ASSEMBLY, No. 2931
STATE OF NEW JERSEY
INTRODUCED MAY 5, 1997
By Assemblyman BAGGER
An Act concerning the correction of certain errors in the tax lists and in assessments of real property, amending R.S.54:4-54.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. R.S.54:4-54 is amended to read as follows
54:4-54. Where by mistake property real or personal has been twice entered and assessed on the tax duplicate, the governing body of the taxing district or county board of taxation may order and cause the tax record to be corrected and if the tax has been twice paid the governing body of the taxing district shall refund the excessive payment without interest. Where by mistake the land area of real property has been incorrectly entered on the tax list, the governing body of the taxing district or county board of taxation shall order and cause the tax record to be corrected to the area of the taxpayer's survey, and if the land area of the property was relevant to the land assessment of the property the governing body of the taxing district shall refund the excessive payment, if any, together with interest thereon from the date of payment at a rate of 5%, compounded annually. Where by mistake an assessment intended for one parcel has been placed upon another, the governing body may cancel the erroneous assessment, return without interest any money paid by one not the owner of the parcel intended to be assessed, and enter upon the record the assessment and tax against the proper parcel, after a hearing upon five days' notice to the owner. Where one person has by mistake paid the tax on the property of another supposing it to be his own, the governing body after a hearing, on five days' notice to the owner, may return the money paid in error without interest and restore the record of the assessment and tax against the property in the name of the true owner, provided the lien of the tax has not expired and no transfer or encumbrance has been put on record against the property since the date of the payment in error. No assessment of real or personal property shall be considered invalid because listed or assessed in the name of one not the owner thereof, or because erroneously classed as the land of an unknown or nonresident owner.
(cf: R.S.54:4-54)
2. This act shall take effect immediately and apply retroactively to mistakes made before enactment.
STATEMENT
This bill provides for the refund of property tax payments due to assessments based on mistaken land areas.
Currently, N.J.S.A.54:4-54, which provides for the correction of property tax assessment errors and the refund of erroneously collected taxes, provides relief if a taxpayer: (1) has been assessed for the same property twice; (2) has been assessed for someone else's property; or (3) has payed someone else's assessment.
While taxpayers are currently provided relief for billing errors based on property that actually exists, but has been misassigned in tax billing, no relief is currently available for billings based on nonexistent property.
This bill provides for the correction of real property acreage mistakenly entered on the municipal tax list. The governing body of the taxing district or county board of taxation may correct the tax record to the area of the taxpayer's survey; the burden is on the taxpayer to prove, by survey, that the land area on the municipal tax list is incorrect. If the land area of the property was relevant to the land assessment of the property, the governing body of the taxing district must refund the excessive payments, if any, without interest. The bill applies retroactively to mistakes made before its enactment.
Actual land area is not a factor in some methods of assessing land values, such as the "frontage and depth" method which establishes value based on the footage of property along a road or street; however, with other assessment methods land area may be a critical component of assessing value. With surprising frequency, taxpayers discover that they have been paying assessments based on inflated acreage measurements.
Provides for correction of land area errors on municipal tax lists and refund of certain property taxes relating thereto.