Georgia

Property Classification:(Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. 560-11-2-.20)

For purposes of classification Georgia statutes break down property into 12 classes:

Residential

Residential transitional

Agricultural

Preferential

Conservation use

Forest land conservation use

Brownfield property

Environmentally sensitive

Commercial

Historic

Industrial

Utility

Conservation use - Conservation use classification applies to all land and improvements primarily used in the good faith production of agricultural products or timber and receiving current use assessment under O.C.G.A. § 48-5-7.4 (Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. 560-11-6). Effective May 14, 2002, and applicable to all tax years beginning after 2001, the use of conservation use property for hunting purposes is a qualifying use of the property. Previously, only the lease of hunting rights was a qualified use.

Environmentally sensitive - This classification applies to all land certified as environmentally sensitive property by the Georgia Department of Natural Resources and receiving current use assessment under Sec. 48-5-7.4 (Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. 560-11-6).

Tangible real property that qualifies as "bona fide conservation use property" is assessed and taxed at 40% of its current use value. (O.C.G.A. § 48-5-7)

Agricultural preferential - This classification applies to land primarily used in the good faith production of agricultural products (including timber) and receiving 75% of fair market value assessment under O.C.G.A. § 48-5-7.1. Effective April 8, 1983 and applicable to all tax years beginning or after January 1, 1984.

Forest Land Conservation Use - This classification applies to land whose primary use is the good faith subsistence or commercial production of trees, timber, or other wood and wood fiber products from or on the land. Such primary use includes land conservation and ecological forest management in which commercial production of wood and wood fiber products may be undertaken primarily for conservation and restoration purposes rather than financial gain. Such property may, in addition, have one of the listed secondary users: (i) The promotion, preservation, or management of wildlife habitat; (ii) Carbon sequestration in accordance with the Georgia Carbon Sequestration Registry; (iii) Mitigation and conservation banking that results in restoration or conservation of wetlands and other natural resources; or (iv) The production and maintenance of ecosystem products and services, such as, but not limited to, clean air and water.

Basic Formula: Tax Liability = 40% of current use value x Local County Millage Rate (Conservation use; Environmental sensitive; Forest land protection act)

Tax Liability = 30% of current use value x Local County Millage Rate (Agricultural preferential)

Requirements for Conservation Use Assessment for Agricultural or Timber Land: (O.C.G.A. § 48-5-7.4).

1.Maximum of 2,000 acres: A single land owner may not have an interest in more than 2,000 acres of tangible real property that is placed in the conservation use assessment program.

2.Property Must Remain Devoted to Qualifying Use: The property must be devoted to farming or commercial production of agricultural products or timber throughout the life of the covenant (10 years). Up to 50% of the land may lie dormant, however, the unused portion may not be used for any other business use. If the use of the property is changed from agricultural to timber production or vice versa, the owner must notify the county board of tax assessors of the change.

3.Barns and Silos Also Qualify: The value of tangible property permanently affixed to the real property which is used in connection with the owner's production of agricultural products or timber for storage and processing would be included in the conservation use assessment. But the value of any residence located on the property would be excluded.

4.Owner Must Be Natural or Naturalized Citizens or Family Owned Farm Entity: Property must be owned by one or more natural or naturalized citizens, or by an entity comprised of one or more natural or naturalized citizens, or a bona fide nonprofit conservation organization designated under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, or a bona fide club organized for pleasure, recreation, and other nonprofitable purposes pursuant to Section 501(c)(7) of internal Revenue Code.

5.Eligible Uses of the Property: If qualified the property shall be used for, but not be limited to:

a) Raising, harvesting, or storing crops:

b) Feeding, breeding, or managing livestock or poultry;

c) Producing plants, trees, fowl, or animals;

d) Production of aquaculture, horticulture, floriculture;

e) Forestry, dairy, livestock, poultry, and apiarian products;

Or the primary purpose is land conservation and ecological forest management in which commercial production of wood and wood fiber products may be undertaken primarily for conservation and restoration purposes rather than financial gains.

Requirements for Conservation Use Assessment for Environmentally Sensitive Property: (O.C.G.A. § 48-5-7.4).

1.Maximum of 2,000 Acres: Not more than 2,000 acres of tangible real property that qualifies as environmentally sensitive property, excluding the value of improvements, of a single owner may receive conservation use assessment. The property must be certified as environmentally sensitive property by the Department of Natural resources and maintained in its natural condition.

2.Owner Must Be a Natural or Naturalized Citizens or a Family Farm Entity: Property must be owned by one or more natural or naturalized citizens, or by an entity comprised of one or more natural or naturalized citizens, or a bona fide nonprofit conservation organization designated under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, or a bona fide club organized for pleasure, recreation, and other nonprofitable purposes pursuant to Section 501(c)(7) of internal Revenue Code. In the case of constructed storm-water wetlands, any person may own such property.

