A Missing Assessment Postcard Does Not Excuse a Late Tax Appeal
By the time two Millburn homeowners asked the Tax Court to review their 2026 property tax assessment, the filing deadline had already passed. The homeowners argued that they had never received the annual assessment postcard, but the court nevertheless dismissed the appeal.
Judge Jill C. McNally’s unpublished decision in Ali Abdi and Effat Emamian v. Township of Millburn illustrates how a dispute over missing mail can prevent property owners from reaching the central question of whether their assessment is too high.
A Temporary Move During Renovations
Ali Abdi and Effat Emamian owned a home on Great Hills Road in Short Hills. In September 2024, while the property was undergoing renovations, they moved to another home they owned nearby.
According to Emamian, the Great Hills Road property had no mailbox during construction. She arranged for the temporary forwarding of mail but could not recall exactly how long it lasted. She also testified that she verbally notified several Township employees of the new mailing address, including someone she believed worked in the assessor’s office.
An Assessment Notice and a Missed Deadline
On January 5, 2026, the assessor emailed the homeowners that the property’s 2026 assessment would be $1,950,000. This was the value assigned to the property for tax purposes. The homeowners replied that day asking about the Tax Court appeal deadline. The assessor referred them to earlier correspondence concerning their 2025 appeal.
On January 20, the Township’s mailing contractor mailed the annual assessment notices. The notice for the Great Hills Road property was addressed to the homeowners at that property, which remained the mailing address in the assessor’s records. The assessor testified that it was not returned as undeliverable.
The homeowners had timely filed a separate Tax Court appeal concerning a 2025 added assessment. On April 14, more than a week after the April 1 filing deadline, the homeowners asked to add their claim contesting the 2026 assessment to their existing case, explaining that they had not received the assessment notice. The court denied the request because each challenged tax year requires a separate complaint.
The homeowners thus filed a separate 2026 complaint on May 22. The court then required them to explain why the late appeal should proceed and held a hearing on July 17.
Dismissal of the Appeal
The court applied N.J.S.A. 54:3-21(a)(1), which required these homeowners to appeal by April 1 or 45 days after the Township completed its bulk mailing of assessment notices, whichever was later. Because the notices were mailed on January 20, April 1 was the controlling deadline. The court emphasized that these deadlines are strictly enforced and relaxed only in rare circumstances.
The homeowners’ claim that they never received the postcard raised a separate question about proof. A properly addressed notice, with the correct postage and return address, is presumed received when properly mailed. That presumption is a starting assumption that can be overcome with evidence of nonreceipt.
Here, the court found sufficient proof that the notice was properly mailed. The Township supplied evidence of its mailing procedures and the January 20 mailing, along with a copy of the homeowners’ notice. The card carried first-class postage and the proper addressee and return address. The court also found that the assessor could rely on the property address in his records.
The evidence of an address change fell short. Emamian acknowledged that she had not completed the Township’s required change-of-address application. She could not identify the employee she said she spoke with in the assessor’s office. The assessor disputed her account, and Township records showed no address change. The court found his testimony more credible.
The homeowners also offered copies of two envelopes mailed to their other address. Those envelopes came from the tax collector’s office, and the homeowners did not establish whether the contents concerned the Great Hills Road property, their other property, or the 2026 assessment. They therefore did not establish that the assessor had been notified of the address change for the property under appeal.
The January email further weakened the homeowners’ position. They knew the amount of the 2026 assessment before the postcards were mailed and had asked about an appeal deadline. Emamian explained that they had been trying to resolve the dispute with the Township, but the court found no adequate explanation for waiting beyond the April 1 filing deadline.
The court concluded that the homeowners had not presented sufficient evidence to overcome the presumption of receipt. It dismissed the 2026 complaint with prejudice as untimely, ending that challenge without deciding whether the $1,950,000 assessment was correct.
What Property Owners Can Learn and Do
The practical lessons are straightforward:
- Confirm your mailing address directly with the assessor’s office. Follow the municipality’s address-change procedure and keep written confirmation, especially during a temporary move or renovation.
- Follow up promptly if an expected assessment notice does not arrive. Do not assume the appeal deadline will wait until you receive the postcard.
- Protect each tax year’s filing deadline. An existing appeal involving an earlier year does not automatically cover the next assessment.
- Keep track of the deadline while discussing a possible resolution. In this case, those discussions did not excuse the late filing.
