Form RP-5217-App-1: Application/Agreement for RPS035 Transmittal to ORPTS (New York)

Form RP-5217-App-1 is a New York State Department of Taxation and Finance document used by county and municipal real property offices to set up electronic transmission of Real Property Transfer Report (RP-5217) data to the Office of Real Property Tax Services (ORPTS). Its full title, “Application/Agreement for RPS035 Transmittal to ORPTS,” tells you exactly what it does: it’s a formal agreement between a local assessment office and ORPTS that authorizes the office to send sales and transfer data in the RPS035 file format instead of relying purely on paper submissions.

RPS035 refers to the data file layout used within the Real Property System (RPS) that ORPTS runs statewide. Instead of every county mailing or manually keying in transfer report data, offices that complete this application can transmit batches of RP-5217 records electronically, which speeds up processing and reduces data entry errors at the state level.

Who needs this form

This form isn’t intended for individual home buyers or sellers. It’s aimed at county real property tax service agencies, city or town assessors’ offices, and other local government units that process real property transfer reports on a regular basis. If your office handles a high volume of RP-5217 filings and wants to move away from manual paper transmittal, this application is the mechanism for requesting that electronic setup with ORPTS.

Because the form functions as an agreement, it typically requires sign-off from an authorized official within the local assessment office, confirming that the office understands its responsibilities for accurate, timely data transmission and agrees to follow ORPTS’s technical specifications for the RPS035 format.

When it’s used

Offices generally submit this application when they’re first establishing electronic transmittal capability, or when there’s a change in the technical setup — for example, switching software systems, updating file transfer protocols, or renewing an existing agreement after a change in staff or office structure. It’s less of a recurring annual filing and more of an administrative setup document that stays in effect once approved, unless conditions change.

This form often comes up alongside related administrative processes. Offices that need broader secure access to ORPTS systems, for instance, may also need to file Form RP-5100, which covers requests for secure access credentials within the assessment community. And since the whole point of RP-5217-App-1 is smoother handling of transfer report data, it pairs naturally with day-to-day sales reporting work, including corrections handled through Form RP-5217ACR, the sale correction form used by city and town assessors when transfer data needs to be fixed after submission.

How to get and complete it

The form is available as a fillable PDF directly from the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance website. Because it has AcroForm fields, you can type information directly into the document using standard PDF software rather than printing it out and filling it in by hand. That said, since this is an agreement between your office and ORPTS, you’ll still need physical or authorized digital signatures before submitting it.

When filling it out, have your office’s identifying information ready — county or municipality name, contact details for the person responsible for data transmission, and any existing account or system identifiers ORPTS has on file for your office. If your office already handles related property tax mapping responsibilities, it may be worth reviewing how that connects to other filings, such as Form RP-503, the tax map maintenance certification, since both deal with keeping property records accurate and properly reported to the state.

Once completed, the form gets submitted to ORPTS for review and approval. Given that it establishes an ongoing technical relationship rather than a one-time transaction, it’s worth keeping a copy on file at your office for reference, particularly if staff changes occur or if ORPTS updates its file transmission requirements down the road.