Senate Bill 1400

CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.



    Florida Senate - 1998                                  SB 1400

    By Senator Brown-Waite





    10-1194-98                                              See HB

  1                      A bill to be entitled

  2         An act relating to ad valorem tax assessment;

  3         amending s. 193.461, F.S.; providing liability

  4         for unpaid taxes, penalty, and interest if an

  5         owner of property classified as agricultural

  6         fails to notify the property appraiser when the

  7         property becomes ineligible for such

  8         classification; providing an effective date.

  9

10  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:

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12         Section 1.  Subsection (7) is added to section 193.461,

13  Florida Statutes, to read:

14         193.461  Agricultural lands; classification and

15  assessment.--

16         (1)  The property appraiser shall, on an annual basis,

17  classify for assessment purposes all lands within the county

18  as either agricultural or nonagricultural.

19         (2)  Any landowner whose land is denied agricultural

20  classification by the property appraiser may appeal to the

21  value adjustment board.  The property appraiser shall notify

22  the landowner in writing of the denial of agricultural

23  classification on or before July 1 of the year for which the

24  application was filed.  The notification shall advise the

25  landowner of his or her right to appeal to the value

26  adjustment board and of the filing deadline. The board may

27  also review all lands classified by the property appraiser

28  upon its own motion.  The property appraiser shall have

29  available at his or her office a list by ownership of all

30  applications received showing the acreage, the full valuation

31  under s. 193.011, the valuation of the land under the

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CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.






    Florida Senate - 1998                                  SB 1400
    10-1194-98                                              See HB




  1  provisions of this section, and whether or not the

  2  classification requested was granted.

  3         (3)(a)  No lands shall be classified as agricultural

  4  lands unless a return is filed on or before March 1 of each

  5  year.  The property appraiser, before so classifying such

  6  lands, may require the taxpayer or the taxpayer's

  7  representative to furnish the property appraiser such

  8  information as may reasonably be required to establish that

  9  such lands were actually used for a bona fide agricultural

10  purpose.  Failure to make timely application by March 1 shall

11  constitute a waiver for 1 year of the privilege herein granted

12  for agricultural assessment.  However, an applicant who is

13  qualified to receive an agricultural classification who fails

14  to file an application by March 1 may file an application for

15  the classification and may file, pursuant to s. 194.011(3), a

16  petition with the value adjustment board requesting that the

17  classification be granted.  The petition may be filed at any

18  time during the taxable year on or before the 25th day

19  following the mailing of the notice by the property appraiser

20  as provided in s. 194.011(1). Notwithstanding the provisions

21  of s. 194.013, the applicant must pay a nonrefundable fee of

22  $15 upon filing the petition.  Upon reviewing the petition, if

23  the person is qualified to receive the classification and

24  demonstrates particular extenuating circumstances judged by

25  the property appraiser or the value adjustment board to

26  warrant granting the classification, the property appraiser or

27  the value adjustment board may grant the classification. The

28  owner of land that was classified agricultural in the previous

29  year and whose ownership or use has not changed may reapply on

30  a short form as provided by the department.  The lessee of

31  property may make original application or reapply using the

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CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.






    Florida Senate - 1998                                  SB 1400
    10-1194-98                                              See HB




  1  short form if the lease, or an affidavit executed by the

  2  owner, provides that the lessee is empowered to make

  3  application for the agricultural classification on behalf of

  4  the owner and a copy of the lease or affidavit accompanies the

  5  application.  A county may, at the request of the property

  6  appraiser and by a majority vote of its governing body, waive

  7  the requirement that an annual application or statement be

  8  made for classification of property within the county after an

  9  initial application is made and the classification granted.

10         (b)  Subject to the restrictions set out in this

11  section, only lands which are used primarily for bona fide

12  agricultural purposes shall be classified agricultural. "Bona

13  fide agricultural purposes" means good faith commercial

14  agricultural use of the land. In determining whether the use

15  of the land for agricultural purposes is bona fide, the

16  following factors may be taken into consideration:

17         1.  The length of time the land has been so utilized;

18         2.  Whether the use has been continuous;

19         3.  The purchase price paid;

20         4.  Size, as it relates to specific agricultural use;

21         5.  Whether an indicated effort has been made to care

22  sufficiently and adequately for the land in accordance with

23  accepted commercial agricultural practices, including, without

24  limitation, fertilizing, liming, tilling, mowing, reforesting,

25  and other accepted agricultural practices;

26         6.  Whether such land is under lease and, if so, the

27  effective length, terms, and conditions of the lease; and

28         7.  Such other factors as may from time to time become

29  applicable.

