Summary of a Recent
Judicial Development in
Estate Planning & Taxation

Exception to "Active Farming" Requirement for Farm Use Tax Assessment

Walt McCarter
National AgLaw Center Research Associate

Summary of Decision

In Wallace v. Marion County Assessor, TC-MD 080928B, 2008 Or. Tax LEXIS 245 (Or. T.C. Nov. 25, 2008), the Oregon Tax Court held that a plaintiff's land fell within an exception to the "active farming" requirement for special farm use tax assessment that allows for a one-year grace period when the absence of farming is due to illness of the farmer or his immediate family.

Background

The plaintiff's property was in an area zoned "exclusive farm use," but the county tax appraiser did not observe any farming activities when she visited the property in the summer of 2007. Id. at *1. Inquiry letters to the plaintiff went unanswered and the farmland was unused for almost one year. Id. In June 2008, part of the property was disqualified from farm use special tax assessment for the 2008-2009 tax year, and the plaintiff appealed that determination. Id.

Arguments

The plaintiff argued that the land was not being used for farming temporarily, due to circumstances beyond his control. Id.

Analysis and Holdings

Under Or. Rev. Stat. § 308A.113(3)(a), land within an exclusive farm use zone that is "no longer in farm use" must be disqualified. Id. at *2. The court noted that the tax appraiser had acted correctly in disqualifying the land, but it also held that § 308A.056(3)(i) applied, and the court therefore reversed the farm use disqualification. Id. at *3. That section creates an exception to the active farming requirements and allows for a one-year grace period for "land lying idle for no more than one year when the absence of farming activity is the result of the illness of the farmer or a member of the farmer's immediate family, including injury or infirmity, regardless of whether the illness results in death." Id.

The case was decided on November 25, 2008.