People are always talking about property tax relief. But since
1992, a little-known program has already been offering tax
breaks for many Georgians.

“The state introduced a current-use taxation program for
qualified properties, called ‘Conservation Use Valuation,’ in
1992,” said Coleman Dangerfield, an Extension Service economist
in the University of Georgia’s Warnell School of Forest
Resources.

CUV was created, Dangerfield said, in response to concerns about
urban sprawl, land use transition and resulting environmental
impacts from these changes.

“It also provides tax relief for broad classes of qualified
agricultural and forest landowners,” he said. “Under CUV, a
landowner signs a 10-year covenant with the county to receive
current-use, as opposed to fair-market, valuation of the
property
for tax purposes.”

Residential Transitional

Unique to the CUV program, he said, is “residential
transitional”
property. It gives relief to anyone whose home is in an area
changing from single-family, owner-occupied homes to
agricultural, commercial, industrial, office-institutional,
multifamily or utility use, or a combination of those uses.

Eligible RT property is a single family’s home and no more than
5
acres around it. The bottom line is that people who want to keep
the property for a home should have it assessed on its use as a
home and not on its development potential.

Evidence of Change

Evidence of a change in use, Dangerfield said, may be recent
zoning changes, purchase by a developer, affidavits of intent,
or
being close to property that has changed from single-family
residential use.

To qualify as RT property, the tax valuation must reflect a
change in value that can be attributed to being in or close to a
transitional area.

Application for CUV

Applications for current-use assessment, including RT property,
must be filed with your county tax assessor by the deadline for
filing county ad valorem tax returns, usually Jan. 1 to March
1.

If the property must be reassessed by the board of tax
assessors,
you can file for current-use assessment in conjunction with or
in
lieu of an appeal of the reassessment.

To learn more about the CUV or RV tax breaks, call the Georgia
Department of Revenue Property Tax Division at (404)
656-4240.