from the Department of Finance.
NYC Department of Finance — surcharge page (nyc.gov)
"THE DEADLINE FOR SUBMITTING AN EXEMPTION APPLICATION IS EXTENDED TO OCTOBER 6, 2026"
"For property tax years 2026-27 and 2027-28, the surcharge may apply to: One-, two-, and three-family homes valued by DOF at more than $5 million; Condominium and cooperative units valued by DOF at $1 million or more."
"Your property will not be subject to the surcharge if it is the primary residence of any of the following: The owner of the property. A tenant or subtenant. One or more individuals who collectively hold a majority interest in the LLC, corporation, or partnership that owns the property. An immediate family member of the owner or majority interest holder. The sole beneficiary or beneficiaries of a trust."
| Property type | DOF market value | Surcharge rate (% of market value) |
|---|---|---|
| One-, two-, and three-family homes | $5,000,000 or greater, but less than $15,000,000 | 0.8% |
| $15,000,000 or greater, but less than $25,000,000 | 1.05% | |
| $25,000,000 or greater | 1.3% | |
| Condominium and cooperative units | $1,000,000 or greater, but less than $3,000,000 | 4.0% |
| $3,000,000 or greater, but less than $5,000,000 | 5.25% | |
| $5,000,000 or greater | 6.50% |
Documents DOF lists for an exemption: for each occupant claimed, the most recently filed federal or state tax return, or a driver's license or other DMV-issued identification (or, failing both, a voter identification card plus other proof of primary residence); for a tenant or subtenant, additionally a copy of the current lease and one more rental document, or a Tenant or Subtenant Affidavit and two rental documents. DOF also states it "published a supplemental market value roll on July 24, 2026" that "includes, but is not limited to, those properties that may be subject to the surcharge." Source: nyc.gov — Non-primary residence property surcharge, accessed September 26, 2026.
NYC Department of Finance — Notice of Adoption of Final Rules (adopted July 14, 2026)
"This surcharge, colloquially known as the pied-à-terre tax, imposes an additional tax that is calculated as the product of a surcharge rate established by statute and the market value of the applicable property, or with respect to a residential cooperative property, a residential cooperative dwelling unit."
"Because the surcharge is based on market value, not assessed value, DOF notes that these rolls are required to include the applicable market values of properties, not assessed values."
"An individual cannot have multiple primary residences."
The rules cite Administrative Code § 11-3201 (defining "primary residence") and §§ 11-3202 to 11-3204 (the surcharge computation) and were adopted under part HH of chapter 59 of the Laws of 2026, adopted into law May 28, 2026. Full rule text and our method notes: Methodology.
Statute and fiscal estimate
New York Tax Law Article 30-C (§ 1351 definitions, including § 1351(k), which defines the base as the market value determined by the Department of Finance; § 1353 thresholds and rates), enacted as part HH of chapter 59 of the Laws of 2026. The NYC Comptroller's Fiscal Note 2-2026 projected the surcharge would reach about 11,200 of the highest-value non-primary properties for roughly $340–500 million a year.
Quotations are verbatim from the sources named, as published on the dates shown; where our summaries and a primary source differ, the primary source governs. Last checked September 26, 2026.
Educational, not tax or immigration advice. Cross-border owners should coordinate NYC surcharge decisions with counsel who can see their worldwide position. Rates and dates per the DOF final rules adopted July 14, 2026; litigation status is tracked on our legal challenges page.