AG exempt?

If land was AG exempt a couple years ago, how hard is it to get it back?

can be difficult.
varies from county to county.
In Edwards County. (if they go by the letter of the law)
you would have to run cattle (or approved livestock) on the place for 5 of the most recent 7 years.
on top of that you have to have 400 acres + that you are running cattle on (so you can join adjacent ranches for the livestock)
after that you can then go apply for the Wildlife Management Exemption (with Wildlife Exemption you can have smaller acreage)

Depends on the county. How was the property exempt? Did the previous owner have livestock,bee hives or did he lease the pasture to someone for grazing? Going to depend on the a few things.

It will take 5 yrs of current ag use to get it back. If the acreage is small and been taxed for recreational use it might be difficult depending on the county and their regs.

I had my father go up to Edwards County to drop off ourAnnual Wildlife Report.
While he was waiting in line a couple came in and had not filed an annual report since something like 2009.
they claimed they didn't know you had to file every year.

I would imagine that is going to be an expensive mistake.
I doubt the County would let them go back and file multiple past annual reports to get caught back up.

It's small, 15 acres...and hasn't been exempt for 4 years. I will ask the realtor what it was exempt for before. I am guess wildlife management though as it has a creek running through, a small pond and has only ever been used for hunting.

How it was currently taxed the past year or two will be the way it will be taxed for this year. Ag exempt 4 yrs ago will not help you today. The new owner will need 5 continuous yrs of ag income to show before they will consider giving you ag taxes after those 5 yrs. If the taxes were switched to wildlife 4 yrs ago then they may roll over to you and continue(it does not automatically transfer), if the taxes were paid for recreational value you will probably be SOL.

If you are working it and turning revenue... positive or negative doesn't matter either way that's fine but you ARE WORKING IT.
If you are just trying to get outes of paying your share of tax because you can buy preperty and scam someone you are a POS.

Why be a DB? this guy asks a question about getting ag exemption and you go calling him a POS? For what?

I suppose you don't claim your mortgage or any other tax exemption since that would be a POS thing to do...

I don't understand why you put that comment in there. Leave it at the first sentence (factual) and leave the second one (opinion) out

Man where is a moderator when you need one! The original poster purchased this through a veteran program. As far as I'm concerned he's paid his fair share. Talk about open mouth insert foot!

My place is AG exempt for cattle. I personally think that if a landowner actively traps hogs year round then they should get some kind of tax break. It's really frustrating to see the damage they can do. JMO

I put my foot in my mouth?
Agriculture exempt is for people that use their property for AGRICULTURE PRODUCTION.
This has absolutely nothing to do with him being a veteran.

Then I don't qualify, the realtor that showed us the property told me it used to be AG exempt and that it maybe could be again. I know nothing about it so I asked the question.

So Im a DB for saying he needs to pay taxes on his property that he isnt producing agriculture on?
OK...... wanna rethink that????

I'm not trying to get over on anyone or get out of paying taxes and I am not trying to use my veteran status for gain. It's my job just like your job is your job

It ain't over until the fat lady sings, here is some reading first of all.
http://comptroller.texas.gov/taxinfo/taxpubs/tx94_101.pdf

I'm not trying to bust your chops but dont expect to skirt from the taxes...
For us that have to work to keep our exemption it is a kick in our teeth that someone decides to just pay for land and not pay taxes... or even for their truck liscence plates.... or for trailer liscence plates....

I was actually thinking if I was able to get anything it would be wildlife management. I knew I couldn't get straight AG since I am not producing anything. I thought they both are under the same thing though so that's why I said AG.

I'm not trying to skirt anything. I will pay my $35 a month for taxes. It was just a question I knew nothing about and thought my fellow THFfers could help me out with

Dip-itty doo---- according to you he paid his dues as a Veteran...... so that made him legible to not pay his taxes.
get it right or shutup

I apologize if I was rude to you.
As someone that pays taxes on alot of things just because it was exempt beforehand is not necessarily gonna make it exempt for you. Check with your accountant and if you do not have one the tax assessor in your county can point you in the right direction.

No I said it was fine what you said in the first sentence, the second sentence was uncalled for. That's exactly what I said, no parsing it around since I wrote it out for you in my post....

Wanna re-read that??

No offense dude, but you have assumed something from the beginning of this thread and been rude all through it, just look at your posts and the tone of the language.
I applaud your apology to the OP, takes some manhood to apologize for jumping him when all he asked was a simple question. The one thing I hate about the Internet is it gives people the inability to know or see the people they are talking to, and assumptions or intentions are made that weren't ever there.

Edit: btw, we all pay taxes, some of us more than others, and all the smart ones will take every legal chance we can to reduce our payment to Uncle Sam...all legal methods being the key point there. I agree that people that do this illegally are POS

Every county is different. There can be many avenues which is why it's called Ag/timber. Could be fruit trees, pecans, hay, cows, horses (breeding), etc......I have a buddy running cows on his, needs 4 more years to gain exemption. I'm exempt with horse breeding but could use the pecans or hay if I needed it. Then again I could just give it all back and pay a pile of money in taxes......you can also go from Ag exempt to wildlife but from what I understand you can't go the other way. I would be fearful of them removing wildlife exemptions at some point but that's just me, don't know if they ever would.

