APPLICATION FOR SPECIAL ASSESSMENT AS AGRICULTURAL REAL PROPERTY
The following are only excerpts from the S.C. Code of Laws that pertain to the agricultural assessment.
For a better understanding, we recommend that the code be reviewed in its entirety.
Definition: Agriculture real property shall mean any tract of real property which is used to raise, harvest, or store crops raised, breed or manage livestock, or to produce plants, trees, fowl, or animals useful to man, including the preparation of the products raised thereon for man’s use and disposed of by marketing or other means. It includes, but is not limited to, such real property used for agriculture, grazing, horticulture, forestry, dairying, and mariculture.
In the event at least 50% of a real property tract shall qualify as “agricultural real property,” the entire tract shall be also classified, provided no other business for profit is being operated thereon. The term “agricultural real property”; shall not include any property used as the residence of the owner or others in that the taxation of such property is specifically provided for in Section 2 (C) and (E) of Act 208 (DOR 117-124-7).
Qualification requirements (S.C. Code 12-43-220(d)(1)) Agricultural real property which is actually used for such agricultural purposes shall be taxed on an assessment equal to:
(A) Four percent of its fair market value for such agricultural purposes for owners or lessees who are individuals or partnerships and certain corporations which do not:
(i) Have more than ten shareholders
(ii) Have as a shareholder a person (other than an estate) who is not an individual
(iii) Have a nonresident alien as a shareholder
(iv) Have more than one class of stock.
(B) Six percent of its fair market value for such agricultural purposes for owners or lessees who are corporations, except for certain corporations specified in (A) above.
Timberland tracts must meet minimum acreage requirement of five (5) acres or more which are thoroughly wooded with merchantable timber and actively devoted to growing trees for commercial use. Submit a Timber/Forest Management Plan if available or applicable. Tracts of timberland less than five acres may be eligible for the exemption if any of the following conditions are met:
1. The parcel is contiguous to, and in the same ownership as, a qualifying tract.
2. The parcel is under the same management system and ownership as a qualifying tract. SC Code Ann. § 48-23-205 – “Forest management
plan” means a document or documents prepared or approved by a forester registered in this State that defines a landowner’s forest
management objectives and describes specific measures to be taken to achieve those objective which shall include silvicultural practices,
objectives, and measures to achieve them, that relate to a stand or potential stand of trees that may be utilized for timber products.” A timber
management plan will contain similar information but does not have to be prepared by a forester. Call our office if you have questions. Submit
the Timber/Forest Management Plan with this application.
3. Owned in combination with non-timberland tracts that qualify as agricultural real property Non-Timberland tracts must meet the minimum acreage requirement of ten (10) acres or more and be actively devoted to maintaining a bona fide agricultural use. Tracts of non-timberland less than ten acres may be eligible for the exemption if any of the following conditions are met:
1. Contiguous tracts with common ownership meet the minimum acreage requirement when added together.
2. Agricultural use/s produced a gross farm income of at least $1,000 per parcel in at least three of the past five years or at least three of the first
five years of this initial application. (Documentation of earned or intended income is required)
3. If the property has been owned by current owner or an immediate family member of the current owner since January 1, 1984 and the property
was classified as agricultural real property for the tax year 1994
ROLL-BACK TAXES (S.C. CODE 12-43-220 (d) (4)
When real property which is in agricultural use and is being valued, assessed and taxed under the provisions of this article, is applied to a use other than agricultural, it shall be subject to additional taxes, hereinafter referred to as roll-back taxes, in an amount equal to the difference, if any, between the taxes paid or payable on the basis of the valuation and the assessment authorized hereunder and the taxes that would have been paid or payable had the real property been valued, assessed and taxed as other real property in the taxing district, in the current tax year (the year of change in use) and each of the five tax years immediately preceding in which the real property was valued, assessed and taxed as herein provided.
The owner shall notify the assessor within six months of a change in use. For failure to notify the assessor of a change in use, in addition to any
other penalties provided by law, a penalty of ten percent plus interest at the rate of one-half of one percent a month must be paid on the difference
between the amount that was paid and the amount that should have been paid, but not less than thirty dollars nor more than the current year’s taxes.
(S.C. Code 12-43-220 (d)(3))
RIGHT TO APPEAL – If the Assessor determines a property to be ineligible for classification as agricultural property, the property owner may appeal the classification as provided in the South Carolina Code of Laws, Section 12-60-2510 through 2520. You will be notified in writing if your application is denied.
RETURN THIS APPLICATION NOW
FAILURE TO FILE WITHIN THE PRESCRIBED TIME, “TIME BEFORE THE FIRST PENALTY DATE FOR TAXES DUE FOR THE FIRST TAX YEAR
FOR WHICH THE ASSESSMENT IS CLAIMED” (BEFORE NEXT JAN 16TH) SHALL CONSTITUTE ABANDONMENT OF THE OWNER’S RIGHT FOR
THIS CLASSIFICATION FOR THE CURRENT TAX YEAR.
(SEC 23, ACT 361 OF 1992 FOR LEGAL RESIDENCE; SEC 3, ACT 920 OF 1994 FOR AGRICULTURE USE VALUE.) Revised 09/16
