One of the important items that come out of the County Assessors Office is the Agriculture Tax Deferral.  Agricultural appraisal lowers the taxable value of land.  The land must have been devoted to agricultural and/or timber production for at least five of the last seven years.  Land within the city limits, however, must have been devoted to such use continuously for the preceding five years, unless the land did not receive substantially equal city services as other properties in the city. 

Each appraiser makes a ruling on each piece of land as to whether it meets the definitions so it can have an agricultural exemption.  It is important that you visit with the appraiser in each county as each county can have separate criteria for determining exemption.

If your land has qualified for agricultural appraisal and you change its use to a non-agricultural purpose, you will owe a “rollback” tax for each of the previous five years in which your land received the lower appraisal.  Contact your county appraisal office for more information.