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Why Ag Exemptions Are Important

June 23, 2022 by chorton Leave a Comment

A property that is eligible for exemption from the agricultural property tax must meet minimum requirements in terms of size, use and location. To be eligible for the exemption, the property must have been in agriculture production for at least 5 years. The receipts and proof of this information must be presented in order to apply. The status must be maintained annually and run as a profitable business in order to keep it.

Why is it so important to have an exemption from property taxes for ag? It will significantly lower your annual property taxes.

If you’re considering buying a property with an ag exemption in place, please ensure that you work with an agent or broker who is familiarized with the requirements for the county where the property is located.

As different types of agriculture and land requirements are required in each county, there will be different exemptions and minimum requirements. Depending on the type of operation, some counties may require more land than others. Others will need as little as 5 acres.

You might not be buying the minimum amount for your county if you purchase land from a larger area that is exempt from ag taxes. This is because you might not be able to keep the exemption in place in the future.

Rollback taxes will apply to properties that do not keep the agricultural exemption. This means that the property is now responsible for all property taxes, including those incurred in the 5 years prior to the exemption. This amount will run into the thousands. You should calculate the amount of rollback taxes you will owe and set aside money to pay it when it becomes due. The taxes won’t become due immediately, but it will be gradual.

If you’re a seller who knows your property may not be in an ag exempt area, ensure that the contract protects you from any liability to pay those rollback taxes.

However, you can choose to rollover into a wildlife valuation rather than an agricultural valuation. This requires annual reports and plans.

If your looking to buy property contact Preferred Properties of Texas today.

 

Original Blog: https://texaslandandhome.com/2019/07/07/what-is-an-ag-exemption/

Filed Under: Blog, Land for Sale Tagged With: Blog, land, land for sale, property taxes, real estate, taxes, texas land

Selling Your Home, The Tax Angle

March 31, 2021 by chorton Leave a Comment

The buying and selling of homes are the largest financial transactions you may make, and as with most financial transactions, there’s a tax angle. If you know what your tax implications are as you go into the deal, you’re better able to plan and avoid unpleasant surprises.

Unlike with most other capital gains, the government gives you a big break when selling your principal home for a profit. You can exclude up to $250,000 ($500,000 if married filing jointly) of the profit from the sale. This exclusion is available for an unlimited number of times. And it applies to houses, apartments, condominiums, stock cooperatives, and mobile homes fixed to land.

However, there are other rules and limitations. To take advantage of the exclusion, you must own and occupy the home as your principal residence for at least two years before you sell it. Owning it and occupying it are two different things, however, and although you have to meet both tests, you don’t have to do this simultaneously. As legal site Nolo explains, “As long as you have at least two years of ownership and two years of use during the five years before you sell the home, the ownership and use can occur at different times.” This is an eligibility break for renters-turned-buyers, who can count rental time before the purchase as part of the “occupy” time.

Also note the word “principal.” This is your main home, where you spend most of your time. You can only have one principal residence at a time. If you have a townhouse in the city where you work but spend August in your country home, your townhouse is still your principal residence.

The IRS also imposes conditions to be eligible for the larger $500,000 married exclusion. You must meet all the conditions below:

  • You are married and file a joint return for the year.
  • Either spouse meets the ownership test.
  • Both spouses meet the use test.
  • During the two-year period ending on the date of the sale, neither spouse excluded gain from the sale of another home.

If a spouse is deceased, under what conditions can the surviving spouse use the $500,000 exclusion? You have to meet all of the following conditions:

  • You sell your home within two years of the death of your spouse.
  • You haven’t remarried at the time of the sale.
  • Neither you nor your late spouse took the exclusion on another home sold less than two years before the date of the current home sale.
  • You meet the two-year ownership and residence requirements (including your late spouse’s times of ownership and residence if need be).

Getting a Break on Improvements

If you’re single and buy a house for $300,000, you’re limited to a sale later of $550,000 before you start having to pay taxes. However, any improvements you made will increase that $300,000 basis, and the IRS is generous in what it considers an improvement. You can add a new room, landscaping, a heating system, new siding — even a satellite dish. General repairs, like fixing a broken windowpane, do not add to the basis. But fixing the windows as part of a larger renovation project will count.

The bottom line? When selling a home, work with professionals to make sure your plans are aligned with tax rules.

Contact our office to speak with one of our knowledgeable agents.

Filed Under: Blog, Selling Your Home Tagged With: Blog, IRS, selling a home, taxes

Qualification For Agricultural & Wildlife In Texas

March 1, 2021 by chorton Leave a Comment

Owning your own slice of property in the state of Texas has its own advantages and can be quite rewarding. With 97% of this country independently owned and handled, landowners have made use of the land in several of various ways through agriculture creation and appropriate wildlife management. Possessing property does come at a cost as land tax increases together with the more property holdings you possesses. For property owners who use their land for agriculture functions like crop production or to enhance native wildlife populations through direction, Texas has provided evaluation approaches to help levy against high property tax prices.

Historically many rural lands in Texas weren’t viewed to hold much significance unless utilized to offer some source of revenue to the landowner and the market. Throughout the 1800s and early to mid-1900sland in Texas was mostly utilized for agriculture production like livestock grazing, timber harvesting or large-scale crop production. Through these approaches property owners could make income from their property holdings. Simultaneously, the nation saw the market thrive in the aftermath of large scale agriculture usage, so much that Texas started providing land tax breaks to landowners which using their land for agriculture generation for example cattle grazing or farming.

Landowners and ranchers that utilized grazing approaches tended to overgraze landscapes to boost their cows generation. Farmers which were in big scale crop production saw elevated quantities of erosion and mineral depletion in areas after harvest and planting. To decrease the adverse effect on ecosystem sources out of agriculture production, the country presented another kind of tax exemption to lure landowners to maintain natural resources and wildlife species.

There are two different types of appraisal approaches in Texas that permit for tax exemptions for land owners. This sort of evaluation is suitable to landowners using their territory full time exclusively for agriculture production and the landowner’s income comes out of the farming enterprise. Because of this, the country introduced a more proper tax break that landowners have taken good advantage of. The OSL is based only on the principal usage of this property and does not have any thought for the landowner’s income or job which makes it far more attractive to landowners searching for tax relief. Additional in 1995 Texas passed bill HB 1358 which included pest control to the record of qualifying agriculture clinics for real estate tax relief under Open-space evaluation 1-d-1. Most property owners in Texas that make the most of tax exemption collapse beneath the Open-space evaluation 1-d-1, either via agriculture evaluation or wildlife.

To qualify for OSL particular tax assessment based on wildlife management use, there are a couple of requirements that have to be fulfilled. The first is that the land should have been capable and assessed as open-space agriculture property usage the calendar year before conversion to wildlife management use. In case the property isn’t currently capable under the open-space agriculture land use evaluation, the landowner may make an application for eligibility by submitting documentation behind agriculture usage of their land five from their previous seven decades. Individual use suggests that wildlife species have to be used for meals, medication, diversion through active pursuits such as hunting or photography or through passive use for example possessing land and properly managing the wildlife sources. The OSL predicated on pest management also needs the land to submit a wildlife management program to the primary tax appraiser from the county that it resides. The wildlife management program should coincide with the management practices employed on the designated land and which also match the urge practices for this particular ecoregion summarized in Texas Parks and Wildlife Department Comprehensive Wildlife Management Plan Guidelines.

Filed Under: Blog, Investing, Ranches for Sale Tagged With: cattle ranch, deer breeding, hunting, investments, ranching, taxes

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