BLOG: Property Tax Appeal

Your TIN, Not Mine!

by: Thomas Olson
17 Sep 2018
A recent Tax Court opinion focused on a technical issue not normally involved in a real estate tax appeal matter.  New Jersey Tax Court Judge  Jonathan A. Orsen, J.T.C. held that a tax refund  check payable to an  attorney  trust account should be registered to the  attorney’s taxpayer identification number (TIN), not the party’s TIN,... Read More

The Cost Approach: Hard Costs vs. Soft Costs in the Context of Tax Appeals

by: Anthony F. Della Pelle
15 Sep 2018
New home constructions often require that the property tax assessment which is then placed on a property be carefully examined.  Generally, property assessments for the following year are set forth by the municipal assessor on October 1.  However, if an improvement of a structure is completed after the regular assessment date of October 1, and... Read More

Not Timely Enough: Township’s Chapter 91 Motion to Dismiss Denied after Request Sent too Late

by: Thomas Olson
17 Jul 2018
Chapter 91 has proved to be an effective tool for municipalities to protect themselves from tax appeals. Chapter 91 provides that when a municipality sends a request for income and expense information to a property owner pursuant to the statute, the owner must respond within forty-five days. If the property owner does not respond within... Read More

Doughnut and Coffee With Reversal and Remand

by: Anthony F. Della Pelle
11 Jul 2018
The Appellate Division reversed and remanded a decision of the Tax Court that affirmed the assessment on a Dunkin Donuts property in the City of Elizabeth. The appellate court found that the lower court erred by relying on evidence not in the record. Plaintiff’s appraiser utilized the income capitalization approach to appraise the property. In... Read More

“I Don’t Remember Sending It but Probably Did”…Works to Defeat Chapter 91 Dismissal Motion

by: Anthony F. Della Pelle
12 Jun 2018
We recently summarized Gamma-Upsilon Alumni Ass’n of Kappa Sigma, Inc. v. City of New Brunswick, a case in which the plaintiff’s tax appeal was dismissed due to its failure to respond to the assessor’s request for income and expense Information, in accordance with N.J.S.A. 54:4-34 (commonly known as “Chapter 91”). Chapter 91 provides that a... Read More

Fraternity’s creative arguments no match for Chapter 91

by: Anthony F. Della Pelle
4 May 2018
Perhaps not since Otter’s impassioned plea to keep Delta House from being kicked off campus in the 1978 classic movie, Animal House, has a fraternity presented such a creative argument.  Of course, in Gamma-Upsilon Alumni Ass’n of Kappa Sigma, Inc. v. City of New Brunswick, a recent published opinion of the New Jersey Tax Court, seasoned... Read More

Will it be strike 3 for cost estimating software in the NJ Tax Court? Stay tuned.

by: Anthony F. Della Pelle
12 Feb 2018
In a recent decision, ML Plainsboro Ltd Partnership v. Township of Plainsboro, the Presiding Judge of the New Jersey Tax Court denied a taxpayer’s motion to strike the opinion of the municipality’s appraiser who relied upon cost estimating software to determine reproduction costs as part of a cost approach analysis.   While this would appear to... Read More

Two Different Taxpayers Prove Value and Score at Trial

by: Anthony F. Della Pelle
6 Feb 2018
Two recent Tax Court valuation trials have resulted in favorable outcomes for the taxpayer.  First, in the trial of 416 Route 10 Associates v. East Hanover, plaintiff’s expert deliberately made no adjustments to his comparable leases in the expert’s income approach. Plaintiff’s expert reasoned that numerical adjustments simply led to more rigorous cross-examination so the... Read More

When it Comes to Farmland Exemption, You Can’t Have it Both Ways

by: Anthony F. Della Pelle
8 Jan 2018
The Tax Court recently issued its opinion following trial in Sam. S. Russo v. Twp. of Plumsted.  The central issue at trial was whether plaintiff’s property met the statutory requirements for farmland assessment for tax year 2012.  In addition to income and acreage requirements, agricultural or horticultural use must be the dominant use of the... Read More

Stick to the Cost Approach When Valuing Nursing Homes

by: Anthony F. Della Pelle
16 Nov 2017
In two recent decisions, the Tax Court addressed the proper valuation methodology in determining the market value of nursing/rehabilitation facilities.   In 962 River Ave., LLC v. Twp. of Lakewood, the property at issue was a 126-unit, 242-bed, skilled nursing facility that provides short-term rehabilitation services, long-term care, and specialty services for Huntington Disease.   Plaintiff filed a... Read More