The Board of Assessment Appeals voted on Tuesday, April 19 to deny tax exemption to Confucian Study Association for its property on Westside Road, a 48-acre compound with more than a dozen buildings that until recently belonged to The Mission of Tao-Confucianism and before that to the Hutterian Brethren.

“We felt that we needed more clarification about Confucian Study Association’s status as a nonprofit religious organization,” said Matt Riiska, chairman of the Board of Assessment Appeals, “and that clarification would take the form of a 501(c)(3).” The 501(c)(3) designation is granted to religious, charitable and educational organizations that meet the IRS’s standard for tax-exempt nonprofits.

Confucian Study Association was formed in January of this year as a nonstock corporation in Connecticut. The sale of the former Mission of Tao property was recorded on March 3.

Assessor Michele Sloane refused a request from the association’s lawyer, Dolores Schiesel, for exemption from town taxes on the newly transferred compound.

By state statute, the assessor is allowed to request that a religious organization produce its 501(c)(3) certification from the IRS. The Confucian Study Association, which applied for federal tax exemption on April 1, has not yet received it.

Schiesel appealed the ruling to the Board of Assessment Appeals on behalf of the Confucian Study Association. The appeal was denied, and the loss of tax exemption upheld.

The property has been assessed at $6,413,800. That amount will be pro-rated this year to $3,713,591, to reflect the period from March 3, when the title was transferred, until the end of the tax cycle on September 30, 2016.