SB 618 West Virginia Senate · 2025 Regular Session

Allowing reduced property valuation for certain farmland

SB 618 changes how farm property is valued for West Virginia property taxes, allowing reduced tax assessments for qualifying farmland. It requires the Tax Commissioner to appraise farm property based on its value for farming use (considering expected rental income) rather than its potential non-farming value. This applies to farmers and corporate landowners who annually produce at least $20,000 in agricultural products, regardless of whether farming is their primary business. The bill directly affects property owners who meet this threshold, potentially lowering their tax burden by aligning assessments with agricultural productivity.
Bill status in committee 1 of 4 stages cleared
Introduction
Feb 2025
Committee Review
Floor Vote
Governor
Introduced Feb 27, 2025 Last action Mar 13, 2025
Maddy AI version diff · 1 comparison

What changed between versions

Introduced Version Committee Substitute · 6 edits
MODERATE
The bill text was substantially restructured from an introduced version to a committee substitute version, with significant changes to the eligibility criteria for corporate farm property tax reductions. The committee version clarifies the rules for corporations that do not primarily engage in farming but own farm property producing agricultural products worth at least $20,000 annually.
Scope change
The bill's scope was expanded to clarify eligibility for corporations that do not primarily engage in farming but own farm property that produces at least $20,000 in agricultural products annually.
ELIGIBILITY

Removed the requirement that a corporation must be primarily engaged in farming to qualify for tax reduction if it has at least $20,000 in agricultural product sales, use, or consumption on the farm property.

Clarified that all farm property owned by a corporation must be considered together (regardless of whether parcels are contiguous) when determining if the $20,000 agricultural product threshold is met.

Removed the provision stating that a corporation is not engaged in farming unless its principal activity is farming, replacing it with language that allows non-farming corporations to qualify if their farm property meets the $20,000 agricultural product threshold.

DEFINITION

Added a reference to the definition of agricultural products in §11-1A-3(g) of the code.

SCOPE

Changed the bill's stated purpose from allowing property tax reduction for certain farmland to specifically authorizing reduced property appraisal for certain corporate owners of farm property.

REQUIREMENT

Removed the provision requiring the Tax Commissioner to promulgate rules to ensure provisions are available to eligible persons and corporations.

Floor votes

How they voted

No floor votes recorded yet.
Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions
6
Key actions
1
Committee
4
Mar 13, 2025
Committee
To Finance
upper
Mar 13, 2025
Upper · Passed
Committee substitute reported, but first to Finance
upper
Feb 27, 2025
Committee
To Agriculture
upper
Feb 27, 2025
Introduced
Introduced in Senate
upper
Feb 27, 2025
Committee
To Agriculture then Finance
upper
1 primary · 3 co-sponsors

Sponsors