3.Types of Environmentally Sensitive Property Eligible: Environmentally sensitive property, if qualified, may include:

a) crests, summits, and ridge tops;

b) wetland areas as determined by the United States Army Corps of Engineers in accordance with Section 404 of the federal Clean Water Act, as amended, or

c) wetlands that are shown as such on maps compiled by the Department of Natural Resources of the United States Fish and Wildlife Service;

d) significant ground-water recharge areas shown as such on maps or data compiled by the Department of Natural Resources;

e) undeveloped barrier islands or portions of undeveloped barrier islands as provided for in the federal Coastal Barrier Resources Act, as amended;

f) habitats certified by the Department of Natural Resources that contain endangered or threatened species as listed under the federal Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended; and

g) river corridors that are within the 100 year flood plain as shown on official maps prepared by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Additional Rules for Conservation Use Property:

When one-half or more of a single tract of real property is used for a qualifying purpose, the entire tract qualifies unless some type of non-agricultural business is being conducted on the portion not be used for the qualifying purpose. The unused portion of the property must be minimally managed so that it does not contribute significantly to erosion or other environmental or conservation problems. The lease of hunting rights is not considered another type of business.

Owners of a tract, lot, or parcel of land that totals less than ten acres will be required by the county tax assessor to submit additional relevant records to prove bona fide conservation use.

Property can not qualify as bona fide conservation use property if leased to a person or entity that would not be entitled to conservation use assessment.

Property can not be denied current use assessment for the reason that no soil map is available for the county in which the property is located. The owner making application will, however, be required to provide the county board of tax assessors with a certified soil survey unless another method is authorized in writing by the board.

Property can not qualify as bona fide conservation use property if it is subject to a restrictive covenant that would prohibit the property from being used for the following purposes:

a) Raising, harvesting, or storing crops:

b) Feeding, breeding, or managing livestock or poultry;

c) Producing plants, trees, fowl, or animals; or

d) Production of aquaculture, horticulture, floriculture, forestry, dairy, livestock, poultry, and apiarian products.

Once the property has qualified for conservation use assessment and is under a covenant, the owner may change the qualifying use of the property without penalty from one qualifying use to another qualifying use. The owner must give notice to the county board of tax assessors on or before the last day for the filing of a tax return. Changing from one qualifying use to another qualifying use will affect the limitations on valuation increases or decreases as described below.

The current use valuation of any conservation use property may not increase or decrease by more than 3 percent from one year to the next and 34.39% during the covenant period. If the owner changes the qualifying use of any portion of the land, or adds or removes any qualified improvements, then the tax will be recomputed as if the new use of the property or qualified improvements were in place from the first year the covenant was entered.

Requirements for Agricultural Preferential Property: (O.C.G.A. § 48-5-7.1).

1.Maximum of 2,000 acres: A single land owner may not have an interest in more than 2,000 acres of tangible real property that is placed in agricultural preferential program.

2.Property Must Remain Devoted to Qualifying Use: The property must be devoted to farming or commercial production of agricultural products (including horticultural, floricultural, forestry, dairy, livestock, poultry, and apiarian products and all other forms of farm products) throughout the life of the covenant (10 years).

3.Owner Must Be Natural or Naturalized Citizens or Family Owner Farm Entity: Property must be owned by one or more natural or naturalized citizens or by an entity comprised of one or more natural or naturalized citizens, and such entity derived 80 percent or more of its gross income for the year immediately preceding the year in which application for preferential assessment is made from bona fide agricultural pursuits carried out on tangible real property located in this state, which property is devoted to bona fide agricultural purposes.

Requirements for Forest Land Protection Act (FLPA) Property: (O.C.G.A. § 48-5-7.7).

1.Qualified FLPA Property: Forest land of at least 200 acres in aggregate which lies within one or more counties, provided that such forest land is in parcels of at least 100 acres within any given county. “Contiguous" means real property within a county that abuts, joins, or touches and has the same undivided common ownership. If an applicant's tract is divided by a county boundary, public roadway, public easement, public right of way, natural boundary, land lot line, or railroad track, then the applicant has, at the time of the initial application, a one-time election to declare the tract as contiguous irrespective of a county boundary, public roadway, public easement, public right of way, natural boundary, land lot line, or railroad

2.Property Must Remain Devoted to Qualifying Use: Such property has as its primary use the good faith subsistence or commercial production of trees, timber, or other wood and wood fiber products from or on the land. Such primary use includes land conservation and ecological forest management in which commercial production of wood and wood fiber products may be undertaken primarily for conservation and restoration purposes rather than financial gain. Such property may, in addition, have one or more of the following secondary uses:

(i) The promotion, preservation, or management of wildlife habitat;

(ii) Carbon sequestration in accordance with the Georgia Carbon Sequestration Registry;

(iii) Mitigation and conservation banking that results in restoration or conservation of wetlands and other natural resources; or

(iv) The production and maintenance of ecosystem products and services, such as, but not limited to, clean air and water.

