The Farmland Assessment Act, also referred to as "Greenbelt" is a program that allows property, meeting specific criteria, to be taxed at a reduced rate, when used solely in Agriculture related use.
There are some basic rules to determine program acceptance:
1 - There has to be a minimum of 5 contiguous acres (all the same owner of record) available for Ag use. To be clear, 4.99 acres does not meet the 5.0 acre requirement. The 5 acres can not include any land with a house or other non Ag related structures on it.
2 - All required paperwork and other approvals must have been submitted to, and approved by the San Juan County Assessor's Office in a timely manner. By May 1st for new applications and within 120 days of change (owner change, legal description change) for existing applications.
3 - The Land in question has to have been dedicated to Ag related use for the prior 2 consecutive years. Documentation required.
4 - There has to be a genuine, good faith effort given to try and "produce" something Ag related off the land. There must be documentable annual activity of some sort (plowing, planting, irrigating, grazing, etc.) for the land to be considered "in production". Documentation would include fuel bills, seed or fertilizer receipts, grazing contracts. etc..
5 - Program specific "production targets" must be met. Documentation (hay sales receipts, sale barn receipts, grazing fee receipts, etc.) must be provided when requested.
The requirements listed above are the most common that need to be met.
If you can't meet these 5 conditions listed above, then you will be rejected from the program.
The link below takes you to the form that needs to be filed for program consideration:
https://propertytax.utah.gov/form/tc-582.pdf
There are other requirements. For a complete list of requirements and a full program review, go to the following link:
https://propertytax.utah.gov/?s=farmland+assessment+act
It should be noted that the participation with this program is always up for review (https://le.utah.gov/xcode/Title59/Chapter2/59-2-S508.html) and Land found to being non-compliant will immediately be removed from the program.
Any land removed from the program will be subject to a 5 year rollback tax.
If you have further questions regarding the Farmland Assessment Act (Greenbelt), please come into the San Juan County Assessor's Office or email us with your inquiry at:
rrarick@sanjuancounty.org
or
rmeyer@sanjuancounty.org
