[Adopted 8-23-2021 by Ord. No. 21-24]
It is the purpose of this article to implement the municipal
taxation provisions found at Section 40 of the New Jersey Cannabis
Regulatory, Enforcement Assistance, and Marketplace Modernization
Act ("The Act").[1]
[1]
Editor's Note: See N.J.S.A. 24:6I-31 et seq.
There is hereby imposed a transfer tax of 2% on receipts from
the sale of cannabis by a cannabis cultivator to another cannabis
cultivator; receipts from the sale of cannabis items from one cannabis
manufacturer to another cannabis establishment; and receipts from
the retail sales of cannabis items by a cannabis retailer to retail
consumers who are 21 years of age or older; and a tax of 1% of the
receipts from each sale by a cannabis wholesaler. Such tax shall be
collected or paid, and remitted to the municipality by the cannabis
establishment from the cannabis establishment purchasing or receiving
the cannabis or cannabis item, or from the consumer at the point of
sale, on behalf of the municipality by the cannabis retailer selling
the cannabis item to that consumer. The transfer tax shall be stated,
charged, and shown separately on any sales slip, invoice, receipt,
or other statement or memorandum of the price paid or payable, or
equivalent value of the transfer, for the cannabis or cannabis item.
No cannabis establishment required to collect a transfer tax imposed
hereunder shall advertise or hold out to any person or to the public
in general, in any manner, directly or indirectly, that the transfer
tax or user tax will not be separately charged and stated to another
cannabis establishment or the consumer, or that the transfer tax will
be refunded to the cannabis establishment or the consumer.
[Added 11-28-2022 by Ord. No. 22-23]
Fifty percent (50%) of all cannabis transfer tax funds imposed in § 509-11 and received by the Township shall be dedicated in a separate account to be used for roadway repair and maintenance costs in the Township.
Every cannabis establishment required to collect a transfer
tax imposed pursuant to this article shall be personally liable for
the transfer tax or user tax imposed, collected, or required to be
collected under this article. Any cannabis establishment shall have
the same right with respect to collecting the transfer tax from another
cannabis establishment or the consumer as if the transfer tax was
a part of the sale and payable at the same time, or with respect to
nonpayment of the transfer tax or user tax by the cannabis establishment
or consumer, as if the transfer tax was a part of the purchase price
of the cannabis or cannabis item, or equivalent value of the transfer
of the cannabis or cannabis item, and payable at the same time; provided,
however, that the chief fiscal officer of the municipality shall be
joined as a party in any action or proceeding brought to collect the
transfer tax or user tax.
All revenues collected from a transfer tax imposed pursuant
to this article shall be remitted to the Chief Financial Officer in
the manner prescribed herein. The Chief Financial Officer shall collect
and administer any transfer tax imposed by this article. The municipality
may enforce the payment of delinquent taxes or transfer fees imposed
pursuant to this article in the same manner as provided for municipal
real property taxes. In the event that the transfer tax imposed pursuant
to this article is not paid as and when due by a cannabis establishment,
the unpaid balance, and any interest accruing thereon, shall be a
lien on the parcel of real property comprising the cannabis establishment's
premises in the same manner as all other unpaid municipal taxes, fees,
or other charges. The lien shall be superior and paramount to the
interest in the parcel of any owner, lessee, tenant, mortgagee, or
other person, except the lien of municipal taxes, and shall be on
a parity with and deemed equal to the municipal lien on the parcel
for unpaid property taxes due and owing in the same year. The municipality
shall file in the office of its Tax Collector a statement showing
the amount and due date of the unpaid balance and identifying the
lot and block number of the parcel of real property that comprises
the delinquent cannabis establishment's premises. The lien shall be
enforced as a municipal lien in the same manner as all other municipal
liens are enforced.
The Chief Financial Officer is charged with the administration
and enforcement of the provisions of this article and is empowered
to prescribe, adopt, promulgate and enforce rules and regulations
relating to any matter pertaining to the administration and enforcement
of this article, including provisions for the reexamination and corrections
of declarations and returns, and of payments alleged or found to be
incorrect, or as to which an overpayment is claimed or found to have
occurred, and to prescribe forms necessary for the administration
of this article. Should a cannabis establishment fail or refuse to
provide adequate information to the Chief Financial Officer to determine
the amount of tax due, the Chief Financial Officer may use information
provided to the Chief Financial Officer from other sources (i.e.,
the Commission or Department of Treasury) to determine the amount
of tax liability.
A.
It shall be the duty of the Chief Financial Officer to collect and
receive the taxes, fines, and penalties imposed by this article. It
shall also be the duty of the Chief Financial Officer to keep a record
showing the date of such receipt. The Chief Financial Officer is authorized
to enter into agreements with the State of New Jersey to obtain information
to facilitate administration of the tax.
B.
The Chief Financial Officer is hereby authorized to examine the books,
papers and records of any taxpayer to verify the accuracy of any declaration
or return, or if no declaration or return was filed, to ascertain
the tax due. Every taxpayer is hereby directed and required to give
to the Chief Financial Officer, or to any agent designated by him/her,
the means, facilities and opportunity for such examinations and investigations,
as are hereby authorized.
