An Agricultural Land Transfer Tax and surcharge is imposed on written instruments conveying title to real property that receive the agricultural use assessment unless a Declaration of Intent to remain in agricultural use is filed.¹ Exemptions to the Agricultural Transfer Tax are discussed in Procedure 019/075/015 and the Declaration of Intent is discussed in Procedures 019/075/020 through 019/075/035.

The calculation of theAgricultural Transfer Tax and surcharges is described on the Agricultural Transfer Tax Statement (See Attachments A & B). Whether the land is removed from agricultural use assessment before or after July 1, 2019 will determine which Attachment is to be used for the calculation. This produces an amount of tax and surcharge by multiplying the applicable tax rate by the consideration paid for the agriculturally used portion of the real property. The amount of tax and surcharge due may be evidenced to the County Tax Collector by the Agricultural Transfer Tax Statement signed by the Supervisor of Assessments or his designee, or by other means acceptable to the Collector.

In most cases, the Agricultural Transfer Tax is to be calculated and saved within the account utilizing the database’s program.

Supervisors must ensure the following: accounts qualified to receive the preferential agricultural use assessment are properly coded; tracking of accounts where Agricultural Transfer Tax has been paid; and tracking of any agricultural tax liability for accounts where land had been removed from preferential agricultural use assessment within the database system. Supervisors must be careful to code property used for agricultural purposes and to track Agricultural Transfer Tax liability in the data system.

The grantor of any land with buildings not previously assessed must notify the Supervisor of Assessments at least seven days prior to the transfer so that the improvements may be valued for the purpose of calculating the applicable Agricultural Transfer Tax amount. If the grantor fails to notify the Supervisor in such instance prior to the transfer, the tax will be applied to the entire consideration or the transfer must be delayed. 

Attachments:
Attachment A – Agricultural Land Removed Prior to 7/1/2019
Attachment B – Agricultural Land Removed 7/1/2019 or After

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  ¹See Tax-Property Article Title 13 Subtitle 3, and COMAR Title 18, Subtitle 5.

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