What is Virginia's land use program?
Virginia's land use program is a local option that taxes qualifying agricultural, horticultural, forest or open-space land on its use value rather than its market value. A parcel gets it where the locality has adopted an ordinance, or the land is in production inside an agricultural or forestal district, and the land fits a class, meets the minimum acreage and is in a qualifying use.
Four yes-or-no questions the assessing officer answers about a parcel
Before a parcel is taxed on its use, four questions have to come back yes. Miss any one and the land is assessed at market value like the rest of the county.
Is there a program here?
Use value taxation is a local option. A county, city or town that has adopted a land-use plan may adopt an ordinance for it, covering any or all of the four classes. Land used in agricultural and forestal production within an agricultural, forestal, or agricultural and forestal district established under Chapter 43 of Title 15.2 is eligible whether or not the locality has a plan or ordinance.
Does the land fit a class the program covers?
The Code sets four classes: agricultural, horticultural, forest and open-space use. Open space carries a further test: the land must be within such a district, under a recorded perpetual easement held by a public body that promotes the classification, or under a recorded commitment with the governing body not to change to a nonqualifying use for a stated period of four to 10 years.
Is there enough acreage?
Five acres for agricultural or horticultural use, 20 acres for forest use, and five acres for open space or a greater local minimum; a governing body may go lower for certain agricultural, aquaculture and specialty crop uses, and to a quarter acre for open space only in the cases the statute lists. Acreage is added up across contiguous land titled in the same ownership, not counting subdivision lots recorded after July 1, 1983, and parcels separated only by a public right-of-way count as contiguous.
Is the land in a qualifying use now?
The local assessing officer must determine that the land meets the criteria of Va. Code 58.1-3230 and the standards under it, such as crop yields of at least one-half of the county average for the past three years. The Code adds that "Prior, discontinued use of property shall not be considered in determining its current use."
Carroll County's program, for one, covers agricultural and horticultural land at a minimum of five acres each and forest land at 20 acres, with no open-space class. Which localities in this part of Virginia have adopted a program, and for which classes, is on which counties here have land use taxation.
Farm, orchard, woods and open space: the four classes and their minimums
Each class is defined by what the land is doing, not by what it looks like from the road.
| Class | What the land is doing | Statutory minimum |
|---|---|---|
| Agricultural | Bona fide production for sale of plants, animals or their products, or qualifying for soil and water conservation program payments | Five acres |
| Horticultural | Bona fide production for sale of fruits, vegetables, and nursery and floral products | Five acres |
| Forest | Tree growth that makes up a forest area under the State Forester's standards | 20 acres |
| Open space | Park or recreational use, conservation of land or natural resources, floodways and the other purposes the statute lists | Five acres, or a greater local minimum |
The forest class is where timberland fits, and the test the Code writes is about the stand: trees in enough quantity, spaced and maintained so they make up a forest area. A locality's ordinance does not have to include every class, which is why the first question on the list comes first. Each definition in the Code's full wording is set out in the Land 101 guide linked below.
What four yes answers change: a second value on the land book
Once a parcel qualifies, the commissioner of the revenue or assessor values the qualifying land by considering only the indicia of value it has for its agricultural, horticultural, forest or open-space use, along with the recommendations of the State Land Evaluation Advisory Council.
That is what land use taxation changes. The land is no longer taxed on its fair market value; it is taxed on its value for the use that qualified it. The land book records show both figures, the use value and the fair market value, side by side. The farmhouse and the land used with it, and any structure not related to the use, stay outside the use value area and are valued like other real estate; which parts of a working farm carry the use value is walked through in selling a farm that is in the land use program.
The council's recommended ranges are based on productive earning power, and it submits them by October 1 each year to take effect the following January 1, or July 1 in localities with a fiscal year assessment. The figures for any locality, and what enrollment would mean for a particular parcel's bill, come from that locality's Commissioner of the Revenue. How the use value number is set in more detail is under use value assessment, and where land use taxation sits in a development read is on the land development and feasibility page.
The tax saved is deferred, and roll-back is how it comes due
The tax saved is not a gift. The Code calls the difference between the tax levied and the tax that fair market value would have produced the deferred tax, and roll-back reaches back for it if the land leaves the use that earned it.
Rollback taxes are how it comes due. When the qualifying use changes to a nonqualifying use, or the zoning is changed to a more intensive use at the owner's or agent's request (unless a local subsection G ordinance provides otherwise), deferred tax for past years comes back with interest, and the current year is taxed on fair market value.
Every event that counts as a trigger, and every event that only looks like one, is sorted in what triggers rollback taxes. Applying, revalidating and computing roll-back step by step are in the land use program explained, and the dates each county takes applications are on when the land use application is due.
Does your farm or forest tract qualify for use value assessment?
Send the county, the acreage and what the land is used for today. Lowell will go through how the land is used today with you, and the qualification itself stays the Commissioner of the Revenue's determination. No cost, no obligation.
Got it. Thank you.
We'll be in touch shortly with an honest read.
Questions this raises
Does land that used to be farmed still count toward the program?
Not on the strength of its history. The Code says prior, discontinued use of property is not considered in determining its current use, so the question is what the land is devoted to now. A field that has gone out of production is judged as it stands, and the Commissioner of the Revenue makes that determination for a given parcel.
Can two tracts on either side of a road be added together for the minimum acreage?
Yes, if they are in the same ownership. Minimum acreage is determined by adding together the total area of contiguous real estate titled in the same ownership, and properties separated only by a public right-of-way are considered contiguous. Subdivision lots recorded after July 1, 1983 are left out of that total.
Where this page's facts come from
Every rule, office and figure above traces to one of these. Rules change; check the office before you act on one.
- Va. Code 58.1-3230, special classifications of real estate Virginia General Assembly
- Va. Code 58.1-3231, local adoption, and land in agricultural and forestal districts Virginia General Assembly
- Va. Code 58.1-3233, qualification, open-space tests and minimum acreage Virginia General Assembly
- Va. Code 58.1-3236, valuation, the home site and land book records Virginia General Assembly
- Va. Code 58.1-3237, roll-back taxes Virginia General Assembly
- Va. Code 58.1-3239, State Land Evaluation Advisory Council Virginia General Assembly
- Va. Code 58.1-3241, contiguous land in more than one locality Virginia General Assembly
- Va. Code 58.1-3229, repealed by Acts 2022, c. 294 Virginia General Assembly
- 2VAC5-20, standards for classifying real estate as devoted to agricultural use Virginia Administrative Code
- Commissioner of the Revenue: Special Assessment Land Program Carroll County, Virginia