Can taxing entities like school districts and counties/ cities waive the collection of roll back taxes? Which entity is responsible under state law for collecting and declaring roll back tax? We have a county tax assessor/ collector, a school district tax office that collects its own taxes, and the appraisal district.

Each unit is responsible. Your county tax assessor and school district will send a bill. And no, they may not waive it.


Sec. 23.55.

e) Subject to Section 23.551, a determination that a change in use of the land has occurred is made by the chief appraiser. The chief appraiser shall deliver a notice of the determination to the owner of the land as soon as possible after making the determination and shall include in the notice an explanation of the owner's right to protest the determination. If the owner does not file a timely protest or if the final determination of the protest is that the additional taxes are due, the assessor for each taxing unit shall prepare and deliver a bill for the additional taxes as soon as practicable. The taxes are due and become delinquent and incur penalties and interest as provided by law for ad valorem taxes imposed by the taxing unit if not paid before the next February 1 that is at least 20 days after the date the bill is delivered to the owner of the land.

"shall", not "may"

So by chief appraiser, does that mean that it's the duty of the appraisal district to determine change in use/ roll back taxes? Need more transparency from our taxing districts on this issue.

There are instances when it can be waived or not assessed. However, the rollback tax is designed to tax ag land that is being put into commercial development. So, yeah, its designed for your project. I wouldnt expect a waiver. The good news is they dropped it from 5 years of back taxes to 3 years.

For everything you ever wanted to know about Ag Valuations: https://comptroller.texas.gov/taxes/property-tax/docs/96-300.pdf

The tax assessor will do the calculation and send you a letter. You pay the bill to the tax collector. The funny thing about the calculation it is not final. It gets checked later and maybe different especially if you aren't pulling the entire property out of ag.

The biggest mistake people make is not disputing the taxes in the three years before they do it. It is pretty easy to get them to come down because it really doesn't have a huge impact on the tax revenue.

Bitter Old Man said:

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The good news is they dropped it from 5 years of back taxes to 3 years.

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And, the most recent Legislature also removed the 5% interest due on the 3 years of rollback taxes.

I'd also agree that even if you have the Ag special valuation, it is important to keep your eye on the 'market' appraisals if you ever plan to convert use or to sell it to someone who will convert use. Otherwise, you could be tagged big $$$ after the conversion whereas had you kept the 'market' appraisals at bay, you could have avoided it.

I've also seen sales contracts where the seller, even though he is not the one changing use, is charged with the rollback taxes, or where the buyer reduces his offer due to them.

It's been a gift that those rollback taxes have been reduced from 5 to 3 years, and that the interest is now gone, but I would almost like to see a 1-year maximum rollback. Perhaps I ask too much, in that they'll tag the non-Ag valuation guys for the revenue instead.

If you trigger a change out of Ag you're getting a rollback tax bill.

Mas89 said:

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Can taxing entities like school districts and counties/ cities waive the collection of roll back taxes? Which entity is responsible under state law for collecting and declaring roll back tax? We have a county tax assessor/ collector, a school district tax office that collects its own taxes, and the appraisal district.

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There are counties, ISDs and cities that still collect their own taxes? Our CAD has collected taxes for all the taxing entities in the county for 30 years or longer, and then distributed them. Much more efficient.

Yes. In Harris county we are appraised by the CAD. The tax bill is sent by and paid to the ISD and the Harris County Tax Assessor/ Collector.

I'm in Dallas County and have to pay my City and ISD taxes directly. Everything else is through the CAD.