Ohio farmland owners will be getting some additional tax relief. The Current Agricultural Use Value (CAUV) will be coming down again for tax year 2020, with primary projections of an average decrease of 35% to 40% for the 2020 tax year, according to Ted Finnarn, who represents Ohio Farmers Union on the State Ag Advisory Committee.

Finnarn is serving his 45th year on the committee, having originally been appointed in 1976. He spoke in support of the reduced values at a June 26 meeting of the committee and a virtual public hearing. These reduced values will be used in 41 counties undergoing valuation changes (either reappraisals or updates) in the 2020 tax year, which will result in lower taxes in 2021.

Some of the 41 counties affected, for example, includes Ashtabula, Fulton, Montgomery, Darke, Defiance, Preble, Putman, Trumble and Wood.hese lower values, Finnarn explains, are mainly price driven due to the lower crop prices received by farmers and changes pursuant to the 2017 H.B. 49 Budget Bill, which was first effective in the 2017 tax year.

These long overdue changes affected the calculation of the capitalization (interest) rate within the formula. These changes increased the holding period assumption within the formula from five to 25 years and reformulated the equity information to a more farm-based criteria that will be taken from the USDA calculations.

Finnarn, who is sometimes referred to as “Mr. CAUV,” says one of the biggest changes that will remain will allow year-round conservation acres of farmers to be valued at the lowest of the values assigned on the basis of soil type ($230 for woodland). Woodland values have deescalated in recent years and will be approaching minimum rates in the future.

The Ohio Farmers Union, Ohio Farm Bureau, Ohio Farmers United and the Ohio Tax Department, Division of Tax Equalization, along with other groups of farmers and woodland owners, have pushed for the changes, resulting with more “reasonable” CAUV values.

Source: Ohio Farmers Union, which is solely responsible for the information provided and is wholly owned by the source. Informa Business Media and all its subsidiaries are not responsible for any of the content contained in this information asset.