Justia Tax Law Opinion Summaries

The present matter arose from three related tax appeals involving Plaintiff Goodspeed Airport's property that consisted of a commercial utility airport and forty-three acres of open fields. The superior court denied relief on Plaintiff's claim seeking reclassification and assessment of certain of its real property as open space and disposed of all three appeals. The appellate court concluded that (1) 13.08 acres of Plaintiff's property were ineligible for open space classification; and (2) Plaintiff, notwithstanding the ongoing improper classification of its property by Defendant, the town of East Haddam, was not entitled to judicial relief from the improper assessment of its forty-three acres. The Supreme Court reversed, holding that the appellate court improperly concluded that the trial court properly determined that the 13.08 acres were ineligible for open space classification and that Plaintiff was not aggrieved pursuant to Conn. Gen. Stat. 12-117a on the basis of Defendant's ongoing overassessment of the forty-three acres. Remanded.

Plaintiff-Appellant Alexandre was selected for a tax audit by Defendant, to cover the period October, 1999 to March, 2005. In preparation, Plaintiff pulled ledgers, bank statements, and "z reports" or summary cash register tapes for review by the auditor. Detailed records were used to prepare the "z report", but it was Plaintiff's custom to discard those receipts once the z-report was complete. Without the detailed register receipts, the state auditor used an industry-standard method of calculating properly audited gross receipts. By this method, the auditor assessed a tax delinquency of over $250,000, which eventually lead to a tax lien on Plaintiff's business and property. Plaintiff sought a hearing from Defendant to reconsider the penalties and lien; the penalties were reduced, but Plaintiff brought suit seeking the entire assessment be set aside. The trial court concluded that because Plaintiff did not keep the detailed register receipts, he had no basis to challenge the Defendant's review of the original audit and assessment. In this appeal, the Court upheld the lower court's findings, holding that Plaintiff's "z reports" were not enough to preclude the auditor from using the industry-standard method Plaintiff's sales receipts.