No Relaxation For Lakewood Taxpayer

by: Anthony F. Della Pelle
2 May 2012

The New Jersey Tax Court recently granted a municipality’s request to dismiss a tax appeal because all taxes due and payable for the 2009 tax year under appeal had not been paid at the time that the complaint was filed as required by N.J.S.A. 54:51A-1(b).  In this unreported decision, Tilwy LLC v. Lakewood, Docket No. 35-5-6085 (April 10, 2012), the Tax Court held that the plaintiff/taxpayer did not establish grounds for relaxation of the tax payment requirement.  The court found that where the record is silent with respect to why the taxpayer could not pay the 2009 taxes when they were due, it could not relax the tax payment requirement.  The court also noted that the taxpayer was able to pay the 2010 taxes, although the record was silent on what the court described as the taxpayer’s “reversal of fortune” that enabled it to pay 2010 taxes, but not the 2009 taxes.  Ultimately, the court found that the taxpayer could not establish that events after the filing of the complaint justified relaxation and granted the municipality’s motion to dismiss the appeal.

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