My understanding of the ag/wildlife is the ag needs to be in place for several year before you can even get the wildlife, but it is still under the ag exemption on the Texas website, so that's where confusion could lie too. Each county is different as per what qualifies for ag exemption.

I specifically didn't buy some properties because they weren't ag exempt, there was no sense paying thousands of dollars more a year for the same size property.

One of the things I specifically ask about when inquiring about land is the ag exempt. If not, I move on.

I reread it and I was called a DB for speaking my mind on if he was trying to skirt the taxes.

Thanks everyone....like I said it isn't a big worry and with getting the land in March I will have plenty of other priorities, was just wondering.

I could see this being an issue with large parcels, my taxes aren't that much on just 15 acres

The word is eligible. I was trying to give you some background on the OP so you'd take a more helpful stance instead if acting like a complete rear end towards the OP. Take some deep breaths. Go outside and punch a couple hogs and clear your head.

It's a big deal up here. At $6000 per acre your 15 would be an extra $90k in taxable value and my 30 would be $180k in additional taxable value and going up every year. With current land sales, smaller places, going for $10-$15k per acre then the appraisals get thrown way off and in theory mine could be $300k in taxable value over current.

add on the fact that appraisal districts sometimes just throw values out there and it's incumbent on you to disprove them. I do forsee them checking on properties so as not to lose taxes, no longer good enough here just to throw a longhorn out there and call it good. When we put 3 other acres in ag she just looked at google earth and clicked a few buttons and bam, house and 2 acres not ag versus house and 5 acres. It was obvious to here where our fence line was and agreed house and 5 was incorrect.

Let me ask this, I am actually buying two separate parcels of land. One that is 14 acres and because that was partially landlocked I am buying an acre and half that is right on the road and will give me an easier path of access. When I eventually build a house I am going to keep it on the acre and half. Would it be smarter to keep these as two separate tracts or combine them into one, or does it even matter?

everything matters.....can never hurt to combine them for tax purposes, my buddy did same thing. Bought house on 10 acres, not ag exempt as you have to have 11 acres in grayson county since they take out 1 acre for the house. He bought 3 adjoining acres with barn which gives him 13 total. Now running cows and in 4 more years he will be ag exempt on 12 acres then taxed on the 1 acre and house. Every county is different so research yours. Also, once ag exempt and using schedule F improvements, pond, barns etc.....benefit you on federal taxes. Don't have to be ag exempt to begin schedule F if you are actually farming/ranching towards your ag exempt.

I think it mostly depends on the County. I have a Wildlife exemption on my place in Montague County. But I went from AG to wildlife when I sold the cows. I'm not sure about what it takes to just file for the Wildlife exemption. I have to submit a plan every couple of years and show how it is working for me. A little history: The Wildlife Exemption was started due to Ranchers getting old or dying off and the heirs having to sell due to not being able to or having no interest in Cattle. These were generally large, old time, ranches that families had ranched for many years.

There are, as I recall, 7 categories that I can do and I have to pick at least 4. Those categories include things like food plots, protein, supplemental water, killing non native animals(hogs), control predators(coyotes), brush piles for small game, bird houses, etc. I do about 6 of the 7 anyway. I believe in over kill on this stuff. I'm supposed to be doing deer census from cameras and tracks. Last year I was sent a document to ask how it was working out for me and how I justify keeping the exemption. I said that I wasn't sure how well it was working on deer because we had a heavy acorn drop and the deer avoided the feeder game cams. I also said that I can't tell one deer track from another so have no idea how well it is working but actual deer sightings including cams indicate that the plan is paying off and the protein is pulling nocturnal deer from neighboring ranchers that I never personally see. I included prints of photographs and game cams. I sent 30 or so deer pictures at the protein feeders. I also send pics of hogs and varmints killed. I get VERY serious about keeping up with this and responding. No tax exemption could be brutally expensive.

Neither the State nor the County Tax Assessors really like the idea of not getting more tax money. If you guys already have an exemption, pay attention. I know of a couple of landowners who lost it from not taking it serious and didn't respond. Their places are taxed almost like luxury holdings.

jsplinter, every county is different, but if it was AG exempt 2years ago , and you get it back under a qualifying use when you buy it, it should re-qualify under the 5 of the last 7 rule.m
Make sure when you buy it to get something in writing from previous tenants that will serve to document those 5 years it was under qualifying use.

really gotta talk to tax appraisal people @ your county to get exact specifics.
If you meet & follow the requirements of the law (for exemption), your reasons WHY is nobody's business.

YOU are the pos

We will go ask the county, half is in Coryell and half in lampasas so we will talk with both

Somebody needs a Snickers.

My opinion and that is what it is, "my opinion," I would not look at any property that was not CURRENTLY Ag or Wildlife exempt and ever expect for it to become so. Look somewhere else. There is a piece of land out there that is just as good as what the realtor is showing you that is Ag exempt already.

You will find that most counties will put up a fight on a small tract seeking an AG exemption. My property was split like yours with half in one and half in the other. I had to argue with both as they didn't consider it large enough even though the tracts were contiguous. Most taxing entities are hurting for cash and the central appraisal districts are holding on to whatever they can to keep the tax base up. Good luck, hopefully you'll get a cooperative appraiser in each office. One more thing, you'll need to file two forms, one for each county and remember they will net out one acre if you have a house.

X2

I was thinking the same thing