Form RP-553: Notice and Petition of Assessor to the Board of Assessment Review (New York) Explained

Form RP-553 is a New York State property tax form, but unlike most assessment paperwork, it isn’t filed by a property owner. It’s filed by the assessor. Officially titled “Notice and Petition of Assessor to the Board of Assessment Review for Correction to the Final Assessment Roll,” this form gives a local assessor a formal way to ask the Board of Assessment Review (BAR) to correct an error that was discovered after the final assessment roll was already completed and filed.

The New York State Department of Taxation and Finance issues this form because assessment rolls, despite everyone’s best efforts, sometimes contain clerical mistakes, incorrect classifications, or errors that weren’t caught during the regular grievance period. Once the roll is finalized, an assessor can’t just change a number on their own. They need the Board of Assessment Review to review and approve the correction through a formal process, and RP-553 is the document that starts that process.

Who Needs Form RP-553

This form is used exclusively by assessors, not by property owners or taxpayers. If you’re a homeowner who believes your assessment is wrong, this isn’t the form you’d file yourself — you’d typically be working through a grievance process using forms like Form RP-525, which documents the Board’s determination on a grievance.

RP-553 comes into play in a narrower situation: the assessor themselves has identified (or been made aware of) an error on the final roll that needs correcting, and the correction requires the Board’s sign-off rather than an administrative fix. This might involve a clerical error, a misclassification of property, or an omission that affects the final assessed value or exemption status recorded on the roll.

When This Form Is Used

The timing here matters. RP-553 is specifically for errors discovered after the final assessment roll has been completed and filed. During the regular assessment cycle, property owners have the opportunity to grieve their assessments before the roll becomes final. But once that roll is locked in, correcting it isn’t as simple as editing a spreadsheet — it requires a formal petition to the Board of Assessment Review, laying out the specific error and the requested correction.

This process is distinct from the correction mechanisms available directly to taxpayers. For example, property owners themselves may be able to pursue a correction through Form RP-554, which is an application for a corrected tax roll filed by the taxpayer rather than the assessor. RP-553, by contrast, is the assessor’s own tool for flagging and requesting fixes to errors on the final roll through the Board.

How to Get and Complete the Form

Form RP-553 is available as a fillable PDF directly from the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance’s website. Because it includes AcroForm fields, an assessor can type information directly into the document on a computer before printing it for signature and submission — no need to fill it out by hand.

The form itself asks for details identifying the specific parcel, the nature of the error found on the final roll, and the correction being requested. Since this is a petition to the Board of Assessment Review, it needs to be specific enough for the Board to understand exactly what happened and what change is being sought. Assessors should reference the parcel’s tax map number, the original assessed value or classification as it appears on the roll, and the corrected figure or status being proposed.

Once submitted, the Board of Assessment Review reviews the petition and issues a determination, similar in structure to how it would handle a taxpayer grievance. If approved, the correction gets applied to the roll, which can affect the tax bill tied to that parcel going forward.

Assessors working through roll corrections often deal with related forms depending on the type of error involved. If the issue involves a village-level correction rather than a town or county roll, it may overlap with processes covered by Form RP-5217-ACR-Village, which handles corrections specific to village assessment records. Knowing which form applies to which situation helps keep the correction process moving without unnecessary delays.