Tax Credits and Agricultural Assessments

For newly constructed or reconstructed agricultural structures, New York's Real Property Tax Law allows a ten-year property tax exemption. Application for the exemption must be made within one year after the completion of such construction. The agricultural structures and buildings will be exempt from any increase in the property's assessed value resulting from the improvement.

Once granted, the exemption continues automatically for ten years. The exemption will terminate before the ten-year period if the building or structure ceases to be used for farming operations, or the building or structure or land is converted to a non-agricultural or non-horticultural use.

Learn more about this opportunity.

The Farmers' School Property Tax Credit enables farmers to receive a tax credit from the state personal income tax or the corporation franchise tax to reimburse some or all of the school district property taxes paid by the farmer.

Eligible farmers or corporations must be defined as an "eligible farmer," must own qualified agricultural property, must pay eligible school taxes during the year, and must be below the income limitation amount. View the resources below to learn more about these eligibility restrictions and how you can benefit from the program.

One of the most significant benefits of the Agricultural Districts Program is the opportunity for owners of farmland to receive reduced property tax bills for land in agricultural production by limiting the property tax assessment of such land to the value of their land for agricultural production, rather than its full development value. The thousands of farmers who receive agricultural assessments on agricultural properties collectively save an estimated $170 million annually, with this number steadily increasing.

Find a general overview of the program, including application documents from the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance.

The Department also works in conjunction with the Department of Taxation and Finance to administer the agricultural assessments program by through the States Land Classification System.  A primary output from this system includes the maintenance of the statewide master list of agricultural soils, which provides the basic soils information needed to calculate agricultural assessments for individual farms.