Pennsylvania

Property Classification:

The Pennsylvania Farmland and Forest Land Assessment Act of 1974 (Act 319) also known as the "Clean and Green Program" allows owners of agricultural, agricultural reserve or forest reserve land to apply for preferential assessment of their land. If the application is approved, the land receives an assessment based upon its use value, rather than its market value.

What Land is Eligible for Enrollment in Clean and Green?

To be eligible for enrollment in the Clean and Green program, land must be devoted to one of the following three qualifying uses: agricultural use, agricultural reserve use, or forest reserve use. The following definitions are helpful:

Agricultural Use - land which is used for the purpose of producing an agricultural commodity or is devoted to and meets the requirements for qualifications for payments or other compensation under a soil conservation program under an agreement with an agency of the Federal government.

The term includes any farmstead land on the tract.

The term includes a woodlot.

The term includes land which is rented to another person and used for the purpose of producing an agricultural commodity.

10 contiguous acre minimum; or if less than 10 acres, the land must have an anticipated yearly gross income of at least $2,000 from the production of an agricultural commodity.

The land must have been in agriculture or devoted to a soil conservation program with the Federal Government for at least three years.

Agricultural Reserve Use - noncommercial open space lands used for outdoor recreation of the enjoyment of scenic or natural beauty and open to the public for that use, without charge or fee, on a nondiscriminatory basis. [Note: Agricultural reserve land is the only category of land under the Clean and Green program that must be open to the public for recreational use].

The term includes any farmstead land on the tract.

The regulation at 7 Pa. Code § 137b.64 now allows landowners to place reasonable restrictions on the public's access to a tract of land that is enrolled in Clean and Green as Agricultural Reserve land. These restrictions might include limiting access to the land to pedestrians only, prohibiting hunting or the carrying or discharging of firearms on the land, prohibiting entry where damage to the land might result or where hazardous conditions exist, or other reasonable restrictions.

10 contiguous acre minimum.

Land must be open to the public on a limited basis without charge.

Forest Reserve Use – land, 10 acres or more, stocked by forest trees of any size and capable of producing timber or other wood products. The term includes any land devoted to the development and operation of an alternative energy system, if a majority of the energy annually generated is utilized on the tract.

The term includes farmstead land on the tract.

10 contiguous acre minimum.

The land is presently stocked with trees.

Forest reserve land includes land that is rented to another person for the purpose of producing timber or other wood products.

Farmstead Land - any curtilage and land situated under a residence, farm building or other building which supports a residence, including a residential garage or workshop.

Woodlot - an area of less than 10 acres, stocked by trees of any size and contiguous to or part of land in agricultural use or agricultural reserve.

Application Procedure

Landowners wishing to enroll in the Clean and Green program must make their application on a current "Clean and Green Valuation Application" form. This is a uniform preferential assessment application form developed by the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture. Applications for the Clean and Green program are filed with the county board of assessment in which the land is located. If an application is filed with a county on or before June 1, the county must review and process the application for the next calendar year. An exception exists if the county undergoes a countywide reassessment. When a countywide reassessment occurs, the application deadline is October 15th or 30 days after the final order of the county board for assessment appeals, whichever comes first.

The county board of assessment is limited to charging an application fee of no more than $50 for processing an application. This fee can be charged whether or not the application is approved. In addition to the application fee, the recorder of deeds may charge a fee for filing an approved application in a Clean and Green docket. The recording fee may only be charged if the Clean and Green application has been approved by the county board.

Enrollment of Multiple Tracts of Land - An additional requirement of the Clean and Green program is that all contiguous land described in one deed must be enrolled in the program. This means that if the deed describes two tracts of land that are next to each other and are part of one operational unit, both tracts of land must be enrolled in the program. However, if a landowner owns two tracts of land that are contiguous to each other but are described in separate deeds, they do not have to enroll both tracts. If the landowner has a single deed which describes two tracts of land that are not contiguous, they do not have to enroll both of the non-contiguous tracts.

Multiple Uses of One Tract of Land - If the landowner has several uses on a single tract of land but only some of the uses qualify for the Clean and Green tax rate, they may still enroll in Clean and Green. All of the tract must be included on the application, but only the portions of the tract that are devoted to a qualifying use will be given the Clean and Green tax rate. In such a case, the portion of land devoted to a qualifying use must meet the acreage and/or gross income requirements of the program.

Penalties for change in use

The general rule of the Clean and Green program is that after land is enrolled, the landowner is obligated to continue using the land in a qualified use indefinitely or face the penalty of roll-back taxes for the most recent seven years, plus interest. The roll-back tax is the difference between the taxes paid based on the Clean and Green rate and the taxes that would have been paid if the land were not enrolled in Clean and Green. Roll-back taxes are due for the year of the change of use and the six previous tax years for a total of seven years. Land that has been in Clean and Green for more than seven years is only subject to roll-back taxes for the seven most recent tax years, and, land that has been in Clean and Green for less than seven years is subject to roll-back taxes only for the years it has been in the program. In addition to the tax, interest is imposed on each year's roll-back tax at the rate of six percent per year.

A civil penalty of not more than $100 may be imposed for each violation of the Clean & Green law. The County Board of Assessment Appeals must notify the landowner by certified mail of the nature of the violation, the amount of the civil penalty, and the right to contest the civil penalty. If the landowner does not notify the county, in writing, of intent to contest the penalty within 10 days, the penalty becomes final.

Valuation and Assessment:

Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture Now Sets Maximum Use Values

The use values that apply to Clean and Green are set by the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture. The Department of Agriculture determines use values based on individual soils and the land use subcategories and provides county assessors with use values annually. The Department of Agriculture has until May 1st of each year to provide the county assessors with the use values.

Option of County Assessor to Establish Lower Use Values

A county assessor may establish use values for land use subcategories that are less than the use values established by the Department of Agriculture. A county assessor may use these lower use values in determining preferential assessments under the Clean and Green program. A county may not, under any circumstances, establish or apply use values that are higher than those use values established by the Department of Agriculture.

In addition, counties may not require that a landowner reside in the county before enrolling his land in the Clean and Green program. Further, county assessors are not permitted to add any other requirements or conditions of eligibility in addition to the ones given by statute and regulation. If the provisions of the statute and regulations are met, the county assessor must accept a person's Clean and Green application.

Determining preferential assessment

The preferential assessment of land is determined by multiplying the number of acres in each land use subcategory by the use value for that particular land use subcategory, and then adding these products.

The state of Pennsylvania does not have a severance or yield tax on timber or timber products.

Jacobson, M., and M. McDill. 2009. Understanding forest property tax assessment in Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA.

Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture. Clean & Green.