International Schools Services, Inc. v. West Windsor Township

21 N.J. Tax 553
CourtNew Jersey Tax Court
DecidedNovember 19, 2004
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 21 N.J. Tax 553 (International Schools Services, Inc. v. West Windsor Township) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New Jersey Tax Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
International Schools Services, Inc. v. West Windsor Township, 21 N.J. Tax 553 (N.J. Super. Ct. 2004).

Opinion

MENYUK, J.T.C.

Plaintiff International Schools Services, Inc. (“ISS”) filed direct appeals with this court contesting an omitted assessment- for tax year 2002 and an added assessment for tax year 2003 on four office condominium units located at 15 Roszel Road in the defendant municipality of West Windsor Township. The issue on these cross-motions for summary judgment is whether the subject property is entitled to exemption from local property taxation as property actually used in the work of an association or corporation organized exclusively for the moral and mental improvement of men, women, and children.

ISS contends that it meets all the requirements for exemption set forth in N.J.S.A. 54:4-3.6. Defendant responds that, notwithstanding the original educational purposes for which ISS was organized, it is now a diversified entity providing services through affiliated for-profit entities that are not educational in nature and cross-moves for an order of summary judgment declaring that the [555]*555subject property is not exempt. For the following reasons, I conclude that ISS is not organized exclusively for the moral and mental improvement of men, women, and children and that the subject property is not exempt from taxation.

I.

FACTUAL BACKGROUND

The subject property is identified on the Tax Map of West Windsor as Block 9, Lots 63.11, 63.13, 63.14 and 63.15. Plaintiff acquired the property in 1989. It had been listed as tax exempt from 1990 until October 2003, when the contested assessments were made pursuant to N.J.S.A. 54:4-63.26 to -63.29 (containing procedure for assessing property which ceases to be exempt). Those assessments were for the full twelve months of both 2002 and 2003 and were the same for both tax years. The assessments are as follows:

Lot 63.11 Lot 63.13 Lot 63.14 Lot 63.15
Land $ 585,900 $241,500 $168,200 $525,100
Improvements $1,171,700 $517,400 $360,500 $401,300
Total $1,757,600 $758,900 $ 528,700 $926,400

A portion of the subject property is leased to other entities, some of which are for-profit companies and others of which may be nonprofit entities. It appears that ISS and the defendant municipality have, over the years, agreed upon the portion of the property that is subject to local property taxation on account of these tenants and ISS has paid property tax on the space it rents to proprietary corporations. According to the defendant, the taxes paid by ISS represent 4553 square feet of the subject’s 48,000 square feet. Daniel Scinto, ISS executive vice president for administration and finance, certified that, during 2002 and 2003 respectively, those taxes amounted to $20,089.08 and $20,850.03. According to the financial statements of ISS for the years ending June 30, 1998 through June 30, 2003, ISS received rental income in each of those years ranging from $125,870 in 1998 to $226,457 in 1999.

[556]*556ISS was founded in 1955 and is a private, non-profit corporation organized under the laws of the District of Columbia. At all relevant times, it has been qualified as tax exempt under I.R.C. § 501(c)(3). The ISS certificate of incorporation states, in relevant part, that:

The purpose or purposes which the Corporation will hereafter pursue are: (1) to aid, promote and encourage, by all appropriate means including gifts of money or other property, or by other means, schools, facilities, and other organizations that are exclusively educational in character, (2) to foster the provision of education by the payment of salaries, fellowships and grants to teachers and instructors, and (3) to devote all or a part of the income and any or all of the principal of any property, real or personal, to the furtherance and support of projects and institutions that are exclusively educational; provided, however, that no part of the net earnings of such schools, facilities, projects, institutions and other organizations inures to the benefit of any private shareholder or individual____

According to the certification of Dr. John M. Nicklas, president of ISS, the plaintiff was founded in response to the rapid post-World War II growth of schools located abroad that enrolled American children. The goal of ISS was to remedy the shortcomings of such schools and to enhance the quality of the education provided to American students. In general, the educational institutions ISS intended to assist included independent schools and schools that had been associated with American companies that no longer wished to be in the business of establishing and running schools. The latter educate dependents of corporate employees assigned overseas.

During the time period in issue, ISS had several corporate clients for which it provided school management and educational consulting services, centered on the needs of dependents of corporate employees posted abroad. In his deposition testimony, Dr. Nicklas estimated that of the 250 to 300 clients with which ISS has contracts, ten to fifteen are corporate clients. ISS currently receives forty to forty-five percent of its gross income from its corporate clients. Past and/or present corporate clients include Unocal, BP-Amoco, Arco, Lockheed Martin, and Union Carbide. ISS also assists in the corporate relocation of employees overseas by publishing for sale an overseas school directory, which provides information for human resource managers regarding schools in other countries.

[557]*557According to Dr. Nicklas, most of the overseas schools that serve Americans and are clients of ISS are nonprofit, nondenominational, and independent. These schools incorporate American educational programs, but are generally open to nationals of other countries and the teaching staffs are multinational. The content of the curriculum is usually American, but can vary depending on the proportion of students from the host country. At present, only fifty percent of the students at schools serviced by ISS pursuant to contracts with corporate clients are United States citizens. Approximately twenty-five percent of the students at schools not affiliated with corporate clients are United States citizens.

With respect to the activities it performs for overseas schools, ISS compares itself as the functional equivalent of a local school board. Among the services ISS provides are the establishment and operation of overseas schools, evaluation of the educational programs of such schools, recruitment and evaluation of staff, negotiation of faculty and administrative salaries, negotiation of school budgets, establishment of procedures and curricula, and assistance in the accreditation process. It also provides guidance to heads of schools in connection with programs, parent relations, and school policies. According to its federal Form 990 filed for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2001 and ending June 30, 2002, ISS served approximately 2,008 students in this capacity.

A. Schools Management

ISS sets its fees for operating schools in accordance with what Dr. Nicklas described as a matrix that includes factors such as the number of children to be enrolled and geographic location (which includes elements of hardship and political danger). The same matrix applies to independent schools and schools with corporate sponsorship.

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Related

International Schools Services, Inc. v. West Windsor Township
21 A.3d 1166 (Supreme Court of New Jersey, 2011)
International Schools Services, Inc. v. West Windsor Township
991 A.2d 848 (New Jersey Superior Court App Division, 2010)
Int'l. Sch. Serv. v. W. Windsor Tp.
991 A.2d 848 (New Jersey Superior Court App Division, 2010)
International Schools Services Inc. v. West Windsor Township
24 N.J. Tax 453 (New Jersey Tax Court, 2009)
Presbyterian Home at Pennington, Inc. v. Pennington Borough
23 N.J. Tax 473 (New Jersey Tax Court, 2007)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
21 N.J. Tax 553, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/international-schools-services-inc-v-west-windsor-township-njtaxct-2004.