3.Owner Must an individual or individuals or by any entity registered to do business in this state.

Valuation and Assessment:

Conservation use property (Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. 560-11-6.07)

Current Use Value Formula - The formula used to calculate Current Use Value of Conservation Use Properties is weighted as follows:

Sixty-five percent (65%) is attributable to the capitalization of net income from the property.

For timber land, the income valuation increment of the conservation use valuation is based on the five-year weighted average of per-acre net income from hardwood and softwood harvested in Georgia.

Thirty-five percent (35%) is attributable to values produced by a market study consisting of sales data from arms-length bona fide sales of comparable real property with and for the same existing use.

Annually the Commissioner produces tables and standards of value for "current use valuation" of properties whose qualifying use is as bona fide conservation use properties. These tables serve as the basis upon which current use valuation of such qualified properties shall be calculated for the applicable tax year.

The resulting table of current use land values differs according to the soil productivity with "1" being assigned to the most productive land and "9" being assigned to the least productive land. There are eighteen soil productivity classes:

A1 - A9 is for agricultural land (crop land and pasture land), and W1 - W9 is for timberland.

Table of Conservation Use Land Values. (Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. 560-11-6-.09)

For the purpose of prescribing the current use values for conservation use land, the state shall be divided into the following 9 Conservation Use Valuation Areas (CUVA 1 through CUVA 9) and the following accompanying table of per acre land values shall be applied to each acre of qualified land within the CUVA for each soil productivity classification for timber land (W1 through W9):

NOTE:For the latest Conservation Use Valuation Areas for Timberland please refer to the Georgia Department of Revenue at: https://dor.georgia.gov/local-government-regulations.

2020 Conservation use land values by land type and productivity class

Timberland $/acre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9
Region1	903	810	736	675	619	573	537	493	450
Region2	1223	1107	999	904	833	782	737	677	614
Region3	1199	1403	941	904	833	762	641	521	436
Region4	882	790	716	657	571	533	463	400	325
Region5	751	696	639	585	528	475	416	360	299
Region6	743	682	623	567	506	449	389	328	267
Region7	796	724	660	592	522	456	389	319	252
Region8	866	784	702	623	541	463	381	301	245
Region9	876	790	716	637	553	477	396	316	245

Agricultural Land $/acre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9
Region1	1640	1551	1437	1318	1188	1063	944	829	709
Region2	1797	1602	1425	1259	1128	1007	903	819	737
Region3	1367	1244	1113	986	860	776	637	553	450
Region4	1121	1004	920	822	722	599	519	402	289
Region5	831	723	672	614	548	466	382	301	220
Region6	942	827	758	696	614	511	416	319	224
Region7	1096	993	882	767	658	551	426	323	218
Region8	1107	1046	944	842	740	639	493	400	295
Region9	1026	988	887	790	692	592	493	393	295

Conservation use area by county:

CUVA #1 counties: Bartow, Catoosa, Chattooga, Dade, Floyd, Gordon, Murray, Paulding, Polk, Walker, and Whitfield.

CUVA #2 counties: Barrow, Cherokee, Clarke, Cobb, Dawson, Dekalb, Fannin, Forsyth, Fulton, Gilmer, Gwinnett, Hall, Jackson, Lumpkin, Oconee, Pickens, Towns, Union, Walton, and White.

CUVA #3 counties: Banks, Elbert, Franklin, Habersham, Hart, Lincoln, Madison, Oglethorpe, Rabun, Stephens, and Wilkes.

CUVA #4 counties: Carroll, Chattahoochee, Clayton, Coweta, Douglas, Fayette, Haralson, Harris, Heard, Henry, Lamar, Macon, Marion, Meriwether, Muscogee, Pike, Schley, Spalding, Talbot, Taylor, Troup, and Upson.

CUVA #5 counties: Baldwin, Bibb, Bleckley, Butts, Crawford, Dodge, Greene, Hancock, Houston, Jasper, Johnson, Jones, Laurens, Monroe, Montgomery, Morgan, Newton, Peach, Pulaski, Putnam, Rockdale, Taliaferro, Treutlen, Twiggs, Washington, Wheeler, and Wilkinson.

