Current through Register Vol. 56, No. 18, September 16, 2024
(a) For purposes of
local property taxation, real property subject to tax includes all lands and
improvements thereon.
(b) For purposes
of local property taxation, real property includes personal property affixed to real
property or an appurtenance thereto, if the personal property meets both of the
following criteria:
1. Removal or severance of the
personal property would cause material injury to either the real property or the
personal property itself; and
2. The
personal property is ordinarily intended to be affixed permanently to real
property.
(c) Based on the
criteria set forth in (b) above:
1. Machinery,
apparatus, or equipment used or held for use in business constitutes real property
subject to local property taxation only if either the machinery, apparatus, or
equipment is a structure, or the machinery, apparatus, or equipment's primary
purpose is to enable a structure to support, shelter, contain, enclose, or house
persons or property. However, pipe racks, piping, and electrical wiring up to the
point of connections with the machinery, apparatus, or equipment of a production
process meet the requirements of (b) above, and are subject to local property
taxation as real property; and
2.
Storage tanks with capacities in excess of 30,000 gallons are deemed to meet the
requirements of (b) above, and are subject to local property taxation as real
property. Storage tanks with small capacities may or may not constitute real
property, depending on whether they meet the requirements of (b) above, and
regardless of whether a production process occurs within the tank.
(d) Personal property subject to local
property taxation includes only:
1. Machinery,
apparatus or equipment of a petroleum refinery that is directly used to manufacture
petroleum products from crude oil in any of the series of petroleum refining
processes commencing with the introduction of crude oil and ending with refined
petroleum products; and
2. Tangible
goods and chattels, exclusive of inventories, used in the business of local exchange
telephone, telegraph, and messenger systems, companies, corporations, or
associations that were subject to tax as of April 1, 1997, under P.L. 1940, c.4
(N.J.S.A. 54:30A-16 et seq.), as amended, now repealed. A local
exchange telephone company means a telecommunications carrier providing dial tone
and access to 51 percent of a local telephone exchange as of January 1 of the
pre-tax year.
(e)
Notwithstanding the provisions of N.J.S.A.
54:4-1, an outdoor advertising sign
required to be permitted pursuant to the Road Sign Control and Outdoor Advertising
Act (N.J.S.A. 27:5-5 et seq.), the
sign's supporting structure having the primary purpose of supporting the outdoor
sign, its other constituent parts, and the foundation if any to which the supporting
structure is attached, are considered real property subject to local property
taxation.
