Filed in the Nick of Time

A New Jersey Tax Court judge recently denied efforts by the Borough of Bergenfield to dismiss a property tax appeal filed by a local property owner as being “out of time”.  The appeal challenged an affirmance of the 2011 tax assessment on the property in question by the Bergen County Board of Taxation.  Under New Jersey law, appeals from County Tax Board actions must be filed within 45 days from service of the County Tax Board judgment pursuant to N.J.S.A. 54:51A-9.

In this case, the taxpayer arranged for filing of the appeal via a Federal Express delivery.  The filing deadline was September 19, 2011.  The appeal package was dispatched on September 16, 2011 and addressed to the New Jersey Tax Court at the Hughes Justice Complex in Trenton,  New Jersey.  The package was received by a court employee on September 19, but mistakenly went to a different court within the justice complex, and did not actually arrive in the Tax Court clerk’s office until the following day, which the Borough of Bergenfield asserted was one day late.

Based upon these facts, the Tax Court Judge ruled that the filing was timely because the appeal was dispatched to the proper Tax Court address and received at that address on or before the September 19 deadline.  The court reasoned that it was not the fault of the taxpayer, but rather the court, that resulted in the appeal not being received in the proper office within the justice building, and the harsh penalty of dismissal would therefore be inappropriate here.  While this taxpayer avoided dismissal, this case is another example of the efforts being undertaken by New Jersey municipalities to use procedural tactics to dismiss as many appeals as possible, in light of the extraordinary volume of tax appeals now pending in New Jersey.

A copy of the Tax Court’s opinion is available here.

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