CUVA #6 counties: Bulloch, Burke, Candler, Columbia, Effingham, Emanuel, Glascock, Jefferson, Jenkins, McDuffie, Richmond, Screven, and Warren.

CUVA #7 counties: Baker, Calhoun, Clay, Decatur, Dougherty, Early, Grady, Lee, Miller, Mitchell, Quitman, Randolph, Seminole, Stewart, Sumter, Terrell, Thomas, and Webster.

CUVA #8 counties: Atkinson, Ben Hill, Berrien, Brooks, Clinch, Coffee, Colquitt, Cook, Crisp, Dooly, Echols, Irwin, Jeff Davis, Lanier, Lowndes, Telfair, Tift, Turner, Wilcox, and Worth.

CUVA #9 counties: Appling, Bacon, Brantley, Bryan, Camden, Charlton, Chatham, Evans, Glynn, Liberty, Long, McIntosh, Pierce, Tattnall, Toombs, Ware, and Wayne.

Taxable Timber Sales and Harvests (Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. 560-11-5-.03)

For ad valorem tax purposes standing timber is taxed only once following its harvest or sale. Standing timber is taxed at 100 percent of its fair market value. It is subject to taxation even if the land underneath is exempt unless taxation has been prohibited by federal law or treaty.

Basic Formula: Tax Liability = 100% FMV x Local County Millage Rate

Standing timber is defined to include softwood and hardwood pulpwood, chip and saw logs, saw timber, poles, posts, and fuel wood. Standing timber does not include orchard trees, ornamental or Christmas trees, by products of harvesting (bark or stumps), and fuel wood harvested by the owner which is used exclusively for heating the owner's home. The "sale" of standing timber as defined by O.C.G.A. § 48-5-7.5 is the "arm's length, bona fide sale of standing timber for harvesting separate and apart from the underlying land and shall not include the simultaneous sale of a tract of land and the timber thereon.

Lump-Sum Sale:

Where standing timber is sold by timber deed, contract, lease, agreement, or otherwise to be harvested within a three-year period after the date of the sale and for a lump sum price, the standing timber to be harvested within said three-year period shall be assessed for taxation as of the date of the sale. The tax shall be levied based upon the total lump sum price paid by the purchaser in an arm's length bona fide sale.

Pay-As-Cut Sale:

Buyers must complete, sign and submit two copies of PT-283T to the seller and one copy to county tax assessor within 45 days after end of quarter. Seller must sign and submit one of the copies to the tax assessor within 60 days after end of quarter. Seller will be billed by the tax commissioner for taxes due.

Owner Harvests:

Where standing timber is harvested by the owner of such timber from his own land, the owner shall, within 45 days after the end of the calendar quarter, file with the board of tax assessors a report form PT-283T of the volumes harvested through the last business day of the calendar quarter.

Ad valorem taxes on owner harvest timber shall be payable to the tax collector or tax commissioner within 45 days after the end of the calendar quarter, based upon the fair market value of the harvested timber which shall be the total dollar values calculated using the average standing timber price schedule specified by Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. 560-11-5-.05(1).

Click here for 2018 Tables of Owner Harvest Timber Values and here for the 2019 values.

Other Sales and Harvests:

Every sale and every harvest of standing timber occurring on or after January 1, 1992 that has not been previously taxed shall be a taxable event, with the exception of those sales of standing timber not to be harvested within three years. Where standing timber is sold or harvested (excepting only a sale not for harvest within three years) in any manner which is not a reportable taxable event under these Regulations as a lump sum sale, a unit price sale, or an owner harvest, such timber shall be subject to ad valorem taxation. Any such sale or harvest shall be reported and taxed under whichever provisions of this Regulation is most nearly applicable.

(a) Where, at the time of harvest, the standing timber owner does not own the underlying land and has not acquired such timber under a taxable lump sum or unit price sale, as would be the case where timber has been acquired prior to January 1, 1992, the harvest of such timber shall be a taxable event and shall be treated as an owner harvest, with the exception that the reporting requirement and the payment of taxes due shall be the responsibility of the owner of the standing timber instead of the underlying landowner.

• Izlar, R.L, and T. Smith. 2020. Property tax incentives for the Georgia landowner. University of Georgia.

• Li, Y., R.L. Izlar, and B.L. Campbell. 2020. 2020 Current Use Values for Georgia Conservation Use Valuation Assessment (CUVA) land and Forest Land Protection Act (FLPA) land.

• Forsyth County Board of Tax Assessors. 2018. Answers to FAQs about Conservation Use Valuation and Preferential Agricultural Assessment.