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    Florida Senate - 1998                                  SB 1400
    10-1194-98                                              See HB




  1         (c)  The maintenance of a dwelling on part of the lands

  2  used for agricultural purposes shall not in itself preclude an

  3  agricultural classification.

  4         (d)  When property receiving an agricultural

  5  classification contains a residence under the same ownership,

  6  the portion of the property consisting of the residence and

  7  curtilage must be assessed separately, pursuant to s. 193.011,

  8  to qualify for the assessment limitation set forth in s.

  9  193.155. The remaining property may be classified under the

10  provisions of paragraphs (a) and (b).

11         (4)(a)  The property appraiser shall reclassify the

12  following lands as nonagricultural:

13         1.  Land diverted from an agricultural to a

14  nonagricultural use.

15         2.  Land no longer being utilized for agricultural

16  purposes.

17         3.  Land that has been zoned to a nonagricultural use

18  at the request of the owner subsequent to the enactment of

19  this law.

20         (b)  The board of county commissioners may also

21  reclassify lands classified as agricultural to nonagricultural

22  when there is contiguous urban or metropolitan development and

23  the board of county commissioners finds that the continued use

24  of such lands for agricultural purposes will act as a

25  deterrent to the timely and orderly expansion of the

26  community.

27         (c)  Sale of land for a purchase price which is 3 or

28  more times the agricultural assessment placed on the land

29  shall create a presumption that such land is not used

30  primarily for bona fide agricultural purposes.  Upon a showing

31  of special circumstances by the landowner demonstrating that

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    Florida Senate - 1998                                  SB 1400
    10-1194-98                                              See HB




  1  the land is to be continued in bona fide agriculture, this

  2  presumption may be rebutted.

  3         (5)  For the purpose of this section, "agricultural

  4  purposes" includes, but is not limited to, horticulture;

  5  floriculture; viticulture; forestry; dairy; livestock;

  6  poultry; bee; pisciculture, when the land is used principally

  7  for the production of tropical fish; aquaculture; sod farming;

  8  and all forms of farm products and farm production.

  9         (6)(a)  In years in which proper application for

10  agricultural assessment has been made and granted pursuant to

11  this section, the assessment of land shall be based solely on

12  its agricultural use. The property appraiser shall consider

13  the following use factors only:

14         1.  The quantity and size of the property;

15         2.  The condition of the property;

16         3.  The present market value of the property as

17  agricultural land;

18         4.  The income produced by the property;

19         5.  The productivity of land in its present use;

20         6.  The economic merchantability of the agricultural

21  product; and

22         7.  Such other agricultural factors as may from time to

23  time become applicable.

24         (b)  In years in which proper application for

25  agricultural assessment has not been made, the land shall be

26  assessed under the provisions of s. 193.011.

27         (7)  If the owner of property which is classified as

28  agricultural pursuant to this section fails to notify the

29  property appraiser when the use of the land changes so that it

30  is no longer entitled to the agricultural classification, the

31  owner shall be liable for the unpaid taxes, plus a penalty of

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    Florida Senate - 1998                                  SB 1400
    10-1194-98                                              See HB




  1  50 percent of the unpaid taxes and 15 percent interest per

  2  annum, for each year for which the property was granted an

  3  agricultural classification to which it was not entitled.

  4  However, if the property appraiser determines that such

  5  property inadvertently received an agricultural

  6  classification, the owner shall be liable for the unpaid taxes

  7  only.  For purposes of this subsection, unpaid taxes shall be

  8  calculated as the difference between the total amount of taxes

  9  that would have been due if the property had been assessed

10  pursuant to s. 193.011 and the total amount of taxes actually

11  paid for each such year.

12         Section 2.  This act shall take effect January 1 of the

13  year following the year in which enacted.

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16                          HOUSE SUMMARY

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      Provides liability for unpaid taxes, penalty, and
18    interest if an owner of property classified as
      agricultural for ad valorem tax purposes fails to notify
19    the property appraiser when the property becomes
      ineligible for such classification.
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