The Taylor Home is a recognized New Hampshire charity that operates several different elderly housing communities in several different municipalities. It operates as a single corporation, and does not separate revenues or costs of one facility from the other facilities. The town of Wolfeboro refused to grant a charitable exemption for a complex in its town, and the charity appealed to the Board of Tax and Land Appeals (BTLA). The BTLA noted that other operations of the Taylor Home had been challenged in other communities, but that the New Hampshire Supreme Court had previously held the entity to be a charity entitled to a property tax exemption in those locations. The board then found that the operations in Wolfeboro were an “integral and inseparable component” of the overall operations of the charity, and thus granted the charitable exemption.
The town appealed, and the Supreme Court reversed, finding that the legal test to be applied to each of the assets of a charity for which an exemption is claimed is whether the assets are reasonably necessary for the charity to accomplish its charitable purpose. “Each property owned by an organization must be examined according to its particular use…”. In this case, the Court found that the operation of the property in Wolfeboro was indistinguishable from an ordinary rental operation, and that neither charitable services, nor charitable financial grants were provided to the residents of the housing. The town's denial of a charitable exemption was upheld.
Municipal officials should carefully review each property owned by a charitable organization, and not grant an exemption based merely upon the charitable nature of the owner. Unless the property in question is actually operated in furtherance of a charitable purpose, it is not entitled to an exemption.