Taxpayers liable for the transfer tax are required to keep such
records as will enable the filing of true and accurate returns or
the tax, and such records shall be preserved for a period of not less
than three years from the filing date or due date, whichever is later,
in order to enable the Chief Financial Officer or any agent designated
by him or her to verify the correctness of the declarations or returns
filed. If records are not available in the municipality to support
the returns that were filed or which should have been filed, the taxpayer
will be required to make them available to the Chief Financial Officer
either by producing them at a location in the municipality or by paying
for the expenses incurred by the Chief Financial Officer or his agent
in traveling to the place where the records are regularly kept.
All cannabis establishments operating in the municipality are
required to file a transfer tax return with the Chief Financial Officer
to report their sales during each calendar quarter and the amount
of tax in accordance with the provisions of this article. Returns
shall be filed and payments of tax imposed for the preceding calendar
quarter shall be made on or before the last day of April, July, October,
and January, respectively. A taxpayer who has overpaid the transfer
tax, or who believes it is not liable for the tax, may file a written
request on an amended tax return with the Chief Financial Officer
for a refund or a credit of the tax. For amounts paid as a result
of a notice asserting or informing a taxpayer of an underpayment,
a written request for a refund shall be filed with the Chief Financial
Officer within two years of the date of the payment.
The returns filed by taxpayers, and the records and files of
the Chief Financial Officer respecting the administration of the transfer
tax, shall be considered confidential and privileged and neither the
municipality nor any employee or agent engaged in the administration
thereof or charged with the custody of any such records or files,
nor any former officer or employee, nor any person who may have secured
information therefrom, shall divulge, disclose, use for their own
personal advantage, or examine for any reason other than a reason
necessitated by the performance of official duties any information
obtained from the said records or files or from any examination or
inspection of the premises or property of any person. Neither the
Chief Financial Officer nor any employee engaged in such administration
or charged with the custody of any such records or files shall be
required to produce any of them for the inspection of any person or
for use in any action or proceeding except when the records or files
or the facts shown thereby are directly involved in an action or proceeding
under the provisions of the State Uniform Tax Procedure Law or of
the tax law affected, or where the determination of the action or
proceeding will affect the validity or amount of the claim of the
municipality under the tax provisions of this article.
A.
The Chief Financial Officer may initiate an audit by means of an
audit notice. If, as a result of an examination conducted by the Chief
Financial Officer, a return has not been filed by a taxpayer or a
return is found to be incorrect and transfer taxes are owed, the Chief
Financial Officer is authorized to assess and collect any tax due.
If no return has been filed and tax is found to be due, the tax actually
due may be assessed and collected with or without the formality of
obtaining a return from the taxpayer. Deficiency assessments (i.e.,
where a taxpayer has filed a return but is found to owe additional
tax) shall include taxes for up to three years to the date when the
deficiency is assessed. Where no return was filed, there shall be
no limit to the period of assessment.
B.
Upon proposing an assessment, the Chief Financial Officer shall send
the taxpayer an interim notice by certified mail, return receipt requested,
which advises the taxpayer of additional taxes that are due. Should
the taxpayer wish to dispute the assessment administratively by requesting
a hearing with the Chief Financial Officer, it must do so within 30
days of the date of such interim notice. If, after the Chief Financial
Officer sends an interim notice, a taxpayer fails to timely request
a hearing with the Chief Financial Officer or requests a hearing and,
after conducting a hearing, the Chief Financial Officer determines
that the taxes are due, the Chief Financial Officer shall send the
taxpayer by certified mail, return receipt requested, a final notice.
The following periods of limitations shall apply to suits for
collection of taxes: When a return has been filed but no tax paid,
any suit brought to recover the tax due and unpaid shall be filed
within two years after the return was due or filed, whichever is later.
Where no return was filed or a fraudulent return was filed, there
shall be no limits to file suit for the collection of taxes. Where,
before the expiration of the time prescribed in this article for the
filing a lawsuit against the taxpayer, both the Chief Financial Officer
and the taxpayer have consented, in writing, to its extension after
such time, the suit may be filed at any time prior to the expiration
of the period agreed upon. The period so agreed upon may be extended
by subsequent agreements in writing made before the expiration of
the period previously agreed upon.
Any person who receives an interim notice from the Chief Financial
Officer may, within 30 days after the date of an interim notice, request
a hearing with the Chief Financial Officer. Any person who fails to
request a Chief Financial Officer's hearing in a timely manner waives
the right to administratively contest any element of the assessment.
The Chief Financial Officer shall accept payments of disputed tax
amounts under protest pending appeals; however, any request for refund
of such monies must be filed in accordance with this article.
Any aggrieved taxpayer may, within 90 days after the mailing
of any final notice regarding a decision, order, finding, assessment,
or action hereunder, or publication of any rule, regulation or policy
of the Chief Financial Officer, appeal to the Tax Court pursuant to
the jurisdiction granted by N.J.S.A. 2B:13-2a(3) to review actions
or regulations of municipal officials by filing a complaint in accordance
with the New Jersey Court Rule 8:3-1. The appeal provided by this
article shall be the exclusive remedy available to any taxpayer for
review of a final decision of the Chief Financial Officer in respect
to a determination of liability for the tax imposed by this article.
