Agricultural exemption

[Mission408]

Taxes keep going up so considering ag exempt. Heres my situation:

-Lived in home sence 2016
-Was bank owned and dont know if previous owner was exempt.
-I have had no livestock to date
-10 acres
-Johnson county
-Taxes are 5000 yr.
-Will go up 10% per yr to around 7500 (for now)
- Either 2 cows or 5 goats.
What I cannot get an answer from even the tax office on(went there today) is my approximate tax break. Very frustrating that i cant even get a close guess. They act like i am trying to have them predict the next superbowl winner or something. What can I expext to pay in taxes ? Trying to weigh the options as i would have to commit 5 years to see a break.

[texasair]

They will value your land for AG based on the productivity value.
For many counties livestock valuation is around $150 per acre
For bees it is around $1500 per acre
Apply your county and school district tax rate to that value to get your estimated tax liability for the year. Most counties the tax rate is under 2%
The acre around your house will not qualify and will be taxed at full valuation.

[Mission408]

So deduct 150 per acre. 9 acres x 150 =1350. Taxes would go down by 1350?

[scott123456789]

Can any of your neighbors attest to how the property was used prior to you owning it? While the property we were on was not exempt, we were able to get signed statements from neighbors that assisted with the 5 of 7 rule saving us a good bit.

As mentioned above, because you can’t exempt your home and one acre, the savings isn’t as extreme unless you are in an area with an extremely high per acre property.

Would guess on the tax books your land is priced somewhere in the $10k per acre range. If used for cattle it would drop to the $150 per acre.

[BTLowry]

First thing you need to do is find out what the min acreage for ag is in YOUR county

If it is 10ac and you own a house on 10 ac then you deduct 1ac the house is on and the remaining 9ac is now not eligible for ag (you cannot put the ac your house is on in ag, at least not in my county)

If you have enough acerage to move forward then you need to show ag use for 5 out of the last 7 years (at least in my county). This can be based on what the land was previously used for but in most cases it involves you using the land for ag use (raising cows for example) for 5yrs, keeping records and submitting to CAD for approval

Your math is no where near right.

You pay taxes on the value of the land. Lets use 2% as the tax rate and land in your area has an average market value of $10k/ac, you own 10ac so property is valued at $100k * .02 would make your taxes $2k
Now you get ag valuation and your taxing entity vales ag land at $150/ac * 10ac = $1500 taxable value * .02 now makes your taxes $30

It is not that simple but my example gives you a better idea of what you are looking at


The local CAD misfiled some of my paperwork one year and revoked my ag valuation. My taxes tripled for the total (land and house) that year. I was able to get it straightened out and back to what it should be luckily

My best advise is to go in person to your CAD, find out who is over the ag/timber/wildlife and sit down and ask lots of questions. My contacts (they have changed over several years) have always been very helpful and willing to offer advise

[Atfulldraw]

varies by county.....we have all but a half acre exempted on our place....

[Low Fence]

Can’t do homestead?

[Etxbuckman]

Can’t do homestead?

Thats what I was wondering.

[PYBUCK]

Your taxes won't go down very much on only 10 acres. Your house is probably the main tax value ov your land. I would bet your taxes may go down by only1500 or so. Still be 3500

[PYBUCK]

If you can't show ag use history you will have to buy some cows and keep them on there for 5 years before you will qualify for ag ex.

[toomuchsun]

First be sure 10 acres minus what they choose to deduct for any human use areas (that varies too. Typical an acre unless you spread out human items (barns are usually not counted if uused for Ag) is enough to even apply. Wildlife vs Ag as options may also vary in requirements.

[RMW]

On 10 acres I wouldn’t do it, you’ll end up spending more than what you’ll save in my opinion.

[Mission408]

Thank you guys. The min acres in our county is 5 acres so im good there. The tax office valued my land at 25,000 acre! Cant protest untill april 15th - may 15th when the appraiser is in the tax office. I did homstead my land. From what the tax office told me that does not reduce your taxes, only limits increases to 10% per year untill market value is reached.

[brokeno]

You can survey your house fence and if it is less than the standard one acre they tax for your house you can also get the acerage around your house reduced. Defending what type of fencing you have can determine what livestock you can run. Be nice to throw a few sheep out there and your good. Some people rent it to city slickers that think they want a horse or some 4 h kid that needs a place to raise their animal but then you have to worry about liability. You definitely need to turn this acreage into ag exempt.