Ag Exemption in Burleson & Brazos Counties

Why I walk every buyer through this

Most of the land I sell around Burleson and Brazos counties either carries an open-space agricultural valuation or could qualify for one, and it makes a real difference in the yearly tax bill. When you are comparing two tracts, one with an active ag valuation and one without, you are often comparing two very different tax pictures. I want you to understand what the valuation is, what it takes to keep it, and what happens if you change how the land is used, before you sign anything. None of this is tax or legal advice. It is the lay of the land, so you know what to ask your appraisal district and your tax professional.

What the valuation actually is

The common name "ag exemption" is a little misleading. It is not an exemption that erases part of your taxes. It is a special method of appraisal. Under Article VIII, Section 1-d-1 of the Texas Constitution and Chapter 23, Subchapter D of the Texas Property Tax Code, qualified open-space land is appraised on its capacity to produce agricultural products, its productivity value, rather than on what it would sell for on the open market. Because productivity value is usually well below market value, the taxable value drops, and so does the tax. The Texas Comptroller lays this out in its Manual for the Appraisal of Agricultural Land.

How land qualifies

Two things have to be true. First, the land has to be in current agricultural use to the degree of intensity generally accepted in the area. Second, it needs a history: principally devoted to agriculture for at least five of the preceding seven years, under Texas Tax Code Section 23.51. "Degree of intensity" is the part that trips people up. The state does not set one statewide standard, and there is no statewide minimum acreage (beekeeping is the one exception, which I cover below). Instead, each county appraisal district sets the standards for its area, looking at how local operations are actually run. That is why the same activity can take a different number of acres or head of livestock in Burleson County than it does in Brazos County.

What Burleson and Brazos counties expect

Here is where the county standards come in. These are the published numbers as I read each district's guidelines, but degree-of-intensity standards get reviewed and change, so treat them as a starting point and confirm the current version with the district before you count on them.

In Burleson County, the appraisal district's open-space guidelines have called for a minimum of about 10 acres for general agricultural valuation, and about 15 acres for the wildlife-management option. For grazing, the district's stocking standards run from roughly one animal unit per 5 acres on intensely managed improved pasture to one animal unit per 24 acres on heavy-canopy native grass, with a minimum herd in the range of three head for a cow-calf operation. Hay operations have called for about a 10-acre minimum.

In Brazos County, the appraisal district's current intensity guidelines call for at least 15 acres for general livestock or for crop land, and at least 8 acres for hay, each excluding a one-acre home site. Cattle operations there are expected to run at least five animal units of reproducing cows with rotational grazing, and the district asks that at least 80 percent of the tract stay in agricultural use for at least seven months of the year.

Those are the kinds of specifics each district publishes. I link both districts below, and I am glad to pull the exact current guideline for a tract you are looking at. For a deeper look at the acreage question, see my FAQ on how many acres you need for an ag valuation.

The beekeeping exception

Beekeeping is worth its own mention, because it is the one place the state sets acreage limits. Under Texas Tax Code Section 23.51(2), land used to keep bees can qualify on not less than 5 and not more than 20 acres. Within that band, the hive-count standard is set by the county. Brazos County's current guidelines, for example, call for a minimum of five acres with six hives, adding a hive for each additional 2.5 acres up to twelve hives at twenty acres, with the colonies registered through the Texas Apiary Inspection Service. Burleson County keeps a separate beekeeping guideline you can request from the district.

How to apply, step by step

You apply with the county appraisal district where the land sits, not with the state. The form is Texas Comptroller Form 50-129, the Application for 1-d-1 (Open-Space) Agricultural Use Appraisal. File it before May 1, so by April 30, of the year you want the valuation, under Texas Tax Code Section 23.54. If you miss that, you can still file a late application up until the appraisal review board approves the appraisal records, usually in July, but a late application carries a penalty equal to 10 percent of the tax difference, under Section 23.541. Once the district approves the valuation, you generally do not reapply every year. It stays in place unless the ownership changes, the use changes, or the chief appraiser asks you to file again.

The rollback tax

This is the one I make sure every buyer hears. If land in an open-space valuation stops being used for agriculture, the change of use triggers a rollback tax. The county recaptures the difference between what you paid on productivity value and what you would have paid on market value, and it reaches back three years, plus 5 percent annual interest, under Texas Tax Code Section 23.55. That three-year reach is current law: House Bill 1743 in 2019 shortened it from five years to three and dropped the interest rate from 7 to 5 percent, effective September 1, 2019. The practical point: if you are buying ag-valued land and plan to build a subdivision or otherwise take it out of agriculture, budget for the rollback, and talk to the appraisal district and a tax professional before you make the change.

Keeping the valuation with wildlife management

One way people keep the open-space valuation without running livestock is wildlife management. If the land already qualifies as open-space agricultural land, you can convert to a wildlife-management use, keep the same productivity valuation, and avoid a rollback, because the state treats wildlife management as an agricultural use under Texas Tax Code Section 23.51(7). You have to actively manage for native wildlife using at least three of seven approved practices, things like supplemental water, supplemental food, habitat control, predator control, providing shelters, erosion control, or census counts, and file a wildlife-management plan. I cover this more in my hunting-land guide, and the appraisal district can tell you what its current plan requires.

What I see go wrong

A few I run into often. Assuming the valuation transfers automatically when you buy: it does not always carry over cleanly, and a new owner may need to reapply, so confirm the status with the district. Assuming any rural tract qualifies: it has to meet both the use test and the history test, and bush-hogging an empty field is not agricultural use. Counting on a number you read online: degree-of-intensity standards change, so use the district's current guideline. And forgetting the rollback when you plan to develop: that bill can be large, and it is easy to overlook until it lands.